Forced-air Incubators

[KoryStone]

Hi everyone, I am new to the whole chicken raising hobby actually I am still awaiting my first chicks. I know that down the road I am gonna want an incubator and I have read a lot about them but I cannot find out if the forced-air ones still need to be turned. I guess any other info about incubators would be helpful as well and do some incubators work as a brooder as well and about the humidity what is needed for that too? Sorry for all the questions I would greatly appreciate any info you may have! Thanks, Kory!

 

[Ridgerunner]

First, I suggest you read this article. I think it will answer a lot of your questions but probably raise some new ones.

Texas A&M Incubation site
http://gallus.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf

When reading that article and anything else on this forum, you need to understand that just because something can happen does not mean it will each and every time. There are a lot of things that can affect the odds of your eggs hatching but they don’t carry guarantees, either of success or failure. Some are more important than others, but most of them are not laws of nature that must be followed to the absolute letter but are general guidelines to help your and point you in the right direction.

Turning the eggs is a good example. You do need to turn the eggs regardless of the type of incubator you have unless you use a broody hen, then she will turn them for you. There are a lot of things that turning affects. If the eggs are not turned, especially early on, body parts can form in the wrong location. This is usually fatal when it happens but it does not happen each and every time. But studies have shown that the mortality if eggs in the third week are significantly higher if the eggs are not turned in the first week when body parts are forming. Turning helps keep the yolk and developing chick centered. If the yolk or developing chick sits next to the porous shell, it can dry out through the shell and stick. Again, this can be fatal. If it is stuck the chick cannot position itself for hatch and cannot zip. There are other things that turning affects, the membrane forming right and who knows what else. There have been cases where some people have not turned the eggs, either for a spell or even the entire incubation, and still get some chicks to hatch and those chicks are often normal. But your odds of getting a good hatch go way up if you turn the eggs the way you should.

There is no magic number of how many times or how often you need to turn the eggs. Within limits and without getting ridiculous, the more often the better. Many times you will see on this forum that you absolutely have to use an odd number of times or disaster will occur. It won’t. What an odd number does with some people’s schedules is prevent them from regularly leaving one side up or down for an unusually large percent of the time, either when they are asleep or when they are at work. If you set up a schedule of turning them four or six times a day pretty evenly spaced out, that will work just as well as 3, 5 or 7 times a day. Don’t get hung up on the details, just get the general principle right. The general principle is to turn them a few times a day and don’t leave them in the same position for a huge amount of the time.

Humidity is something that will vary for each of us, depending on several different factors. The type of incubator, height above sea level which affects air pressure, background humidity in the atmosphere, and who knows how many other things affect what humidity you need. There is a very wide range of what works too. You don’t have to hit it dead on with a sledge hammer. Being in the right ballpark works well. Even the time of year I incubate affects it for me. Some months are drier than others. You will see that people use a lot of different humidities and that what works for one person does not work for another. You’ll read about dry hatching, where people don’t add any water to the incubator and get great hatches. There are times of the year when my background humidity is high that I don’t add water, but there are times that I do. What I suggest with humidity is that you try something and be as consistent as you can. After your first hatch evaluate the results and make adjustments if you need to. If you are not consistent in what you do, how do you know what you need to adjust?

I suggest you calibrate your instruments so you know what you are dealing with. Due to manufacturing tolerances, not all thermometers and hygrometers read exactly right. I like a thermometer that reads to within 0.1 degree, not within 1.0 or 2.0 degrees like a lot of those outdoor thermometers will, but you need to calibrate them anyway. These articles might help.

Rebel’s Thermometer Calibration
http://cmfarm.us/ThermometerCalibration.html

Rebel’s Hygrometer Calibration
http://cmfarm.us/HygrometerCalibration.html

I would not use an incubator as a brooder. The functions are tremendously different. They are just not suited. A major difference is that the incubator needs to be kept a constant temperature the entire time while a brooder works best if you keep one small area warm and let the rest cool off as it will. That way the chicks can find their own comfort zone. Cleanliness is another huge factor. The incubator needs to be sterile and sanitized so you don’t introduce bacteria to the incubating eggs. Chicks grow better with a bit of mess in their lives. That way they can develop the immunities they need. If they are raised in a sterile brooder, they can have real problems when they hit the unsanitized ground. Another huge issue is how fast the chicks grow. They will soon outgrow the incubator. You could probably design and build an incubator that could function as a brooder. We’ve got some pretty remarkably capable people on this forum, but I sure would not attempt it.