Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 Incubator is AMAZING!

[wampus cat]

I was thinking about buying one of these but after reading the success rates, I'm not impressed. I have a cheap styrofoam Hova-bator and wanted an incubator that was less trouble. I have to manually turn the eggs, it has no fan and no thermometer. I turned the eggs 3 times a day and had to use drug store thermometers that vary as much as + or - 5 degrees. On the plus side I just incubated 12 duck eggs of which 11 were fertile. One died after the pip and the other 10 hatched healthy. Seems like even though it's a lot more trouble, I get a better hatch rate than most get with this incubator.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I was thinking about buying one of these but after reading the success rates, I'm not impressed. I have a cheap styrofoam Hova-bator and wanted an incubator that was less trouble. I have to manually turn the eggs, it has no fan and no thermometer. I turned the eggs 3 times a day and had to use drug store thermometers that vary as much as + or - 5 degrees. On the plus side I just incubated 12 duck eggs of which 11 were fertile. One died after the pip and the other 10 hatched healthy. Seems like even though it's a lot more trouble, I get a better hatch rate than most get with this incubator.

Oh? Where are you seeing poor hatch rates? Any of the lower hatch rates I've experienced have been explainable from something other than the incubator. I just had a 93% hatch rate (1 quitter) from shipped eggs and I've also had 100% hatch rates from shipped eggs in the NR360 and that's pretty unheard of.

The styrofoam incubators I've used are Hovabators, Little Giant, and Farm Innovators and if I were to suggest a styrofoam incubator it would be the Hovabator but I prefer the NR360 even to my Brinsea and Incuview.
Stick to what works for you though! If it ain't broke, don't fix it! lol

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Here is the graph. It is the top one for temp. I have it at 100.5 which is where it has been for most of the time so will just leave it there. I am going to try to candle some tonight but not expecting much since it is only day 4. Then will try again on Tue (day 6) and guess see where I am then.

So fancy!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Here is the graph. It is the top one for temp. I have it at 100.5 which is where it has been for most of the time so will just leave it there. I am going to try to candle some tonight but not expecting much since it is only day 4. Then will try again on Tue (day 6) and guess see where I am then.

Do what you're comfortable with! If it were me I would probably leave it to where 99.5 to 100 is the most frequent temp but once your chicks hatch just take note of when they hatch, if early, or if you notice any herniations. Those are both signs of the incubator being too warm.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Quick question. Does it matter if the eggs are pointy side facing towards the center? Most of them are, but some look pretty similar on both ends, and so I don't know which is facing forward.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Quick question. Does it matter if the eggs are pointy side facing towards the center? Most of them are, but some look pretty similar on both ends, and so I don't know which is facing forward.

I don't think it would hurt anything but if you candle it you can always make a little mark on the end with the air cell to make your life easier.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I don't think it would hurt anything but if you candle it you can always make a little mark on the end with the air cell to make your life easier.

Thanks!

 

[Lemon-Drop]

Also, which days do you recommend candling? I was thinking day 7 and 14, possibly 10 and 16 as well if I get too impatient as well.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Also, which days do you recommend candling? I was thinking day 7 and 14, possibly 10 and 16 as well if I get too impatient as well.

lol, I candle a lot. Like A LOT more than suggested. Pretty much any time I feel like it BUT if I were to suggest an absolute "don't miss it" day for candling, between days 7-10 you will see the most activity. They're almost always actively swimming around on day 9-10 if you don't see it on day 7.

Day 2 the untrained eye won't be able to see much but by day 3 you can already see the little spider shaped embryo developing (depending on the color of the egg) and you might even be able to SEE the heartbeat. It's amazing!

By day 6-7 you can often get a really good look at the eye! It's a big black ball that is really easy to see if they're close to the shell. By day 9 the eyelid is developing so it's a little less noticeable but you can still see it.

I don't toss clears until day 7-10. If you're ever unsure, just put a question mark on the eggs in question and check them again in a few days as long as they aren't stinky or weeping.

After day 13-14 things begin to get harder to make out. You may still see some little kicks and such but the chick is beginning to fill the egg so you're mostly monitoring healthy blood vessel development after this point.

I lockdown on the night of day 17 because I like to candle before lockdown and it's just way easier for me to do this when it's nighttime.

I'm not sure that was helpful but in short, I don't "really" have set days for candling but my most common days are probably 3, 7, 10, and 17.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Also, which days do you recommend candling? I was thinking day 7 and 14, possibly 10 and 16 as well if I get too impatient as well.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/egg-candling-tips-tricks-and-best-practices.1462841/