3rd Time Hatching(trying) And All Fuly Formed Dead But 5 Im Giving Up

[perolane]

Kermit's shadow :

Sounds very like wrong RH - do not buy an electronic gadget, or even worse, a dial gauge (great for the glasshouse, where they should stay) - use either a wet-bulb or an accurate scale to judge weight-loss. All RH meters that cost less than a lot are extremely unreliable, on average - some people get lucky with a good one, many don't.

Pretty well all incubators will hatch well if run correctly. A friend used to custom hatch all types of eggs, in a variety of machines - several of the machines had been "thrown at him" because they "did not work" - actually, the people could not run them properly.

The incubation conditions for successful hatching are 101% identical, irrespective of where you live and where the eggs are incubated - what varies are the accuracy and reliability of the instruments used to set and run the incubator. Which is why I have nearly had fist fights with people who "know" that their chook eggs need 60% RH to incubate correctly when I have told them that they are way wrong.......

Page 6 and onwards - http://gallus.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf

This is the OP's third hatch.....if he's not "running the equipment properly", this is what he needs to know, how to get it right...not generalization on how your expert friend hatches.

The dial RH guage I use has been the most accurate of any I have ever used. For someone new to hatching, weighing eggs, although the preferred method for accuracy, may be a daunting task. Also not all have the financial ability to purchase instruments that cost "less than alot".

PALEEZE....living in different climates will certaintly influence the RH of your hatch. Someone living in Arizona with 1% RH will certaintly hatch differently than I do here with 100% RH. I have 90% - 100% hatch rates every week & I certaintly don't hatch the same as John Doe in New Mexico will.

Oh & by the way, your link shut down my computer.

 

[jcfuente51]

if i had eggs i wouls give it a try again one more time

my hens are not laying for some reason the last 2 weeks

maybe its an instint that they dont want me to incubate their eggs..

 

[1muttsfan]

Quote:

Maybe they will relent and give you another chance!

 

[Kermit's shadow]

Sorry Perolane - you are completely wrong - eggs need the same incubation conditions in Arizona, Alaska, Paris, Moscow, Sydney, Jeddah, Reykjavik, or anywhere else. Local ambient air conditions make no difference at all - if they did you are saying that the egg must know where it is in the world. Go to any commercial poultry company website that advises on hatching and see for yourself, or take a look at the link I posted, which is to a pdf from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service - "Incubating and Hatching Eggs" - the fault is with your PC, not the link.
So-called variations in what works are down to the awful bits of kit people use in their incubators.

As for using weight - what is difficult about putting an egg on a digital scales, writing the weight on the egg, then weighing the egg after a few days and dividing one weight by the other?
I also never suggested buying or using anything at all expensive. I am at a total loss as to why people find it so difficult to consider using a thermometer with a bit of damp cotton wool on the bulb to measure RH.

As for dial gauges - they are about as accurate and reliable as weather forecasting using seaweed and fir cones.

 

[tec27]

Because you don't need it. People have hatched chicken eggs by themselves for 100's of Years. You don't need expensive equipment to do it unless you are incubating 400+ eggs. More than half the people on this site are backyard breeders only incubating 20 or so at a time. In my case I do four. I use a $4 thermometer and hygrometer from Lowes. It's perfect. Along with a $12 digital thermometer. I take the averages of both thermometers to get my overall temp. The cheap humidity gauge whether it's right or not has hatched eggs before successfully. And yes the area in which you live does matter. He's not saying that the temperature in which you are trying to replicate will be different. Like keeping the bator at a constant 99.5. I live in Pittsburgh where the temp is mid 60's and the humidity is always high. I don't need to add water to my bator often because it is constantly around 50-60 percent. This is not the case for people in Arizona where the humidity isn't always high. They will need to add water to their bator. And yes the chickens do know the temperature. If it's 100 degrees out, the chicken will know she doesn't need to lay on her eggs all day. All birds do this. If it's 30 degrees outside, she will know that her eggs will be cold and die if she leaves them. Ambient air temperature and humidity does matter. My light bulb in my bator is probably turned up higher than someone in Arizona because it's colder here. Same beinG said with humidity.

For people wanting to incubate eggs just to keep some chickens in their backyard get a cheap hygrometer, use the salt test to calibrate it and to see if it is wrong and by how much. Keep that number in your head while measuring the humidity in your bator. Get two thermometers just in case one or both is off by a little. That's all you need. Don't go spending $100s to hatch out just a couple eggs.

 

[Kermit's shadow]

But you haven't hatched anything yet.

You do also need the correct RH and the easiest way to get that is to measure it using your $4 thermometer, some free water and almost free cotton wool.

Ambient conditions DO NOT matter - all that matters are the conditions inside the incubator. The ambient conditions in you house will be quite a bit different to those in your garage, or in the yard - you are saying that incubation conditions need to be different in all 3 - they do not.
Where is there an incubator manufacturer that recommends different conditions depending where he sells the machine?

The fact that you do not add water to your incubator says that the RH will be way, way low - 50% RH at 99F is the same as 100% RH at 77F. Even 100% RH at 65F is only 32% RH when you warm the air to 99F.

 

[tec27]

The ambient temperatures influence how much heat and humidity you have to "add" to the bator. So they do matter and can change the environment in the bator.

 

[Kermit's shadow]

No they do not, as such, not in a significant way. I use one water tray in my incubator - always have done for 30 years or so. The ambient conditions vary a lot from March to September while I am setting eggs, but for 90+% of that time that tray of water holds 48-50% RH in the incubator. Very early in the year I usually have to add an extra very small tray.
But this is NOT the same as saying that incubation conditions have to change - what you have to add is irrelevant - what you run the machine at is all that matters - add 1kW or 60W, a cup or a gallon of water, it does not matter - you need 99F and around 50%RH.

50% RH at 65F - the same as 16% RH at 99F.

Incidentally - I seldom set more than 6 eggs in a batch - but I do set lots of batches (in the same machine) - some just as single eggs.

 

[wwalding]

Just let one of the ladies do the work...lol.. They are much better at it than we are.. Specially if you are doing small numbers.. My last hen was 5 for 5...

 

[Kermit's shadow]

If you have a trustworthy one around at the right time, I'd go with that 100%. But no incubator ever stomped on any eggs or ripped the head or legs off any chick...........