HELP'!!! 2

Chicksandhorsesandogsohmy · Apr 26, 2018

duluthralphie said:
It can be, but with you holding it and taking a picture, it is outside of the incubator.

That incubator should be closed for three days before hatching date. The humidity should be increased. Taking the egg out will lower the humidity enough that one will most likely heat shrink now.

I know it is hard, but one must really discipline themselves to not touch the eggs in the last three days. Opening the incubator loses humidity and hurts the chicks. You cannot get that back without some damage occurring.
Sorry.

I understand that there are conditions that need to be met but when a hen sits the eggs doesnt the humidity and temperature fluctuate? I know my ladies get up to eat drink and just stretch their legs. This is even during 30 degree weather and her success rate was 90%. Your answer just seemed very dark and hopeless and is making me second guess incubating this year.
Im new here and new to incubating so I dont want to over step my bounds. I just am curious as to why the rules of incubating are stringent in comparison to hens sitting the eggs.

Jessica Thompson · Apr 26, 2018

No two more to go I'm really worried about them they are the late ones I hope they make it :fl

Jessica Thompson · Apr 26, 2018

Chicksandhorsesandogsohmy said:
I understand that there are conditions that need to be met but when a hen sits the eggs doesnt the humidity and temperature fluctuate? I know my ladies get up to eat drink and just stretch their legs. This is even during 30 degree weather and her success rate was 90%. Your answer just seemed very dark and hopeless and is making me second guess incubating this year.
Im new here and new to incubating so I dont want to over step my bounds. I just am curious as to why the rules of incubating are stringent in comparison to hens sitting the eggs.

True.....true

aart · Apr 26, 2018

Chicksandhorsesandogsohmy said:
I understand that there are conditions that need to be met but when a hen sits the eggs doesnt the humidity and temperature fluctuate? I know my ladies get up to eat drink and just stretch their legs. This is even during 30 degree weather and her success rate was 90%. Your answer just seemed very dark and hopeless and is making me second guess incubating this year.
Im new here and new to incubating so I dont want to over step my bounds. I just am curious as to why the rules of incubating are stringent in comparison to hens sitting the eggs.

Hen and incubator are 2 very different scenarios. Long time incubator operators have discovered many things that will help and some that will hurt. Everyone operates their incubator differently, some very stringently, other less so. Incubator management is both a science and an art. You can learn from others experiences but also must make your own judgement calls and decisions by balancing out what you read...and then from your own experiences.

Fields Mountain Farm · Apr 26, 2018

Jessica Thompson said:
No two more to go I'm really worried about them they are the late ones I hope they make it

Just give em some more time. :fl

You can candle them if you want to.
Just work quickly ..

Fields Mountain Farm · Apr 26, 2018

aart said:
Hen and incubator are 2 very different scenarios. Long time incubator operators have discovered many things that will help and some that will hurt. Everyone operates their incubator differently, some very stringently, other less so. Incubator management is both a science and an art. You can learn from others experiences but also must make your own judgement calls and decisions by balancing out what you read...and then from your own experiences.

duluthralphie · Apr 26, 2018

Chicksandhorsesandogsohmy said:
I understand that there are conditions that need to be met but when a hen sits the eggs doesnt the humidity and temperature fluctuate? I know my ladies get up to eat drink and just stretch their legs. This is even during 30 degree weather and her success rate was 90%. Your answer just seemed very dark and hopeless and is making me second guess incubating this year.
Im new here and new to incubating so I dont want to over step my bounds. I just am curious as to why the rules of incubating are stringent in comparison to hens sitting the eggs.

Hens also often have 0% success rate. When talking about under a hens bottom and inside of an incubator, we are talking about two entirely different environments.

The object is to get the best hatch possible. With so much bacteria and so many viruses being transferred vertically why take a chance on any others getting in there?

If you do not disinfect you not only run the risk of bringing in the vertically transmitted diseases but the horizontally transmitted ones.

A hen, not the mother lays an egg, has poop on it or microscopic germs you cannot see. Why would you not want to make sure they are gone before putting them in an incubator.

Incubators are used to grow diseases, they are the perfect environment. Even if you sterilize between each hatch (LIKE I DO) you could miss a virus or bacteria hiding in a recess somewhere. It could reproduce and grow stronger with each hatch. Eventually it will show itself.

If you sterilize each egg, which is fast and easy you never have to worry about this.

Next I have two questions for you:

Why would the USDA require sterilizing the eggs if it was not a way to halt the spread of disease?

Second, if sterilizing eggs is not required why do all the huge hatcheries do it? it costs them thousands of dollars to sterilize all those eggs. It costs me about 12 cents. That is cheap insurance.

Enough things can go wrong with hatching, removing one with a little bleach makes good sense to me.