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Novital Incubator help please!!!

post #1 of 5
6/26/12 at 8:10am
Thread Starter 

Hi, i am in need of some help with hatching eggs using my novital covatutto 20 egg semi auto incubator. I have tried lots off eggs with this and have not had good results. First time i set 12 eggs and kept the small water trough half full until day 18 when i filled it to the top. Only got 3 hatch with 5 beinf fully formed and dead in the shells. Second attempt i invested in a hygrometer, kept the water trough filled but noticed that the humidity was less than 30% (it only registers above 30%). Day 18 and i closed it all down, this time putting extra water trough in and also a wet cloth which kept the humidity at 65-70%. Again only 3 chicks, with the rest dead in the shells and not internally pipped. What am i doing wrong? I have a friend who insists i should run this incy dry until day 18 but i asked a guy at my local livestock market and he says these forced air incubators run too dry even with the small trough full and i should add more water right from the start. HELP! I have some more fresh eggs ready to set and i am hoping the good people on here will be able to steer me in the right direction of a better hatch

 

Thanks in advance - George

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post #2 of 5
6/26/12 at 12:38pm
Thread Starter 

This should have read "i have tried TWO lots of eggs not "lots of eggs!"

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post #3 of 5
6/26/12 at 1:43pm

never hatched chicken, but hatched ducks & geese (need higher humidity than chicks in general) in novital 20 too. yes the fan of this machine makes it really really dry (and hot). if i were you, i'd read different advice online (BYC, FAO, university studies, etc.) and find the compromise conditions of all these. then i'd try to achieve that humidity. btw, u can add some plastic containers (i used those from take-away) in the big compartment to increase humidity. for my ducks & geese i'd fill the whole thing  (small+big compartments) with water (but still a bit dry, cos the machine was running hot, and the fan is running quite fast). btw, i put 3 thermometers in different places and there are cool and hot spots, so be careful. i change the egg positions every morning so each egg gets more or less the same heat throughout the process. good luck!

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post #4 of 5
6/26/12 at 2:00pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for that. It seems to me that this is perhaps not the easiest incubator to use. I have now got it running empty in the garage with an extra container of water in and the humidity is at 41% with the temp 37.5. Interesting that you say there are hotspots though and i will try rotating the eggs when set. Thanks for the help and any advice from other members would be greatly appreciated.

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post #5 of 5
6/27/12 at 10:30am
Thread Starter 

I see what you mean about hot spots. The temp was rising a little too much for my liking so i checked lower down with the thermometer and it was fine.Got the humidity bang on 40% and can hopefully get some better stability with the temp. Instead of your way of moving the eggs around daily, i thought i could just put the top on the other way around. Do you think that would help or is the main difference between the outside and the centre?

 

Thanks - George

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