I think this is the fastest I have had chicks hatching, I can looked into the hatcher no pips, half hour later I have 2 chicks in there.I put 17 eggs in the hatcher on Tuesday, 2 Buckeye, 7 Delaware, 6 Icelandic and 2 olive eggers. I now have 4 Icelandics, 2 Olive Eggers and 3 Delawares with all but 2 of he remaining eggs pipped, they should hatch out today. So 15 out of 17 eggs. The Icelandics hatched out on the 13th two days early. The chicks were due today. No complaining on this hatch. Another batch due to go in on Sat. At least I know my Icelandic and Delaware roosters are fertile boys. The Buckeye roo is trying, have 1 from another hatch, and should be 2 from this one, getting better.
e Congratulations. That sure sounds like a successful hatch to me. 15 out of 17 eggs is nice. Hatch time is exciting. I just had one where one chick was over a full day early and the other 17 were right on time. Some of those others popped out pretty quickly too but I think the pip was at the bottom where I could not see it. Glad you had this success.
I would like to hatch eggs in an incubator (possible homemade) with my young students. Do homemade incubators have higher hatch percentage than store bought? I have also found online a thermostat, fan, heater combo from www.incubatorwarehouse.com. I would love a 100% hatch; I know this might be naive on my part. And I do have 24 hens and one active rooster. Debbie
Depends on how the incubator is made and how they are operated. You can do really well with either one or really lousy with either one. I’ve had 100% hatch rates and around 30% hatch rates with my incubator. My broody hatches are normally pretty good with an occasional 100% but I have has some of those around 60%. There is a lot more that goes into it than just whether the eggs are fertile and what type of incubator you have. With that many hens with one rooster there is a chance practically all the eggs will be fertile. There is also a chance that several will not. That again depends on different things. A big part is the age and energy level of your rooster and how well your hens do their part. An older rooster can sometimes lose energy. If you are thinking about hatching with your class, you might talk to your county extension agent, in the phone book under county government. Not all agents are as good as some others, but the agent could easily have access to incubators, sometimes really neat hatching eggs, and maybe even an expert that can help. What does a phone call cost you, especially when it might really help? Good luck!!!
