First attepted incubator hatch has gone wrong. Any advice or pointers??

[my sunwolf]

I had a similar problem recently with a commercial incubator--3 bad hatches in a row (most of the eggs died early on, all others were fully formed chicks that made it to Day 18 and stopped developing, very low hatch rates and a lot of helping chicks out of shells). Turned out to be severe hot and cold spots. With the fan you really shouldn't have this, but it may be worth the investment to get a few of those long-range digital thermometers where you stick the "probe box" in one location (inside the incubator) and have the reader in another location (outside the incubator) to try to test for this. Sounds like ventilation and humidity are not necessarily perfect right now but not bad enough to screw up your hatch. Not sure how accurate your current equipment (mostly thermostat) is.

I also agree that 67˚F on Day 17 for a possible overnight situation could have killed the eggs then and there, and that would also explain why they look fully developed but did not hatch. That would be like the mother abandoning them for a whole night at a critical time in development.

 

[Daedalus62]

Hi RandomWarrens,

Can you please share the data on your nichrome wire on 12V setup (and/or experiments)?... Like:

- Wire gauge (whence resistance) and length you used?
- Power source current draw?

I'm also planning on a DIY incubator and looking (I think!) for around 80W, or 2 x 40, heating setup... Any info you can pass on will be most helpful... Just trying to cut corners on the experimenting bit, as I don't have any nichrome wire yet.

Thanks in advance!

BTW, on your failed hatch... By all means not disregarding the dry hatch method (or any other!), just sharing my experience... I had 100% success (in all fertile eggs, candled in the 7th day) with steady 40% and 70% humidity run... I didn't lower the temperature in lockdown however, steady 37.5ºC (99.5ºF) all the time.

Cheers