Floating eggs before incubating?

[kelseyk]

My last 2 attempts at hatching eggs in the incubator didn't end up with the best hatch rate (new to this ). So I have been trying to do some research tips and tricks to get a better hatch rate. One of the videos I found said to float test your eggs in room temperature water before you put them in the incubator and to let them sit in the water for up to 5 minutes if they float at an angle or on end. Does anyone here do this? Does putting them in water remove the bloom, or do you actually have to wipe them off while wet to remove the bloom? Would this force bacteria into the egg? They did a series of videos from start to finish and he ended up with a hatch rate in the upper 80's. They were hatching quail. Just curious about it.

 

[Mvan42]

I personally don’t, but may be able to help with tips tricks.. What temperature did u keep your incubator on? What do you keep humidity at? What kind of incubator do you have? Are your thermometer and hygrometer calibrated?

 

[kelseyk]

I have a Styrofoam Farm Innovators incubator and a small plastic JANOEL 12 incubator. 2nd hatch I added 2 different thermometer/Hydrometer units in both and kept the temp set at 99.5 and tried to keep the humidity around 50%-60% for days 1-18 and then up it 70%-75% humidity at lock down. It is dry in this part of Nebraska, so it can be challenging to keep humidity up. First hatch we did on our main floor mid summer (house was around 72 degrees), second hatch we did in our basement (a little higher humidity in the basement, but a little cooler - around 68 degrees) late fall. After doing a bunch more research yesterday and today, I think some of the problem may have been giving in and opening the lid of the incubator during lock down. When the first chicks hatch and start running around, do they harm the unhatched eggs? That was the main reason I was opening the incubator was to get the hatched chicks out once they were dry so they didn't knock the other eggs around.