Acceptable hatch rates ....

[twigg]

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Do you have a website?

 

[gamebirdsonly]

As far as shipped eggs I am just happy to get 1 to hatch, home grown eggs I expect at least 80%.

 

[mrsengeseth]

i have 40 quail and 8 chicken eggs going right now. theyre on week two in the bator. The quail were shipped, incredibly well packed, insulated from the cold, etc etc. If I have 5 hatch i will be thrilled. Heck, one and I'll still dance. The chickens were not shipped, and I hope for 50% to hatch. that would make me happy. At my altitude, experience level, and other factors, i don't expect much.

 

[Buster]

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Do you have a website?

I don't yet but I will very soon.

 

[Buster]

Ok, it's the end of day 22 now and I don't have anymore pips. My results are 31/35 eggs hatched. That's 88.5%. That's officially my best hatch to date. Baby steps.....Baby steps. The first hatch I ever did I only hatched one egg out of about 24. Just keep working at it and trying to improve and tweaking little things until you get it right.

 

[hollymh]

Is there a better hatch rate in general for smaller groups of eggs?

 

[Akane]

On my own eggs from hens that have been laying for a little while I expect 90% or better. Past hatch was 86 and this hatch I've been tossing a bunch that have quit. I am only expecting maybe 75-80% but there are known reasons for the lower rates these times. Some were pullet eggs from my EEs and odd sizes or with shell deformities but I wanted to see what they'd do. Some might have started to freeze in the coop before I got them. I don't have any hens that have been laying for more than a couple months so I don't expect perfect from them yet even if the eggs weren't freezing.

From shipped eggs I'm happy with 50%. I hatched 2 of 24 from shipped eggs my first time.

6 of 14 the 2nd time and 7 of 12 the 3rd. Then 7 of 25 button quail eggs. In comparison I've set about 4 dozen button eggs and out of those that were fertile 2 have failed to hatch. Huge difference between that and the shipped button eggs. I now know to order at least twice as many as I want to hatch.

 

[twigg]

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There shouldn't be .... an egg doesn't know how many other eggs there are

However, it is likely that larger groups of eggs are incubated in larger incubators. Bigger incubators are generally much easier to use, have better temp and humidity control, and are made from higher quality components.

Commercial hatcheries incubate by the hundred thousand, their hatch rates are extremely high.

 

[twigg]

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That was roughly my experience with shipped eggs too.

24 ordered, 6 arrived broken. Of the 18, 3 were clear and I think 11 hatched.

 

[shelleyd2008]

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Shipping is one of the factors I would consider first. I am not saying that anyone SHOULD get a specific hatch rate, just promoting a discussion on the subject so we all can learn.

Counting clears is bad practise. For a start, it would lead you in the wrong direction when thinking about improvements. We need to NOT count clears, they couldn't have hatched whatever we do.

I hope lots of folk read this thread. I do not seek to criticize, just inform each other on what constitutes good practise.

Clears don't always mean infertile though, so I think that's a reason why people count them. True, with shipped eggs, more times than not, a clear was scrambled by the P.O., but it could also be that the temp was not right in the first day or two. That would make the eggs candle clear. I didn't count clears last summer, but the eggs were from my flock, and the only 'clears' were from my dad's fluffy butt standard cochin. The only 'working' roo at the time was a teeny tiny dutch, so I figure he had a bit of difficulty hitting his mark