thoughts on first incubation.

[Rstine]

Hello all.
I just completed my first incubation attempt and I must say it didn't go so well. I bought a cheap Styrofoam still air incubator. We put 12 eggs in.
In the early stages of incubation I had a hard time keeping the humidity consistent. Thanks to assistance from some of you folks I got that problem fixed using a shot glass to hold my water. Once I hit on that the humidity stayed between 45 and 55 for the most part. I kept the temperature around 100.5 according to the thermometer supplied with the unit. I turned my eggs by hand 3-5 times daily but when I was at work they sometimes went 13 hours or so without turning. one day I knocked one of the eggs out and broke it.
After day 17 I quit turning them and put a damp paper towel in to raise the humidity to around 70%. The firs morning after lockdown (day 18) we had a beautiful Americauna chick hopping around. No signs of activity from the others. We left it in for about 6 hours before moving it to its own space. We did not open the lid anymore except to redampen the paper towel when needed and that was only for a matter of seconds. Day 23 came and went and the other 10 did nothing. All of the eggs were fertile and most showed almost complete development, a couple were much less developed.
My guess is that my temperature was too high and possible humidity fluctuation were my biggest issues. Before trying again I think I will get an automatic egg turner. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
On the upside, we have a beautiful, healthy, lonely chick.

 

[chickens really]

@WVduckchick

 

[SarahBChick]

Sounds like you did everything right. Before my first incubation I read articles on everything from best-rated incubators to temp/ humidity levels until my eyes popped out of my head! Advice? You'll get your own routine down. I was one of "those" despite all that I had read, opened the incubator and candled my eggs almost everyday, my temp and humidity was all over the place, I had to unplug the units and transport them to and from work because I was too afraid to leave them unattended, as terrible as I was about adhering to the "rules", low and behold I got 6 out of 6 fluffy little chicks! The process is different for everyone. You'll find what works for you.

 

[aliciaplus3]

Finding that sweet spot with your bator where the temp holds steady is one of the keys I would say. Too hot is worse than too cold and extera calibrated thermometers are key. The humidity is important cuz if they lose to much or not enough moisture then they may not live. I started out my incubation journey with a cheap knock off bator and getting the humidity just right was a struggle. I tried the "dry" hatch that is recommended by many here and had disastrous results, but I live at a higher altitude and in a dry climate. I guess the thing I want to share is make sure you have more than one hydrometer and thermometer in the bator don't just trust the one that comes with it. And keep trying sometimes it takes a little while to get your technique down

 

[Chelseyb123]

I did my first batchbof mixed eggs in oct an they hatched the second week of nov. I put 8 of my own flocks eggs in an only four developed and one die because it was to week. I wanted to do the same set up as you said. But i wanted to use what i had. And what i had was a old wooden box. I drilled a hole for the light an air flow. I did a dry incubation. I the first couple weeks were hell. The temp kept going all over the place and humidity as well. Once i plugged up some holes it was on point until hatch. Now i got from my research is thw humidity is not that big of a deal as long as its about 25%-29% up until lock down. Than. It needs to be much higher 65%-70% is what i had. My temp was either at 99f or 100f not any higher or lower. But im a stay at home mom so i was so able to monitor it much better i went into lock down at day 18 and on day. An Start hearng peeps on day 21-23. Also i believe the temp and humidity in your home plays a factor. I live in maine and during my incubation period the weather out side was flip flopping bad. One day it was super cold almost freezing than thw next day in the 70s. And we had a week of rain storms. So when it was nice out heat was turned down an windows were open and thwn when freezing out temps inside went up. I believe to do another small batch of eggs in the spring but im debating on just buying a small incubator or reusing the one i have. They have small ones on amazon for $20 but they have celecis temp gage instead. You did do a lot of things right. You just never know honestly. My whole incubation process i juat kept telling my self an when talking about my little chicks growing that its 50/50 the with development and the hatch many things can go wrong an right. Take this as a learning experience an usw it for your next hatch.

 

[Altfrizzle]

Did you use the thermometer that is built in?

Those are notoriously unreliable.

I’d guess it was a temperature problem since the one hatched day 18. Temps too high are lethal for eggs and can cause early hatches.