Early chicks?

[gracejr]

Alright, what gives? I'm using a Farm Innovations incubator with turner. Thermometer is an Accu-Rite thermometer and humidity gauge from WalMart set at egg level. It has been consistently 99-100 degrees the entire time, with the exception of one spike up to 102 that lasted a couple hours. Eggs went into lockdown Wednesday night, they were set to hatch this weekend. I woke up Thursday morning to find one half zipped and a few others pipped.

12 of the 16 eggs hatched between Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon. The first chick had what I think may have been a detatched yolk, though I'm not positive. The others all hatched out fine, and everyone is doing ok.

The four remaining eggs are still in the bator, no pips as of yet.

1. Why did they all decide to hatch so early??
2. How long should I wait on the last 4 eggs? They weren't due until tonight, but with everyone else hatching early I'm wondering what is going on. At last candling all the eggs were alive.

 

[Bill 101]

Best guess? Thermometers are off. Leave the rest & see if maybe they will hatch.

 

[gracejr]

If that's the case, what would you suggest for a new thermometer?

 

[Bill 101]

Did you check the accuracy of the ones you have? Most people believe that what ever they buy is going to work, it a natural assumption, but it's not always true. More chicks have been killed because the thermometers used were off & nobody realized it until hatch day. The Thermometers I use & have used for a number of years cost $60. They are Certified & extremely accurate, but it's worth it to me to have these because I don't want to jeopardize the eggs. I use them both for Temperature & Humidity (wet bulb) I think they are well worth the money, but I've hatched 100 chicks a year for 30 years. & still get chicks that hatch on day 20 or 21, rarely (1 in 100) on day 22

 

[gracejr]

I'm trying to remember. I know I calibrated the one that came with the thermometer against my temporal thermometer. But I can't recall if I checked this one before putting it in. I'm just hatching out cute mutts from my flock, not a ton of eggs or valuable ones, so I don't see myself spending that much on a thermometer. Maybe if I started breeding to show or something though. I saw a lot of people using aquarium thermometers in various threads and tutorials, would a couple of those be more accurate?

 

[Bill 101]

It's probably a good idea to check & double check any thermometer or hygrometer/hydrometer you get. It's just to important. It's really easy to hatch chicks & the more you do it the easier it gets. There have been years when I candled on day 7, removed any infertile, put the eggs into another incubator till day 18 & then moved them into a hatcher & they all hatched, week after week. I only candled the one time. Needless to say I have full confidence in my incubators, the thermometers & my chickens & Yes, these were Show Bantams, but I've also hatched Large Fowl, Ducks Pheasants & Quail