Ignore this

[Chicken poppy]

i removed this because 1. I dont want to give wrong info as some in there was wrong

2. i wanted it cleaner (less grammar errors and such )

 

[All4Eggz]

Everything sounds about right!
This will be a helpful thread to those who are newbies at hatching.

One minor issue though...

Know to be patient as it can take up to 22 days for a chick to hatch.

I could argue chicks could take up to 23 days to hatch, and in some cases, even 24.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Everything sounds about right!
This will be a helpful thread to those who are newbies at hatching.

One minor issue though...

I could argue chicks could take up to 23 days to hatch, and in some cases, even 24.

Yep, it really depends, it could hatch at 19. or 24. But for people looking for the common time, id say 21 or 22.

 

[All4Eggz]

Yep, it really depends, it could hatch at 19. or 24. But for people looking for the common time, id say 21 or 22.

Yes, it's just your wording "it could take UP TO 22 days..."
for clarification purposes, I would change it to:
It could take around 21 days to hatch, but sometimes 19 and sometimes 24.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Yes, it's just your wording "it could take UP TO 22 days..."
for clarification purposes, I would change it to:
It could take around 21 days to hatch, but sometimes 19 and sometimes 24.

Yes, it's just your wording "it could take UP TO 22 days..."
for clarification purposes, I would change it to:
It could take around 21 days to hatch, but sometimes 19 and sometimes 24.

Yes, im bad with wording, but i think its quite rare for 24 days. The reason i didnt add those is because normally when i hear people saying it still hasnt hatched at day 24. Its either dead, not a chicken egg, or something else happened. I didnt want people to be un-sure because at that point you dont want it to explode in the incubator. *But yes i said it unclear sorry lol, ill try to fix it up a bit*

 

[Mellowmalt]

I think the hardest thing is getting the right incubator and figuring out how it works in your environment. Once one knows how to run an incubator the process becomes like clockwork.

I remember when I first started I would fuss excessively over the temperature dropping after opening the incubator and I was hand turning 5 times a day which is really stressful. Instead of being able to forget about the incubator for 3 weeks (with just regular humidity top ups) when hand turning one cannot forget about the incubator and it caused me to even have sleepless nights.

Once one knows the incubator and what humidity works best then it is just a matter of adding the eggs and taking out the chicks 3 weeks later.

Hatching late on day 22 is not a good sign generally I find. It indicates that temperatures were not as steady as they could have been or the chick can be weak which can delay hatching. Mispositioned chicks often hatch late. You really want to aim for chicks hatching on day 21. Yes chicks might hatch later still but they won't be strong chicks, chances of them having problem go up the longer it takes a chick to hatch in my experience. Some do turn out just fine but it is always a sign to watch out for, you want to aim for healthy chicks, not ways to save the ailing ones.

Some people do not assist whatsoever for this reason and if one has a choice of eggs to hatch then I think that is very wise.

I think sharing experiences is useful and those points are useful, I will however address a few things.
You don't really explain the difference between forced air and still air incubators and how that will affect the temperature and humidity you should be using, what will work in a still air incubator will be different to what works for a forced air incubator.

You info on candling is way to basic and the main importance of candling - to determine the size of the air cell as the eggs develop, if the air cells becomes too large, then the eggs are losing too much moisture and so humidity needs to be adjusted and raised to keep the egg losing as much humidity for the remaining time.


you don't address issues during hatching. Like said I don't believe assisting is worth it but the pro's and cons should be discussed at least and things like what to do if an egg has its pip appear on the bottom of the egg.

Another point of confusion for a lof of people is how to place and turn eggs. Turning eggs is important, not sure you have mentioned that.
Some people like to place eggs with the pointy side facing down and turn the egg keeping the large end upright, some egg turners keep the eggs in this position and move side to side, other incubators have the eggs lying on their sides rolling from left to right.

You can also have round incubators that roll eggs in a continuous clockwise direction.

Then there is the matter of when to take chicks out the incubator, as soon as they hatch to give them energy straight away or leave them up to 24 hours to prevent messing with other hatching chicks during lockdown.

When chicks are removed the brooder should be mentioned which I feel is an integral part of incubating, no point incubating the eggs if the chicks die a week later so the brooder although not part of the incubation is just as important even if there can be more temperature fluctuation than the incubator is allowed to have.

 

[Chicken poppy]

I think the hardest thing is getting the right incubator and figuring out how it works in your environment. Once one knows how to run an incubator the process becomes like clockwork.

I remember when I first started I would fuss excessively over the temperature dropping after opening the incubator and I was hand turning 5 times a day which is really stressful. Instead of being able to forget about the incubator for 3 weeks (with just regular humidity top ups) when hand turning one cannot forget about the incubator and it caused me to even have sleepless nights.

Once one knows the incubator and what humidity works best then it is just a matter of adding the eggs and taking out the chicks 3 weeks later.

Hatching late on day 22 is not a good sign generally I find. It indicates that temperatures were not as steady as they could have been or the chick can be weak which can delay hatching. Mispositioned chicks often hatch late. You really want to aim for chicks hatching on day 21. Yes chicks might hatch later still but they won't be strong chicks, chances of them having problem go up the longer it takes a chick to hatch in my experience. Some do turn out just fine but it is always a sign to watch out for, you want to aim for healthy chicks, not ways to save the ailing ones.

Some people do not assist whatsoever for this reason and if one has a choice of eggs to hatch then I think that is very wise.

I think sharing experiences is useful and those points are useful, I will however address a few things.
You don't really explain the difference between forced air and still air incubators and how that will affect the temperature and humidity you should be using, what will work in a still air incubator will be different to what works for a forced air incubator.

You info on candling is way to basic and the main importance of candling - to determine the size of the air cell as the eggs develop, if the air cells becomes too large, then the eggs are losing too much moisture and so humidity needs to be adjusted and raised to keep the egg losing as much humidity for the remaining time.


you don't address issues during hatching. Like said I don't believe assisting is worth it but the pro's and cons should be discussed at least and things like what to do if an egg has its pip appear on the bottom of the egg.

Another point of confusion for a lof of people is how to place and turn eggs. Turning eggs is important, not sure you have mentioned that.
Some people like to place eggs with the pointy side facing down and turn the egg keeping the large end upright, some egg turners keep the eggs in this position and move side to side, other incubators have the eggs lying on their sides rolling from left to right.

You can also have round incubators that roll eggs in a continuous clockwise direction.

Then there is the matter of when to take chicks out the incubator, as soon as they hatch to give them energy straight away or leave them up to 24 hours to prevent messing with other hatching chicks during lockdown.

When chicks are removed the brooder should be mentioned which I feel is an integral part of incubating, no point incubating the eggs if the chicks die a week later so the brooder although not part of the incubation is just as important even if there can be more temperature fluctuation than the incubator is allowed to have.

Yes, i do know those things are important, but i was just simply showing some basic things, i was pretty busy at the time and i figured i didnt need to add every single thing. Its good to know but not needed when it comes to a post like this, as im just sharing simple things. thanks for your info though , i usually wait to explain candeling and such as i put that on a different thread.

ps: hatching that late is bad, but some people also say it can hatch later. Im not going into detail of why it goes late, if its bad, just showing that it can be late somwtimes, awesome info though! And thanks a bunch, i may add some of it in there.

 

[aart]

Keep humidity at about 50-55* F, but on day 18 keep it at about 70* F

Humidity is measured in percentage (%),
not degrees F.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Humidity is measured in percentage (%),
not degrees F.

alright.

 

[All4Eggz]

Yes, im bad with wording, but i think its quite rare for 24 days. The reason i didnt add those is because normally when i hear people saying it still hasnt hatched at day 24. Its either dead, not a chicken egg, or something else happened. I didnt want people to be un-sure because at that point you dont want it to explode in the incubator. *But yes i said it unclear sorry lol, ill try to fix it up a bit*

That's okay I just wanted you to be aware of it.