Help! *First Time Hatching*

[SamanthaJay]

So were trying to hatch our own chicken eggs. We have 3 chickens, a rooster, and two weird turkey/hen things. we typically get three eggs everyday. My mom and I just bought a still-air incubator. I have been able to keep the temperature to approx. 99 degrees. The lowest its ever gotten to is 95 but I always get it back to 99. Today I came home from school and it was 106. Will my eggs be ok? It's also the 19th day so im trying to get the humidity up to atleast 70 but I cant seem to get it past 55. Can someone please help me? This is the third time we have tried (other times we used a homemade incubator, it failed) we know the eggs get fertilized because the last two time we have cracked the eggs open after 30 days to see if they started growing. I feel like I can't do this. I need help from experienced hatchers.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Huh? Did you just leave the eggs in there until day 30 just in case they would hatch? Well on another note 106 will kill them if it was there for even a few minutes. In order to increase the RH% you need to increase surface area. I would add some sort of dish with a rag in it to increase humidity. A fan is a chicken breeders best friend when it comes to incubating eggs. This will help get rid of unequal heating in the incubator. In other terms it will increase the chances of all the eggs hatching. Remember during lockdown you want a 65% RH. Good luck

 

[SamanthaJay]

yes we left them in there just incase they would hatch. Im just starting to think this is a waste of time, im not skilled enough to handle this until I can be home every hour of the day watching the temp.

 

[brahmabreeder]

I'm not home most of the day and I've done decent at the whole hatching thing. I think the key to hatching is a good incubator. I would either install a fan in this one and see if that helps or just buy a better incubator.

 

[SamanthaJay]

ok ill try it thank you

 

[CayuseRanch]

I have had some pretty high temp spikes and still have a few hatch. People successfully hatch in still airs all the time but they are more difficult. I would recommend finding the thread for that incubator and read up on the tricks to hatching in it for your next hatch. Don't give up we have all had failed hatches and learner different things to make it work for us.

 

[CayuseRanch]

Oh and welcome to the byc!

 

[SamanthaJay]

Ok and thank you we still have a few days so we'll see

 

[SamanthaJay]

UPDATE!!!!!! RIGHT AFTER MY POST I WENT IN TO TAKE A NAP BEFORE WORK AND I HEARD CHIRPING!!!!! & I HEAR PECKING!!!!

 

[ChucktheChick]

UPDATE!!!!!! RIGHT AFTER MY POST I WENT IN TO TAKE A NAP BEFORE WORK AND I HEARD CHIRPING!!!!! & I HEAR PECKING!!!!

YAY!!!!! That is great news!!! So happy. Hatching is A GREAT experiance!