Hatching percentage

[Rooster Giddens]

I'm curious as to the hatch percentage of everybody's success rate using an incubator! Is there anyt such thing as a 100% success rate? If so what's the secret to success?

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

I'm curious as to the hatch percentage of everybody's success rate using an incubator! Is there anyt such thing as a 100% success rate? If so what's the secret to success?

Everyone’s first hatch is generally a bit wonky, but some people hitch right on.

There is such a thing as 100% hatch rate, but it is quite difficult to achieve, as there are many chicks that just quit developing, blood rings appear, etc. Thing out of your hands.

There really is no secret. You follow the books and hope for the best. There are plenty of tips, though.

 

[Rooster Giddens]

Everyone’s first hatch is generally a bit wonky, but some people hitch right on.

There is such a thing as 100% hatch rate, but it is quite difficult to achieve, as there are many chicks that just quit developing, blood rings appear, etc. Thing out of your hands.

There really is no secret. You follow the books and hope for the best. There are plenty of tips, though.

I was curious if there was too much candling?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Having 100% fertile eggs is a good start.

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

I was curious if there was too much candling?

Probably. Don’t candle during lockdown, though. I try to once a week, except for the first 10 days. I do day 7 and day 10, If I think necessary.

 

[Rooster Giddens]

Having fertilized eggs is how it all starts out.But after that it's all in the hands of the person who is in control of the incubator.

 

[Rooster Giddens]

Probably. Don’t candle during lockdown, though. I try to once a week, except for the first 10 days. I do day 7 and day 10, If I think necessary.

If you know that you have fertile eggs why wouldn't you just leave them alone and let the incubator do its job? I'm not a professional hatcher but my thoughts are that if you're twisting and turning the eggs during the candling process you can disrupt the embryo in the process?

 

[JaeG]

I was curious if there was too much candling?

I love candling and if they are my own eggs I candle daily. It's never created any issues for me and with my last hatch all eggs that were fertile hatched out beautiful, healthy babies. My incubator is very basic with no turners so I hand turn. I have to handle the eggs multiple times daily anyway. I keep the eggs in the same position they are lying in inside the incubator while I candle so it's no more disruptive than my turning is. It only takes a second or two to check that everything is looking good.

I think candling is very important for spotting eggs that have died. You don't want to leave them in, especially if it is early on in incubation, as they are the ones that will rot and explode if not removed in time. It's also a good way of checking that you have the humidity set correctly. The air cells needs to grow at a certain rate and candling is the only way to track them visually (which is why people check on days 7, 10 and 14 - to compare their eggs to an egg air cell chart). If you don't want to track the air cell growth through candling then you need to weigh the eggs with a gram scale and track their weight loss over the course of incubation (eggs need to lose between 12-16% of their start weight by day 21).

The correct humidity is different for each set-up and that's what takes some experimenting to work out what you need to set it to for success. Some people need a higher humidity, especially those at high altitudes or in very dry climates, while some people do not need to add any water to their incubator until lockdown because their climate is very humid. Some members even need to find ways of lowering the humidity further by adding a sock full of rice, or in one members case, baking sponges in the oven until they are crispy and adding them to their incubator because the ambient humidity is just too high.

Temperature is also a factor in water loss as if your temperature is slightly too low the egg cannot lose enough moisture. An independent, calibrated thermometer is the most essential piece of equipment - do not trust what your incubator is telling you the temperature is.

 

[Rooster Giddens]

I love candling and if they are my own eggs I candle daily. It's never created any issues for me and with my last hatch all eggs that were fertile hatched out beautiful, healthy babies. My incubator is very basic with no turners so I hand turn. I have to handle the eggs multiple times daily anyway. I keep the eggs in the same position they are lying in inside the incubator while I candle so it's no more disruptive than my turning is. It only takes a second or two to check that everything is looking good.

I think candling is very important for spotting eggs that have died. You don't want to leave them in, especially if it is early on in incubation, as they are the ones that will rot and explode if not removed in time. It's also a good way of checking that you have the humidity set correctly. The air cells needs to grow at a certain rate and candling is the only way to track them visually (which is why people check on days 7, 10 and 14 - to compare their eggs to an egg air cell chart). If you don't want to track the air cell growth through candling then you need to weigh the eggs with a gram scale and track their weight loss over the course of incubation (eggs need to lose between 12-16% of their start weight by day 21).

The correct humidity is different for each set-up and that's what takes some experimenting to work out what you need to set it to for success. Some people need a higher humidity, especially those at high altitudes or in very dry climates, while some people do not need to add any water to their incubator until lockdown because their climate is very humid. Some members even need to find ways of lowering the humidity further by adding a sock full of rice, or in one members case, baking sponges in the oven until they are crispy and adding them to their incubator because the ambient humidity is just too high.

Temperature is also a factor in water loss as if your temperature is slightly too low the egg cannot lose enough moisture. An independent, calibrated thermometer is the most essential piece of equipment - do not trust what your incubator is telling you the temperature is.

Thanks for the input! I just want to make sure that the eggs i place in the incubator have a legitimate chance to hatch.

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

If you know that you have fertile eggs why wouldn't you just leave them alone and let the incubator do its job? I'm not a professional hatcher but my thoughts are that if you're twisting and turning the eggs during the candling process you can disrupt the embryo in the process?

I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but have you ever hatched before?

The only way to “disrupt” an embryo is by shaking them, dropping them, or keeping them too hot or too cold.

They are turned daily for the first 18 days of incubation, and that is one very important factor of incubation. Without it, they wouldn’t hatch.