100% hatch

[Quyen Le]

Except for the eggs that were not developed, all 31 eggs hatched.
This is the best hatch so far. I set 50% humidity during all 21 days (I have tried dry hatch before). Open incubator often too.
The only thing I changed is higher protein feed. Hope this helps.

 

[sumi]

Congrats!

 

[Quyen Le]

This week, 37 easter chicks from 37 eggs. 100% hatch again. High protein feed does help on chick's developing and hatching.

 

[salahzantout]

hey there
congratulations

i would like to ask about the thermostat ur using

today i just finished my home made incubator and was testing it while ago
the thermostat cuts in at 98.2 F and cuts out at 101F

is that ok ?

thanks in advance

 

[Quyen Le]

I am using the $14 digital thermostat. I set mine on at 39 celcius (102F) and off at 40 celcius (104F). I know some people will say it's not right. I make a long channel loop before it can reach the eggs. I make the 4 ft long loop so when the air hit the eggs, it will be around 99.5. The sensor will be around 1 ft from heat source, in my case 2 100W light bulbs. Do you have any picture of your set up?

 

[Quyen Le]

I do staggering hatch every week, so I open my incubator and turn the eggs even during lock down period (open incubator about 5-10 seconds) since my egg turner is not working. My incubator is cabinet type, so it's not that bad to open the incubator to get hatched chicks out if you can manage your humidity. On my previous hatches, I blamed myself for opening the incubator often and I have dead chicks that were fully developed. Now I know the reason why. It's more on nutrition in my case. Before I got deformed chicks on every hatch. This time, they all are healthy.

 

[salahzantout]

my incubator is styrofoam, but i build it my self so there are some small gaps between standing corners that i left to serve as ventilation
i got a thermostat and thermo hygro meter, the min and max temperatures recorded after testing it again are 98.4F and 102.2F while humidity is between 55% and 60% ( i do not use a fan )

now ive read also in a website that temp must be between 99 and 102 and temperatures beyond 97 and 103 must be avoided, so according to the website im doing fine, but i need an experienced person that might have experienced familiar temperatures while hatching and give me the result

my question would be are my recorded temp acceptable ?

thanks again

 

[Quyen Le]

What thermostat do you use? How often does it go from 98.4 to 102.2? How many thermometer do you have in your incubator?

 

[salahzantout]

I dunno I just bought the thermostat from a store which fixes washing machines and stuff like that,
after testing it i found out the differential is about 3-4 F
what it means is as the example, for example i set it at 102F, when thermostat reaches 102 it turns off the lamp, then when it falls down to 99F or 98.4 ( notice differential is almost 3-4F) the lamp will glow again till the temp rises to 102F and so on...

its a cycle that any thermostat must go, now usually thermostats have different "differential", and i hope mine is to be accepted.

 

[chickencrazy429]

Congrats!! Awesome that you got the whole hatch!