Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 Incubator is AMAZING!

[CluckNDoodle]

I decided to give it another go.

I realized the bad luck trifecta of shipped eggs/damaged air cells, the 7 day power outage and my own inexperience/missteps PROBABLY wouldn’t repeat itself, but I waited to share the progress JUST in case of another crushing failure. So. I have babies hatching right now!
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This guys a little early, day 21 is tomorrow. Two more have pipped externally. I am ecstatic!

Of course the biggest difference was our power didn’t go out this time, but I also researched and watched every video on shipped eggs and damaged air cells I could find! Totally different approach this time of not laying the eggs down but hand turning and tilting 3x a day for 18 days while upright. I also discovered and purchased an incredible little device that DH ended up helping me buy as an early birthday present! It’s called a Buddy Mark 2 heart monitor. Starting about day 5-10, (I checked on day 7) it will show the heart rate of the developing chick. It just took so much of the guesswork out of it for me. I’m learning as fast as I can but having immediate confirmation accelerated that part of understanding what I’m looking at when I’m candling. Not to mention it really boosted my confidence knowing I had only viable and developing eggs going into lockdown.
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As I post this one of the other pipped eggs is ZIPPING!
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Wow! Now that's cool! A heart monitor for your eggs!

You really can't beat yourself up about shipped eggs. It's luck of the draw depending on whether the people transporting the package even read the notes on the box and more so if they even care.
I've had 100% viability and hatch rates from shipped eggs and 0%. The 0% the eggs looked so bad that I did exactly what you did this time, nothing started to develop, they were just scrambled. The 100% hatch I treated exactly the same as my local eggs.
Right now I have shipped eggs in the incubators and so far only 2 are infertile out of 48 and the rest are developing beautifully! I guess I'm saying this because if you decide to try shipped eggs again and it's another flop, it's not you. Hopefully having a good experience this time will help you to see that better!! I hope you end up with lots of peeps!

 

[EmmaRainboe]

I will admit I haven’t read through the whole thread so this question has probably already been asked, and I’ve never incubated so this may be a silly question.

But does this incubator work for quail eggs?

 

[Chipper Chicken]

And there are TWO!

 

[Chipper Chicken]

I will admit I haven’t read through the whole thread so this question has probably already been asked, and I’ve never incubated so this may be a silly question.

But does this incubator work for quail eggs?

Absolutely! Theres even a gal on Etsy that sells a 3D printed quail tray
.

It comes in 3 pieces with instructions and clips to hold while glue dries. I didn’t glue, just used the clips.

 

[jasonvanorder]

Well I think my little buggers are tuckered out. No new progress since the first pips a little over 5 hours ago. One egg was rocking a bit but that has stopped too. But now that it’s 2am it’s time for bed and hopefully there will be some more development in the morning

 

[Pollitos6]

Hello all,
I have a question.. do you suggest putting a soft liner in the incubator before they hatch or will they be ok without it? Also, to put a soft liner I would have to get all the eggs out, put the liner and placed the eggs back inside the incubator. Wouldn't the change of temperature damage the egg?

Thanks

 

[jeapa]

How do you calculate your percent hatch rate? Do you include the eggs that were infertile or only the quitters? I had 16 eggs from my flock that had 6 clear and two early quitters. Eight eggs went into lockdown and so far I have 7 chicks. Today is day 22 and I have 1 egg left. I really love this incubator, but this is my first time hatching my own eggs so I don't have any comparison.

 

[jeapa]

Hello all,
I have a question.. do you suggest putting a soft liner in the incubator before they hatch or will they be ok without it? Also, to put a soft liner I would have to get all the eggs out, put the liner and placed the eggs back inside the incubator. Wouldn't the change of temperature damage the egg?

Thanks

I put the shelf liner that is recommended a lot and it was not a problem for just the 2 minutes that the eggs were out of the incubator. Just be careful with them and I think you will be fine. I am new to hatching so my advice is based on limited experience and more on what I have read here.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I will admit I haven’t read through the whole thread so this question has probably already been asked, and I’ve never incubated so this may be a silly question.

But does this incubator work for quail eggs?

Yes! You can hatch quail eggs without the fancy turner too but they bounce around a good bit so you would have to be pretty attentive with turning them back when this happens. We hatched them 2 eggs to a slot in the outer ring but I'm super excited that others shared the Etsy link to the customized turner now!! That will be much better.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hello all,
I have a question.. do you suggest putting a soft liner in the incubator before they hatch or will they be ok without it? Also, to put a soft liner I would have to get all the eggs out, put the liner and placed the eggs back inside the incubator. Wouldn't the change of temperature damage the egg?

Thanks

That short of a period carefully transporting the eggs back and forth isn't going to harm them. I have hatched with and without the no-skid shelf liner, both ways work perfectly fine but I do like using the liner. Chicks flop around so much after hatching I just like the idea of them having a little padding, it also makes clean up a little easier.