Bad hatch rate...

[sanchoman]

I had a very disappointing hatch rate from eggs that I gathered over a 5 day period from my backyard flock, turned twice daily and stored in my office where the temps stayed consistent.

7 out of 30 hatched.

I have 4 RIR hens, 2 EE hens and 3 Barred Rock hens running with a RIR roo and an EE roo. The fertility was good as 27 were fertile.

The rest stayed in the bator until the 23rd day... The first pip was on the 20th and by the 21st the 7 hatched.

I opened the eggs and most of them were pretty well developed.

I did have a temp spike around the 17th and it was 105.5 when I returned from work and then on the 19th it dipped to 96.5 when I awoke.

Was using a hovabator still air.

 

[paddock36]

Sounds like that temp spike is probably what's to blame.

 

[pete55]

What was the average temperature during incubation? Also was the thermometer checked for being accurate and set at a height that was level with the top of the eggs? For future hatches I would advise that you turn the eggs at least 3 times a day (but always an odd number) as each night on the long period its a different side thats uppermost

 

[kandooshe]

You may have problems with humidity, the best average of Humidity is 60-65% for the first 18 days, 80-85% for the last 3 days.

You can sneak by with humidity numbers that aren't very accurate, but the combination of poor humidity and temperature will definately cause problems at hatch time. If your temperature is not accurate you will DEFINATELY have problems at hatch time. The bigger the deviation from the proper temperature, the bigger your problems will be!

 

[sanchoman]

i tried to keep the temp at 100.5 the whole way through.

i did a dry 18 and then 60 - 65% the last 3 days.

 

[happydog]

Quote:
That's interesting. I keep reading people on here swearing by dry incubating. I wonder if perhaps they live in a humid area. With no added water I have around 30-35% humidity. I had awful hatch rates. I've bumped it up and I think it helps. But I'm new at this and don't really know.

It's very frustrating to have half the people advising dry hatch and others advising high humidity. My 4H leader advised us to keep the humidity high the whole time. He hatches a lot of birds. I wish I knew who to believe, lol.

 

[sanchoman]

This was my 2nd hatch.

The first I had 12 out of 15 hatch and I did a dry incubation as well.

The only difference this time around was I was NOT dealing with wild outside temp swings 40's at night and 70's during the day...

And I invested in a thermometer that also measured humidity.

I thought I would have better results.

 

[pascopol]

Sounds like another victim od styrobators SPIKES.

LG's are Hall of Fame masters of spikes, hovabators suppose to be better but they are capable too. (Of spikes)

 

[kandooshe]

sitting eggs under a broody is far better than any incubator, I do this every spring with good results

 

[SourRoses]

I used a Hovabator still air too, and really liked it. Though still air temp should be 101.5...
But I'm here in south FL... I didn't try it dry... but just adding water to 1 middle resevoir jumped the humidity up to 55%... I couldnt get it down so I just let the water work away until week 2.. left it empty at that point and it was holding 35%... then at lockdown I upped it to 70% ... LOLOL it was my first hatch! They were shipped, but 3 of the 4 good eggs hatched and are super healthy chicks. Ill say I think incubating in FL might just be harder.. because at this time of year most of us dont turn the AC on yet.. the days can spike to 80, 85, 90 without us really noticing, since it goes right back down around the time most people leave work. Then the nights were cooler and down to 60 while I was trying to incubate mine a few weeks back. So fustrating, but I was home the whole time to monitor and adjust the temps frequently. If your like me and the ac isen't on yet.. maybe you'll have more blessings in a month or two when you have to kick it on.