Broken hearted hatching for a first timer.

[Rae Scott]

Fianceand i bought a pro series incubator at TSC. Calibrated it and then set my 12 olive egger eggs in. Well as a surprise about a week later i gifted him 8 Gold Laced Brahma eggs. As of today its day 22 on his Brahma eggs. I lost 4 eggs early. 2 never developed, 1 ended up with a bloodring and the 4th turned out to be scrambled in the shell. Out of the remaining 8 eggs only 4 hatched. We got all girls. Left the remaining 4 eggs in just in case. Lockdown came for his eggs. WednesdY was hatch day for his Brahmas. Well on day 19 we had one male GLB hatch, nothing since. No pipping, i cant hear chirping as incubator is next to the brooder. We had seriously hoped for at least 2 girls and 1 boy from each hatch.


So out of our beginning 20 eggs we only got 5 chicks. We babied that incubator, constantly checked the temp and humidity levels etc. And yet we have recieved what feels like very little in return. There were a few minor issues with humidity early on but nothing that should have given a 75% fail rate. We have other eggs we want to order and incubate but are unsure if we want to risk the financial and emotional loss again using this incubator. Thoughts please?

 

[TwoBFlying]

Sorry to hear about the disappointing hatch results. There are a tremendous number of variables when incubating eggs and the incubator is only one. If your eggs are mail ordered these eggs go through a lot of bumping and banging in shipment not to mention unknow and some times extreme changes in temperature. The age of the eggs before shipping and how properly they are collected, turned and the temp they are maintained at in storage all before they ever get to the post office or UPS is very important. If you can source your eggs local or drive a reasonable distance to pick them up, these will both help to improve your hatch rate. I have mailed ordered many eggs my self and frequently with disappointing results. It sounds like you maintained your incubator well. If you want to test it without much much cost or risk you can try to pick up a few fresh inexpensive chicken eggs from a local farmer and incubate them. If they do well you can assume the incubator is working well. Another option is to place a second thermometer and hygrometer in the incubator to ensure accuracy. These gauges can be off from the factory or damaged in shipment. These are just a few things that I have encountered while incubating.

 

[bobbi-j]

Fianceand i bought a pro series incubator at TSC. Calibrated it and then set my 12 olive egger eggs in. Well as a surprise about a week later i gifted him 8 Gold Laced Brahma eggs. As of today its day 22 on his Brahma eggs. I lost 4 eggs early. 2 never developed, 1 ended up with a bloodring and the 4th turned out to be scrambled in the shell. Out of the remaining 8 eggs only 4 hatched. We got all girls. Left the remaining 4 eggs in just in case. Lockdown came for his eggs. WednesdY was hatch day for his Brahmas. Well on day 19 we had one male GLB hatch, nothing since. No pipping, i cant hear chirping as incubator is next to the brooder. We had seriously hoped for at least 2 girls and 1 boy from each hatch.


So out of our beginning 20 eggs we only got 5 chicks. We babied that incubator, constantly checked the temp and humidity levels etc. And yet we have recieved what feels like very little in return. There were a few minor issues with humidity early on but nothing that should have given a 75% fail rate. We have other eggs we want to order and incubate but are unsure if we want to risk the financial and emotional loss again using this incubator. Thoughts please?

If your eggs were shipped, it may not have been the incubator. I don't purchase shipped eggs, but have read that they can have a low hatch rate. Hopefully someone with experience in this will chime in.

 

[Rae Scott]

I know we did everything by the book even hand turning his eggs the last few days due to lockdown on mine. We are grateful for what we did hatch but so disappointed and heartbroken over the ones that didnt.

 

[TwoBFlying]

It is disappointing when a hatch doesn't turn out as hoped, but it is truly gratifying when a hatch goes well. Each time is a learning experience and things will get better. It will be enjoyable watching your five grow knowing you had a big part in it.

 

[Fairview01]

I suspect your incubator temp was not by the book. Incubation time for chicken eggs is 21 days. Hatching on day 19 is an indication the temp was higher than 100 degrees for extended times.

 

[Rae Scott]

I say day 19 becausw we went to bed on day 19 early, around 9ish. No pipping, movement etc. Woke up the next morning and there was a chick. We had calibrated the incubator prior to setting eggs. If the temps rose and fallen it would have all happened while we were at work. We check it every day before we leave and immediately upon returning. When home we are constantly checking it.

Should we risk using this incubator again? We have other eggs we want to order and hatch but really cant afford such a low hatch rate...