HeatherMM
Hatching
- May 12, 2015
- 1
- 0
- 7
Just finished my first hatch in the Top Hatch Incubator. It was a miserable failure, only 3 of 25 eggs hatched (on day 23), and of those 3, only 1 chick is still alive.
I was expecting a miserable hatch because:
-the incubator didn't hold temperature very well, fluctuating from 90 to 100 degrees. I think this was due to it being in a cold room, and after I installed a space heater it seemed to improve.
-the turning mechanism. Eggs are placed on their side, but the turner would continually turn them to be vertical, often with the narrow side of the egg up. So I was always opening the lid to fix the eggs because I'd read they shouldn't ever be incubated narrow side up. About mid-way through incubation I talked with the guy who sold me the incubator, and he told me not to worry about the eggs being narrow side up for brief periods. So I stopped worrying about it and left the incubator alone after that.
Does anyone have advice for dealing with this turning mechanism on the Top Hatch? Fewer eggs perhaps? I started with 35 eggs and took out 10 that weren't developing by day 11. But even with 25 eggs the turner was tilting them vertical. Or is the bigger problem that I kept opening the top?
Thanks!
I was expecting a miserable hatch because:
-the incubator didn't hold temperature very well, fluctuating from 90 to 100 degrees. I think this was due to it being in a cold room, and after I installed a space heater it seemed to improve.
-the turning mechanism. Eggs are placed on their side, but the turner would continually turn them to be vertical, often with the narrow side of the egg up. So I was always opening the lid to fix the eggs because I'd read they shouldn't ever be incubated narrow side up. About mid-way through incubation I talked with the guy who sold me the incubator, and he told me not to worry about the eggs being narrow side up for brief periods. So I stopped worrying about it and left the incubator alone after that.
Does anyone have advice for dealing with this turning mechanism on the Top Hatch? Fewer eggs perhaps? I started with 35 eggs and took out 10 that weren't developing by day 11. But even with 25 eggs the turner was tilting them vertical. Or is the bigger problem that I kept opening the top?
Thanks!
