have bought 2 different hovabators, 5 thermometer/hygrometers constant dismal hatch rate.

[yakitori]

You can try the methods suggested on the poultry site, and see how that goes..

aka...
1. increase oxygen
2. increase humidity
3. source eggs produced at same (or higher) altitude

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/hatching-at-high-altitudes

 

[brewchick]

So I was way off on my altitude. I'm at 3500ish. So that's not the issue. However, I discovered something interesting yesterday. We threw some coturnix quail eggs into the incubator with this failed round of ducks as an afterthought, and they didn't hatch the day they were supposed to so I just assumed they failed as well. I didn't bother candling or taking them out with the duck eggs, just let them sit there just in case. So yesterday I came home from work and there were 13 baby quail hopping around. And as of this morning there are 16 and two more mostly hatched. That makes this batch of quail the most successful hatch we've ever had. Most of them were just sitting all around the edges of the turner, and I wasn't even expecting them to hatch at all without being turned. So I guess whatever we were doing wrong with the ducks was great for the quail.

 

[PDXJULES]

Ok, here goes.

We have been raising and hatching for about 9 years. We have often struggled with hatch rates. We have officially had the worst ever, at about 5%.

First hovabator we used for 7 years. the "old style" had egg turner and fan. rate was not great, around 40%

Last season, we bought the new digital hovabator. All the bells and whistles (turner, fan) our hatch rate was dismal, and now is worse.

We have hatched Ducks, Chickens of 8 breeds and quail. all with varying, but frustrating levels of success.

we have used at least 8 different thermometer/hygrometers.

This hatch alone, we had 5 thermometers, 4 of them had hygrometer ability. we incubated a full set, and hatched 5 birds.

We dissected the failed eggs on the day of hatch. most were shrink wrapped, some were drowned. all looked fully developed. the 5 that did hatch successfully, hatched on the exact day predicted, so that says the temp was within correct range.

temp was 99.5F humidity was 45% up until lock down, then 55% to 60%.

only time we ever open the incubator is to candle on day 9 and 16.

we have tried adding water according to hovabator instructions, and now we have just tried "dry" incubation. despite humidity running a tiny bit high during our "water added" incubations, it was within range. same story for "dry" humidity was pretty spot on.

This round, we even used -2- GOVEE wifi thermo-hygrometers this round which sends info live time to our phones and keeps data log. nothing was out of range. we calibrated the GOVEE units using several other thermometers, including the thermostat on our central AC. they matched our "laboratory" thermometer.

All of that said, the hovabator thermostat did read low, at 96.5F but all 4 other thermometers inside of the incubator showed to be at 99.5

even if it was low this round, why do we always have dismal hatches?

We are ready to buy another incubator, in hopes of getting better results. That said, we are wary that we will continue to get crap results with whatever brand we go with. In other words, is there something WE are doing to cause this?

as a final note, we are eyeing the NurtureRight 360 as an alternative. Does anyone have a "Magic" suggestion to improve our results in the Hovabator, or a recommendation on the "best" incubator under $400? we even looked at the Brinsea 56 EX, but decided against it after reading reviews.

Please help us improve our incubations.

Ok, here goes.

We have been raising and hatching for about 9 years. We have often struggled with hatch rates. We have officially had the worst ever, at about 5%.

First hovabator we used for 7 years. the "old style" had egg turner and fan. rate was not great, around 40%

Last season, we bought the new digital hovabator. All the bells and whistles (turner, fan) our hatch rate was dismal, and now is worse.

We have hatched Ducks, Chickens of 8 breeds and quail. all with varying, but frustrating levels of success.

we have used at least 8 different thermometer/hygrometers.

This hatch alone, we had 5 thermometers, 4 of them had hygrometer ability. we incubated a full set, and hatched 5 birds.

We dissected the failed eggs on the day of hatch. most were shrink wrapped, some were drowned. all looked fully developed. the 5 that did hatch successfully, hatched on the exact day predicted, so that says the temp was within correct range.

temp was 99.5F humidity was 45% up until lock down, then 55% to 60%.

only time we ever open the incubator is to candle on day 9 and 16.

we have tried adding water according to hovabator instructions, and now we have just tried "dry" incubation. despite humidity running a tiny bit high during our "water added" incubations, it was within range. same story for "dry" humidity was pretty spot on.

This round, we even used -2- GOVEE wifi thermo-hygrometers this round which sends info live time to our phones and keeps data log. nothing was out of range. we calibrated the GOVEE units using several other thermometers, including the thermostat on our central AC. they matched our "laboratory" thermometer.

All of that said, the hovabator thermostat did read low, at 96.5F but all 4 other thermometers inside of the incubator showed to be at 99.5

even if it was low this round, why do we always have dismal hatches?

We are ready to buy another incubator, in hopes of getting better results. That said, we are wary that we will continue to get crap results with whatever brand we go with. In other words, is there something WE are doing to cause this?

as a final note, we are eyeing the NurtureRight 360 as an alternative. Does anyone have a "Magic" suggestion to improve our results in the Hovabator, or a recommendation on the "best" incubator under $400? we even looked at the Brinsea 56 EX, but decided against it after reading reviews.

Please help us improve our incubations.

Actually i had questions about the ages of your Hens and Roos? If over 2 yrs rates will be lower. Breeders have a Testing program that focuses more on bird quality than Incubation i think. Do Roos succeed with all your intended mothers, or have favorites? Some Breeds also are nearly infertile fir future generations. Besides heat, humidity, oxygen and turning, you can also evaluate and adjust these factors.

You've made quite an investment. I wish you Good Luck!

 

[Floof]

You say "We dissected the failed eggs on the day of hatch"; does that mean you aren't giving them an extra day or two for late bloomers? Do you always do that? When I do my hatches I always give it an extra 2 days (sometimes more) and more often than not I have a few that just take longer. I wonder if given more time some of those eggs would have hatched. Do you have photos of your eggtopsy? It would be strange to have drowned and shrink wrapped in the same batch.

 

[bhaugh]

I've been hatching about the same amount of time. I've set hundreds of eggs over the years. Although I liked my Styrofoam hova bator with the wafer thermostat, I bought an Rcom later on. It has had its own issues and doesn't work too well for duck eggs.
Styrofoam bators have issues with being able to maintain stable heat when the ambient temp of the room fluctuates. Where is your bator at and how much humidity is in the room. Folks often forget to calculate the ambient temp of the room when hatching eggs.