Biggest Incubation Mistakes

[BDutch]

other: I never bought an incubator, but was relying on my Dutch bantams instead.

It has it’s pro and cons to ‘use’ a broody/ two broodies as incubator. But to see a mama hen with her babies is sooo cute I doubt if I will ever buy an incubator.

 

[Tclloyd0812]

1. What did you do? I didn't throw out a cracked egg. I also didn't smell the eggs or open the incubator enough to know there was a rotten egg in there.
2. What were the consequences? An egg (pheasant) exploded in the incubator and it was a nasty mess.
3. Did you fix it? How? The best I could. I cleaned the incubator the best I could, replaced the shelf liner I put in for grip, wiped off the other eggs gently, and put them back in.
4. What did you learn? I learned to monitor the eggs in the incubator, check for tiny cracks in the eggs EVERY time no matter how many times you've incubated eggs and throw them out even if it's a small crack. If I would have discarded the egg to begin with instead of trying to make it work out, it wouldn't have exploded most likely.

 

[Tclloyd0812]

1. What did you do? I decided to incubate different types of eggs at the same time without really keeping track of time. (I had pheasant, duck, geese, quail, and chicken eggs in the incubator, all different hatch times of course quail being the shortest hatch time at around 18 days, and geese around 28 to 32 days)
2. What were the consequences? Luckily it didn't effect the hatch rate (to my surpise), but I had babies hatching at random times. I tried matching up the days (for instance, I put the goose and duck eggs in first, then the pheasant, then a few days later the chicken, then a few days after that the quail) but it didn't help much. Just not a good idea in general no matter how impatient you are and if you have the eggs at a convenient time.
3. Did you fix it? How? I let the babies hatch over a few days and just tried to keep up with them the best I could.
4. What did you learn? I learned that incubating different eggs at different times without really thinking much about it causes some chaos. Now I have multiple incubators, so it's not as much as a problem with being impatient. I learned that just because you have the eggs and you want to incubate them all together because you want baby chicks or want to sell the chicks doesn't mean you should if you don't have the room and it causes craziness. Lol

 

[Araucana Nest]

You may want to add wasting money on cheap incubators!!!!

This.
When I wanted to re-enter incubation in 2013 after a long absence, I was unemployed and bought a Janoel cheap on eBay. All the eggs fried during lockdown because of a temp spike. This was my worst incubation disaster. I threw it against the wall and then threw it in the garbage. I went the other direction not too long ago and purchased an incubator at the high end of my budget range and learned that I want to work with only fully digital, easy to clean and high visibility incubators. What have I learned? My hens do it better.

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

What's a problem with using tap water? I didnt know that was an issue. I've always used it straight from the sink with good results.

Yeah I use tap as well and haven't seen any problems.

 

[Crazy Duck Lover]

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Oh okay thank you! I used well water a
on my last hatch and I realized it makes it harder to clean. I also had a lower hatch rate. The other times I used bottled water. Can I use bottle water?

 

[Pippin quail]

My mistakes... Had the incubator on a low shelf in a room I thought could lock. My 2.5 year old daughter proved that she could open the door by hanging on the handle and pushing. She did this while I was rescuing my older chickens from a wind/hail storm that came out of nowhere. My lovely daughter was "helping" by turning the eggs for me. She rearranged all eggs and put them all pointy side up.
Results? When I candled the eggs a couple days later it looked like half had blood rings. And I was so sad.
My solution? I got some more hatching eggs from a local lady and stuck them in the incubator. So now had a staggered hatch to deal with. I also re-candled all the eggs I suspected had died and only one actually had a blood ring, the rest were growing! So I tossed that one and then had way more viable eggs than I thought I needed.
Next mistake: When eggs started hatching i removed chicks several times. Fluctuating humidity levels ensued. By time I was done waiting for half of my eggs that didn't hatch from the first batch and was going to quickly clean out the bator to lockdown the next ones, two of the later eggs had already pipped. They had to hatch into a nasty smelling incubator with 4 or 5 days worth of slime and hatching gunk. One of those eggs pipped and started zipping...I maybe should have attempted to help, but it died somehow.
In total for 18 eggs in there I got 10 chicks, one only lived 2 days. The rest are healthy 5-6 week olds!

What I learned: Childproof the room for real!! Don't try staggered hatching as your second or third hatch (or at all if possible!) Don't be too hasty about removing chicks. (Although I did save one chick in the egg because one of the ones who hatched was pecking it right where it pipped and pulling at the membrane!! So sometimes necessary to remove chicks)
Hatching is amazing but so STRESSFUL.
I hope I get some broodies next year and they're good mamas.

 

[HAPPYCHICKENLADY17]

From Brinsea (Water matters - Brinsea)

i did use distilled water...i had a temp/humidity gauge in the incubator..candled at 10 days and 17 days..put shelf liner down when i removed the turning tray...i have had 2 successful hatches one with 5 eggs in a janoel 12 incubator and 6 eggs in a nurture right 360..all babies hatched and did great

 

[Poultrybonkers]

1. What did you do? tried and hatch eggs in my bedroom
2. What were the consequences? Eggs never hatched
3. Did you fix it? How? Moved bator to closet
4. What did you learn? If you have mold on your walls the bator will suck in air around it and cause eggs not to hatch clean walls and eggs hatch. I live in an 1800 house so its old and i had mold on my walls from lack of ventilation so I cleaned walls and eggs hatched. As ive tried three times hatching at the time and none would ever hatch. Now i have my bator in my closet and get perfect hatches every time my last hatch was 8/8 hatched

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I've only incubated once, and I don't feel I made any mistakes. I set 22 eggs, 12 hatched, two were fully formed but never pipped internally, six were either non fertile or very early quitters, and two looked like they had developed for a few days before quitting. I'm more inclined to think the six were non-fertile. I felt that two early quitters and two that never pipped internally could have happened just as easily under a broody hen, and I have had that happen under a broody hen. I suppose future attempts at incubating will give me a clearer answer in the future!