Second failure...why can't I hatch eggs?

[porteryork]

So I have a borrowed LG and my temps and humidity are good. I have set 80+ eggs from a variety of sources in my two attempts. Some of the eggs were not fertile so I am okay with those, the rest seem to stop at various stages. What am I doing wrong? Any pointers? I want to try one more time but am heartsick at thinking of a third failure. Please help me make the third time a charm!

 

[GreenGoddess]

What were your temps and humidity and is it a still air or forced air incubator?

Goddess

 

[abanjaf]

Besides temp and humidity, are you using an automatic egg-turner? Turning by hand? And if it's a still air, you might want to consider adding the fan to the LG. I found that increased my hatch rate by quite a bit. Have any of your attempts lead to a chick hatching or do they ALL quit? Do they make it to lockdown? Do they pip? Need more info.

 

[debilorrah]

Practice makes better results. My first hatch was a total 0. My second one, 0. Third, 4 hatched, and the 4th, 4 hatched. THEN I discovered that my hydrometer was off 17%!!!!! Hello! Now I am on my 5th hatch and know what it is SUPPOSED to read to be right.

 

[ChickyLaura]

I understand your pain, seriously I do. I am determined, though. I finally have determined that both of my hygrometers are crap. So now I'm trying to figure out what the best hygrometer is. My last hatch was with my own eggs, and I was able to hatch out 3 - which for me is awesome... I would've had 4 but the humidity dropped while I was at work. The poor chick was zipping and was shrink-wrapped in.

I can't figure out why the chicks that do hatch are all very healthy. I would think if only one or so hatches that they would be sick or weak. But they're not! In my case though I do think it's the humidity. And I also think that shipped eggs don't work well for me. I switched over to a hovabator with a fan, also. I was using an LG.

Good luck, though, trying to figure it out

 

[porteryork]

It is a still air and I turn by hand. Temp is 99-100 and humidity is 30.

 

[chicmom]

With a still air, oxygen is very important. Does it have some little air vent plugs that you could pull out? On my incubator, there is just one red plug, but some have more than one. Maybe they just need some oxygen.

How about humidity? Have you been able to measure that as well? You can buy a digital hygrometer, which will give you the temp and humidity levels for fairly cheap. Like $10 to $20 dollars. Ebay sells them.

How about your incy location? You want it to be a place that is not drafty, and not too hot.

OH! I just saw that your humidity was only 30. That is pretty low. You want it to be around 40-45% for the first 18 days, then when you get to lockdown, around 60-65 % is good.

Sharon

 

[loopy12]

Quote:
Still air temp should be a bit higher - 101.5 I believe.
30% I also think is for the dry method, try 45% for days 1-18 and 60-65% for lockdown.

This is just what I've heard/read - am only on my first hatch myself.
Maybe someone with more experience can confirm - ?

 

[kid-n-chickens]

I am also using an LG incubator still air, make sure you are rolling the eggs to the correct side to rotate sides, as to not jar the embryo. or cut the bottoms out of egg cartons and the top off and set them in that and then just tilt the whole carton from side to side. If possible turn them three times a day so they are not on the same side each night which is the longest time they will be laying there. The first two hatches I done I had very low hatch rates, (my humidity was 30-35%) I decided to raise the humidity to 45-50% for days 1-18 and then 60-70% days 18-22 (mine have pipped on 21 and hatched on day 22 and 23) with these changes 11 of 13 hatched this time. These are the only suggestions that I can tell you. then

 

[farmin'chick]

You mentioned it's a BORROWED LG.......Nothing wrong with borrowing! But use 1 Tbsp bleach to 1 gal water and scrub and sterilize that bator before you use it again. Rinse it until there is NO more detectable bleach odor, and be careful not to get water into the electronic parts. Might not help, but surely won't hurt.