Advice, tips and sugggestions appreciated!

[TheMoodyHere]

Question for everyone, but 1st a little back story. I bought my 1st incubator this year. I have had chickens my whole life and we hatched when I was little but I have never hatched any myself. So I read the directions and it said to never go by the thermometer on the incubator but to use your own, such as a meat thermometer. I have a nice meat probe, the kind that you put the probe in the meat and have a unit outside the oven to read the temp so I decided to use it. I place the probe on the bottom of the incubator and then the turner. I let the incubator run for a whole day and got the temp set to 99-100 which is what the directions indicated. The humidity was 50. We placed the eggs in the next day and after a week we candled them. A couple were duds so they were thrown out. The rest seemed to develop properly they had veins and then were completely dark. At day 19 I removed the turner and placed the eggs on the bottom per the directions. At this point I had a bit of problem with the thermometer as (Im only guessing here) I had it under the heating element and with nothing between it read very high. I moved it to the middle and put eggs around it to hopefully get a more accurate reading and it seemed to work. It sounds like I had it open a lot but it wasn’t. We only opened it to add water for humidity and twice to check the eggs and when I removed the turner. WE did get the humidity too high once and water beaded inside the windows so we removed one of the ventilation holes for a few hours to dry it out a bit. 21 days would have been 3/31. To our surprise one hatched on Saturday night, a tiny bit early.... we were very excited. Sadly it died the next day, but I know this sometimes happens. We watched all day Sunday and no more hatched. It’s now 4/2 and nothing. No peeping in the eggs or anything. I think they aren’t going to hatch.
Does anyone have an educated guess on what went wrong? I think perhaps it was my choice in thermometers?
I want to try again, any and all tips, hints and suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[Megan Amber]

I am sorry that didn't work out. I think it probably was your thermometer. It sounds as though it may have been warmer in there than it should have been. Granted I am by no means a hatching expert though. What kind of incubator do you have? Still air or circulated air?

 

[Bill 101]

Where did you get the instructions? It seem strange that an incubator that came with a thermometer would recommend you not use it. You actually can't trust any thermometer without calibrating it yourself or buying one that is Certified (about $60). I don't know a Meat thermometer is any more accurate than a normal one.
How did you determine that the humidity should be 50% & how did you measure it? What was the humidity during lockdown?
In addition to that I have the same question as above, Still air or Forced air?

These questions probably aren't what you thought you'd get, but in order to try to suggest what you might do to get a better hatch, there necessary.

 

[TheMoodyHere]

The directions came with the incubator. It stated several times that the built in thermometer should be used for reference only. It also has something to tell the humidity which is what I used. It is forced air. My mother bought me a proper thermometer today so I can try again.. I may be 33 but my mom still comes to my rescue
The humidity during lockdown was apx. 65% or so sayeth the thing on the incubator.

 

[Megan Amber]

I see. Mine tells me to only use the built in one as reference to. You should use the one your mother got you and then judge the difference between built in and seperate. Good Luck with your next hatch!!!!

 

[TheMoodyHere]

The new thermometer must have done the trick. My new batch of eggs is hatching today and I woke up to 6 already out of the shell :}

 

[Bill 101]

I find that the Manufacturer of an incubator that states to use the Thermometer they supply as only a reference DISCUSTING

What is a person to reference it for? A thermometer is the MOST important part of incubating -

 

[TheMoodyHere]

I find that the Manufacturer of an incubator that states to use the Thermometer they supply as only a reference DISCUSTING

What is a person to reference it for? A thermometer is the MOST important part of incubating -

I would agree with you. It stated several times though and according to the thermometer my mother got me it is a cozy 99.5. According to the one actually attached to the incubator it is 91 :/ and to my knowledge there is no way to adjust it.