First time incubating-advice?

[RedFreckleFarmette]

My experience is only with chicken eggs. I do not know if duck eggs need different treatment.

With chicken eggs, if they look clean, I personally would not wash them. For any eggs that are really dirty (like lumps of poop stuck on them), I would wash those, or else not set them.

I know that some people wash all eggs, by various methods, but I do not know all the details.


Yes, it is fine to open the incubator and manually rotate eggs to turn them.

If you make marks on several sides of the egg, it can make it easier to see which ones are turning properly and which ones are not. (Something like an X on one side and O on the other might be enough, or whatever else seems good to you.)

Thank you so much!!!

 

[Coops Dad]

The NR 360 is about as bulletproof an incubator as it gets, especially for the price. Don't wash the eggs; the bloom is critical for avoiding bacteria permeating the shell and rotting the egg. I made that mistake and had a rotter pop like a stink grenade. Several others were close to exploding, with little dots of amber fluid collecting on the outsides. If you have one with poop stuck to it, just use a fingernail to scrape it off gently or brush it a bit with a paper towel. Or just leave it. The bloom seems to be sufficient protection from poopy crusts and all the other stuff found in a nesting box under a steamy hen.

Don't bother with a liner; the current model of the NR360's hatching tray has very small perforations and I haven't had any chicks get splay legged or torn toenails from it. We've hatched probably 350-400 chicks, a couple dozen turkeys and three dove eggs in the last 18 months.

Don't fret about the turner turning them enough- if it turns, it turns them enough. The eggs don't need a full rotation per turn; it's been argued that they don't really even need to be turned but traditions are traditional, and I'm not one to buck tradition.

If you can, use a calibrated thermometer and hygrometer to confirm your NR's integral thermometer and hygrometer. Mine was dead-on accurate when we first got it but developed a little creep in the thermometer setting because we started getting 20-day hatches on our chicks. They were a little smaller than previous hatches and their yolk sacks weren't really ready to absorb and, as a consequence, a few chicks had umbilical hernias. About half of those developed infections and died. After discovering the discrepancy, I adjusted the temp to compensate for it and subsequent hatches went perfectly.

Follow the directions, set it up for duck eggs (days to hatch and temp) control the humidity, and let it run. You'll be happy.

Best luck!

 

[Coops Dad]

Also, avoid the liner because it WILL suppress the humidity level. Another member had low humidity even filling both chambers and closing down the vent. The humidity increased to the target level when she removed the liner.

 

[RedFreckleFarmette]

Also, avoid the liner because it WILL suppress the humidity level. Another member had low humidity even filling both chambers and closing down the vent. The humidity increased to the target level when she removed the liner.

Thank you for all your advice! This is extremely helpful!!

 

[DavidReaves]

Don't bother with a liner; the current model of the NR360's hatching tray has very small perforations and I haven't had any chicks get splay legged or torn toenails from it. We've hatched probably 350-400 chicks, a couple dozen turkeys and three dove eggs in the last 18 months.

Don't fret about the turner turning them enough- if it turns, it turns them enough. The eggs don't need a full rotation per turn; it's been argued that they don't really even need to be turned but traditions are traditional, and I'm not one to buck tradition.

Do you think there is any harm in a liner? From a lot that I've read there may be three reasons to have one. The foot issues you mention (as not being a problem), the egg turning (the liner may help the turner work more effectively), and finally, the liner makes cleaning easier since other parts don't get as dirty and it's easy to remove and wash.

As long as it doesn't cause more problems, that is.

 

[DavidReaves]

Also, avoid the liner because it WILL suppress the humidity level. Another member had low humidity even filling both chambers and closing down the vent. The humidity increased to the target level when she removed the liner.

Saw this after my previous message. In my case, I'm not having any issues with humidity being low... I had to open the vent all the way AND take the cover off the "B" humidity port for that little bit of extra ventilation to get humidity down to 50%. That's with a liner in place!

 

[Coops Dad]

Do you think there is any harm in a liner? From a lot that I've read there may be three reasons to have one. The foot issues you mention (as not being a problem), the egg turning (the liner may help the turner work more effectively), and finally, the liner makes cleaning easier since other parts don't get as dirty and it's easy to remove and wash.

As long as it doesn't cause more problems, that is.

I put the turner and the tray in the dishwasher on "energy saver" (no heat/no dry). Cleaner than I could do by hand and way easier anyway.