We recently purchased eggs to hatch since it was to cold to get one day old chicks, So we decided to see if we can hatch a few chicks for spring. Well all the eggs we got 90% of them were fertile and good, "out of 80+ eggs" we would candle them ever 7 days and on the 18th day for the final candling, On the 18th day to stop turning them every one of the eggs never hatched, we waited 2 days more to see if they would hatch but still no movement in the eggs what so ever. what we did was take out the eggs on the 23rd day and break one open and after we broke it open the chick was fully formed but no movement what so ever. Every step of the way we had 60% humidity for the 18 days, and on the last 3 days we got up to 70-80 % humidity. Now according to all the info we read here and other places those reading were good. We had several Temp/Humidity gauges on all 3 levels of the incubator[2 per level]. bottom was High heat low humidity, Middle was ideal temp and Humidity[60%] top was even better at 70-80% humidity and upper and middle temp levels was never above 100 degrees. our incubator turns on at 98 degrees and turns off at 101 degrees. our incubator is forces air system with a flood light turning into the water reservoir, and a heat lamp heating a piece of sheet metal to keep the temp a steady at 100 degrees for the middle and upper levels. We can not figure out what is happening and why none of our chicks hatched, if there is anyone out there who had the same problem and could help us please let us know. Please email us at [email protected] we really would like to get this working so we can incubate chick in the winter so we could have fully grown chick for spring. Please Help. My Husband built a very nice incubator to put 2 auto turners in there. he followed all directions that he found on the Incubator page.
Hi from southern NM! I used to live in Kirtland. Are you sure you had good enough ventilation in there? I've never used an incubator, but I've heard that inadequate ventilation can cause fully-developed chicks to suffocate. I don't know, though. How disappointing! I'm sorry.
Yes we have 2 2 inch holes in the incubator to add extra air to the system, and behind the fan we also have several 1/4 inch holes so the fan can suck in extra air into it all the time. I've found out if we left larger holes in the incubator that the humidity drops low, so we put in 2 2 inch holes on the bottom so the hot air also sucks in extra air when the heat lamps go on, and when the heat lamps are off the 1/4 inch holes behind the fan suck in extra air all the time. and after doing that we had stable humidity and air flow, This incubator is the 3rd in our experiment. and this one seems to be working better. any other ideas?
Your humidity was way too high. 40-50 days 1-18 and MAYBE 60% during lockdown. I have a feeling they drown during lockdown. 70-80% is great for ducks, but not for chickens.
I agree with Debi. I usually run humidity even lower, between 35-42% for days 1-18 and then up to 50-58% for lockdown. But Debi and I are in VERY different climates. Sorry it has been so bad for you, but keep trying, best of luck.
Quote:I am lucky if I can get my humidity to 25%!!! I was trying for an average to give the OP, but you are right. I am lucky to see 40% at lockdown with a bunch of soaked socks in there.