fertile eggs wanted in maine

[howlingwoodsfarm]

Hello,
I post here with a heavy heart, we just had 17 BLRW and 5 EE eggs not hatch in our incubator and are looking for some local fertile eggs to try. All the eggs we have tried have been shipped and have had HORRIBLE hatch rate with them. We need to figure out what we are doing wrong and I can't take the dissapointment again of not getting my BLRW. SOOO before I order any again to be shipped I want to make sure I am doing everything I can right, and that starts with trying some local fertile eggs. Any standard size breed is fine, please let me know if you have any you are willing to part with, we will certainly buy them from you but hope not to pay too much for them. We really do want eggs that do not have to be shipped.

Thanks so much..

 

[tate]

whatare you using for a incubator when i was using a styro had bad hatches on shipped and my own eggs then got a cabinet and had real good hatches on all eggs when i lived thre uncle henrys used to have some in it good prices too

 

[howlingwoodsfarm]

unfortunately yes we are using the styrofoam kind. Should have just invested in a good one in the first place, you get what you pay for. Don't know if can do a cabinet kind now, but was wondering about the Brower Top hatch incubator.. wondering if it is a good one... anyone know?

 

[hinkjc]

I don't think it's the incubator at all. I used styro ones for a long time before I could afford a bigger, better models and had great hatches. The difficulty first is the shipping is rough on the eggs and can start you off on a bad foot right from the start as you found out. The other problems could be temp, humidity, and ventilation. You want to figure out what went wrong and resolve it. You are starting in the right place by looking for local eggs to "practice" on. Another recommendation would be to place several thermometers in there and ensure the temp is regulated correctly. If you used the one that came with it, they are junk and never calibrated accurately. Get a nice little digital thermometer/hygrometer at Walmart or Kmart and see what those read with your current setting.

For a still air incubator, the temp s/b 101-102 F.
For a fan incubator, the temp s/b 99.5

Humidity during the 1st 18 days s/b about 50% relative.
Humidity during the last 3 days s/b 65-70% relative.

For still air I recommend removing one plug about half way through - you may need to adjust temp/humidity by doing this, so keep an eye on that.
For fan models, I don't remove any plugs as the fan provides the additional ventilation needed for the growing embryos.

Feel free to ask any questions and we'll try to help you as best we can. I hope your next hatch goes better. If I was closer, I'd offer you some eggs just to get things figured out.

Jody

 

[howlingwoodsfarm]

Thanks for the advice. We were keeping temp at just under 100 degrees. We have a still air, so we should have had it a few degrees higher. You say 101-102 but where do you have the tip of digital thermometer sitting? In a water weasel? or just try to get it egg height? Our chicks we got early spring will be laying within a few months so we can try with their eggs, even though I imagine they don't have good fertility rate when in first few months of laying? The roosters are same age as girls so don't know if they know what they are doing that early on. We have a beautiful BLRW roo that I can't wait to see what his babies look like coming from all the different breed girls we have(buff orp, barred rock, brown leghorn, white leghorn, RIR, EE, Black Aust.) Can't wait to see what the mutts will look like. We'll try again with our styrofoam incubator then and just get some gadgets for it to help regulate.. Thanks again