I Need Some Incubation Tips. Low Hatch Rate

Hey BYC! I am in need of some tips and tricks for increasing my hatch rate. This is only my 4th time incubating. The first was 12 coturnix quail eggs. 2 were infertile, 3 died early on and only 5 hatched. The second time was 4 chicken eggs. All seemed to be fertile but died early on. From the looks of them, they only made it to about day 5. The last batch was 2 dozen quail. 6 were infertile and the rest made it to hatch day but only 9 successfully hatched, 5 pipped but gave up and the rest never pipped at all. Currently in the incubator, I have 7 chicken eggs. They are on day 8 I believe. What can I do to better my hatch rate?

I have a little giant incubator running between 99.5 and 100.0F. Humidity is between 45 and 50%. It is still air and I turn the eggs manually 2-3 times a day ¼ turn each time.

Still air incubators should be at 101 and I always turn 1/2 turns back and forth. You could watch your air cell growth and adjust the humidity down a little if the cells are growing too slow. Where I'm at 35% works better for days 1-18 and 55=60% for lock down but this may be too low for your area. Do a search for air cell growth and it will give you an idea of where you should be.

What kind of incubator are you using?

Also where is it located - I ask this because most incubators (even the more expensive ones) need to be placed in room where temps don't fluctuate too much.

What kind of temps are you running and are you using more than 1 thermometer that has been checked for accuracy. Never trust the temp guages on your incubator alone. Jut an example the temp guage o my incubtor reads around 105 when it actually 99 and it varies.

What are your humidity readings and have you calibrated your hygrometer. Again you don't want to trust the one on the incubator unless you've verified that it's accurate.

Those are the things that most commonly contribute to poor hatch rates in fertile eggs. There are some other things we can help you with as well but those are the best place to start.

If you let everyone know what kind of incubator you're using we can also give you more specifics on what you might be able to do to improve your hatch rates as well.

Edit: I posted this and then read where you posted your incubator.

Theres a lot of reasons for low hatch rate so a few more details will help.

Are the eggs shipped or bought local? (40-60% on shipped is not that low)

You are doing the right thing by checking the eggs to see when they failed and early fails can be a sign that your eggs are fertile and beginning to incubate before you place them in the incubator. As we don't know yet if these are shipped, local or how you handle the eggs before they are placed in the incubator its just a guess. I know in florida where its hot eggs have to go straight in the incubator as soon as they arrive and if the post is running late its going to be a bad hatch rate with lots of early fails.

even local pick up in warm weather can be a problem as 85-90 degrees seems to be high enough to start the process.

Do you have any diy skills as a 9 to 12vdc plug in transformer (the type that where the transformer is the plug) and a 40mm computer fan can be added to upgrade you to a forced air incubator (9vdc would be best so the fan runs slower and stirs the air rather than blasts the air but anything you have laying around should be ok). If you need assistance with adding a fan then im sure we can do a step by step photo guide that should work).

I guess the whole point of this post is that you may be doing nothing wrong. Even the best $500 incubators fail to hatch infertile, broken air cell, pre-incubated eggs, layer vitamin deficiency, etc etc. There are ways to up the odds but that's has to be fixed before incubation.

Oh forgot.
Another important measurement is the hatch day that any successful chicks hatched in the past. Were they early or late compared to dates other people surgest as that's a sign of weather your temps are correct.

ameracaunagirl said:

I have a little giant incubator running between 99.5 and 100.0F. Humidity is between 45 and 50%. It is still air and I turn the eggs manually 2-3 times a day ¼ turn each time.

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Yes, still air should be between 101-102F and I agree with using a low humidity incubation method. I use this one: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity and I swear by it providing you have a checked/accurate thermometer/hygrometer and a fairly steady temp in the bator. That's a big one, making sure your instruments are actually accurate, because a thermometer that's off can compromise your whole hatch and never trust the incubator gages unless they have been checked (especially the little giant and especially the 9300 model.)

Also at least 3 turns a day is the most recommended from one side and back to the other.

Thanks everyone for the advice! I am DIY savvy and adding a fan to create forced air sounds like a great idea. I have not calibrated my humidity but I do have a separate thermometer in there to make sure the temp is accurate. I get my eggs locally from friends so I know they are fresh. Sometimes I take them right out from under the hen myself.

"gpop1" , you may be right about them being too warm and starting to mature before I got them in the incubator. I took my last failed batch out from under a broody hen so she may have even layed them the day before and the cool trip home to the incubator is what killed them. I never even thought about that being a factor.

"wynn4578" My incubator is located bedside but I do have my brooder in the same room and as it gets warmer during the evening hours, it does heat up quite a bit in there, I will move it to the living room and see how that turns out. It stays around the same temp there all day.

To everyone, thanks for the info about half turns. I was never really instructed on how much to turn it, just how often. I hope to one day hatch my turkey's eggs (the turkeys are only 1 month old now) and possibly try my hand in peafowl. I have heard how difficult they can be to incubate so I want to improve my skills quite a bit before I tackle those eggs.

It's probably fine in your bedroom. You just don't want it somewhere where there are large Temps swings or drafts. Let us know what you discover as you go through your next hatch and we'll help out where we can.

I'd just like to share that I am currently hatching my third batch of Japanese Quail. I started with 24 eggs from my previous batch of Quail who are laying now. 2 died early with a blood ring and the rest made it to hatching day! So far there have been 7 successful hatches. I will let you know how many total as soon as they are done!