Am I the only one who failed at incubating for the first time?

[comptonsgonecountry]

Just take it as a learning experience. Don't be discouraged! My first batch of 20 went horribly wrong. I had 13 clear, 3 early quitters, 1 never made it to hatch but was fully developed, 1 started to zip but never made it out because the membrane was dry and 1 hatched but yolk was outside abdominal wall. I had to put the poor thing down a couple hours later because he was deteriorating. Upon opening the eggs up, for my own learning experience, It seemed that there was a lot of liquid in the eggs. I believe my humidity was way to high, but I'm not 100%sure on that.

I'm now on my second incubation and had a dozen of my own chicken eggs in the bator. Day 10 I candled and 5 were clear, 4 in question, 1 with what appears to be a blood ring and 2 that are growing and showing activity when candled. I'm trying out the dry incubation and egg carton methods. We shall see if I have any hatch. I'm right along with you on learning what works for me.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

This is my first time Incubating I'll tell you if I'm a failure to.

 

[Evelle]

first time i tryed hatching i used a homemade one kept humimity right but the heat would fluctuate horrably!!! sad to say three times trying i quit using a homemade and used one a friend found at the dump.. that one was a little better out of 12 eggs 4 hatched still not as sucsessful as i had wished but better than the last three times. this year im buying a brand new one!!!

 

[stephanie1992]

its my first time hatching and i have differnt batches of eggs put in and soo far no luck, all make it to lockdown then die. soo no ur not the only one

 

[Delilah1337]

I messed up with my first egg but then I just hod one hatch Monday and another this morning. The biggest thing for me is getting to understand my bator and how to adjust it when I add more eggs and when it comes to lockdown. Keep your head up and try again. We are here for ya when you have doubts...

 

[gryeyes]

I had a great first couple of hatches, but I attribute it mostly to the incubator (Brinsea MiniAdvance) which has an auto-turner and holds humidity very well. But it only incubates 7 eggs at a time.

I've had some horrible hatches since, and some successful ones. I now use Brinsea Octagon20 Advance EX incubators in addition to the Minis; these hold up to 20 or 22. Or 24 eggs, depending on their size and if you use the separator rails or not. Some of those hatches were dismal at best.

Don't give up - I consider it a miracle that eggs hatch in incubators at all! Even momma broodies don't always succeed in hatching and raising surviving chicks.

 

[snooptwomey]

By what I hear and read, you are in the same boat as ALOT of people. I am currently on day 15 of my first hatch ever, in a still air Little Giant, about as basic and difficult of an incubator out there by what others say. Mostly this incubator gets so-so to bad reviews due to how basic and low end the components are. Its been like a part time job for me to maintain everything correct on the incubator. I got lucky in the fact that my little giant holds a pretty solid temp, it fluxes anywhere from low 99's up to around 100.5 , which are all fine temps for me. The humidity i check every now and then with a wet bulb, I have been in the low 40%'s for a while now, and I only add minimal water every other day or so. I started out with 8 EE eggs, after day 6 I believe, I candled, 1 didnt start developing, and it looked like the other 7 were ok. Candled last night and it looks like I have 3 def good ones, 1 very iffy one, and 3 def NO GO's. So if all goes good, I will end up with 3 healthy chicks in a week. Keeping my fingers crossed

Not sure if anyone else is into this kinda stuff or understands it, but the day after I put the eggs in, I asked the pendulum we have at the house(my wife is very spiritual and into that stuff) and it told me then that I would hatch 3 of the 8. Wierd, I know, lol, but by me messing around with the pendulum other times, it has turned out to be better than 80% accurate on questions I have asked, like its 10 out of 12 for me so far I think. It works on yes or no questions, and told me 3 eggs would hatch. I admit, I am a very skeptical person when it comes to that stuff, but I guess till it proves me wrong, I have no reason to think I wont hatch 3 eggs next week

 

[snooptwomey]

I also hear that winter time hatches produce lower hatch rates, and less fertile eggs, I am guessing due to the lower temps and drier air. The chickens maybe are working harder at staying warm, that not as much internal energy goes into the eggs?? I dont know, I just hear that winter time is the harder time of year to hatch anyway. With shipped eggs, they risk the chance of getting too cold during transit that some of the eggs just wont develop. I am new to all this, so this is just what I assume of what I see online

 

[JenBirdRansom]

Well this is my first time also. Mine are due Feb 1st. They were shipped from an awesome seller and were packed wonderfully but the PO managed to completely destroy 5 of them! Talk about rough handling. I candled them a couple days ago and took 5 more out as clearly there was nothing going on in there.

I have a ReptiPro 5000 with auto turners.....we shall see what becomes of this batch. If I can get ONE chick I will be super excited!!

 

[LegginMF12]

First hatch.....100% FAILURE! Second hatch I had 9 out of 9 hatch! I am on my third hatch, first time with shipped eggs and out of 30 sent P.O. broke 2 and of the 28 left only two are showing any vein development, so failure. I isn't helping that 14 hrs after I put my eggs in the 'bator the power went out for 7 hours and they are shipped eggs. All of the air cells are detached.. Keep trying, it will happen for you. On my 100% hatch my temps went high and low and my humidity at one point was 8%. Also I work a double on Mondays shift, so on Mondays I didn't turn eggs at all, let alone 3 times in a day.