Hatching Chickens in the Classroom Problems - Seeking Advice

[Mykidsloveducks]

I have been helping the local 2nd grade hatch chicken & duck eggs. Unfortunately, our hatch hasn't gone so well. We have had a very low hatch rate with the chickens (the ducks come next week). I am hoping to get some answers so we can improve next year. Any advice would be appreciated.

So here is the situation: We had 3 different Styrofoam incubators (14-16 eggs in each) and 1 Brinsea incubator (6 eggs in this one). I candled the chicken eggs at 14 days and they seemed to be developing fine. One of the teachers later candled her eggs at 18 days and found only 2 of 14 to be good. The other eggs weren't candled before lock-down.

In the first Styrofoam incubator, only 2 eggs hatched, the second 2 eggs hatched, and the 3rd, 5 eggs hatched. The Brinsea incubator, 5 eggs hatched (out of 6).


When we candled the eggs you could see that the chick had grown quite a bit but something happened late in its development (see image). Does anyone know what the problem could be and how it can be prevented in the future?

The obvious answer is to change incubators to the Brinsea, but money is an issue. What, if anything, can we do to increase the hatch rate in the Styrofoam incubators?

(By the way, we got the eggs from a local farm.)

 

[Broodygranny]

You can get a hydrometer fairly cheap, if the ones you have don't have one built in. Also you can add a calibrated thermometer, so that you can make sure the one included is correct. Temperature and humidity are very important, so I would check that first. Also make sure you disinfect the incubator before and after use.

 

[Mykidsloveducks]

You can get a hydrometer fairly cheap, if the ones you have don't have one built in. Also you can add a calibrated thermometer, so that you can make sure the one included is correct. Temperature and humidity are very important, so I would check that first. Also make sure you disinfect the incubator before and after use.

We did use the digital thermometer with humidity pictured but had a hard time regulating the humidity. It kept getting too low, then too high. Do you have a different hydrometer you could recommend? Do you think this was the problem? I wasn’t at the school to check it often. The teachers were doing that. We did clean the incubators with a solution from Brinsea before use.

 

[Broodygranny]

I don't have any recommendations on brands, but if you did your best with humility and temp, then you probably did everything you could do. Sometimes we get better hatches than others, even in the same incubator. Last hatch I got 90 percent. The hatch before that, I only got 60. I hope your next one goes better!

 

[KBauza]

I'm sorry to hear your hatch rate was lower but I just want to say I think it is awesome that you are helping bring this information to kids in your area. My daughter is in 2nd grade but she and her brother will not be lucky enough to do this in our district so we are doing it at home. Maybe in a few years when I have a bit of experience I might follow your lead and volunteer.

 

[Mykidsloveducks]

I'm sorry to hear your hatch rate was lower but I just want to say I think it is awesome that you are helping bring this information to kids in your area. My daughter is in 2nd grade but she and her brother will not be lucky enough to do this in our district so we are doing it at home. Maybe in a few years when I have a bit of experience I might follow your lead and volunteer.

I think that is a great idea. I started on this by chance. My kids got ducks at a kids rodeo 4 years ago. We have learned a ton and it has been so much fun hatching ducks and chickens with them. I always feel so bad when we get a poor hatch at the school so anything I can do to increase the hatch rate would be good.
I did go into the school today and we had 8 ducklings hatch today and hopefully 8 more tomorrow. The kids will be so excited!

 

[Eggcited about Eggs]

I’m currently incubating chicken eggs in my 2nd grade classroom. This is my second year doing it. Last year we had a low hatch rate as well (4/12 hatched). I used a foam incubator. I’ve upgraded to an incuview this year and am hoping for better results.

I find the biggest problem when incubating in the classroom is regulating the humidity. Especially on the weekends. I brought the incubator home this weekend (because it is a long weekend) but plan on leaving it at school for the remainder of incubation.