Help - School Incubator Issues

[france]

A friend took a dozen of my fertilized eggs and put them into an incubator 24 days ago. I should also
mention last year none of the chicks in the incubator hatched. I have no incubator experience, only
my broody hatched one of my eggs for me. My friend needs some advice. This is the email I got this morning:

"So the 21 days was on Wednesday night, the incubator was turned off rotation on Monday. On Monday one chick started to peck and made a crack in the egg. On Monday night the director turned the incubator back on so the eggs rotated all night (I was pretty furious), on Tuesday it was turned back off and another chick started to peck. Both eggs never hatched and none of the other eggs did anything. So I was curious what your thoughts are, if they were turned too soon to hatching or if something could be wrong in the incubator since last year, none of the chicks hatch. I would love to try another 4 or so eggs and see what happens... it is so frustrating that the director turned on the incubator to rotate, I think at least those two might have hatched? hmm We also still have the eggs and weren't sure if we should wait over the weekend to see what happens or not."


Could the incubator be not working correctly?
I expect turning the incubator rotation back on did not help
I did try and get the eggs candled and the director refused my friend so really we have no idea if any were even developing except the two. I
put 2 eggs under my broody and one developed and one did not.
Any thoughts???

 

[faykokoWV]

I'd wait the weekend and see what happens. If temps were low in the incubator it could take them a little longer to hatch. Turning the eggs late in the game like that may have affected the chicks ability to get turned to the right end (air sac) to peck out so they could have drown. Don't know how old the kids are, but if old enough to deal with it, the eggs could be cracked and the students shown whats inside.

 

[abanjaf]

Okay, so there are so many different factors here that I don't even know where to begin. The rotation turned back on shouldn't be that big of a deal. A hen never stops turning her eggs and when incubated eggs begin to hatch, the first chick out plays football with all the eggs like you wouldn't believe. They are flipped and rolled this way and that and still manage to hatch just fine. And I have to assume here that the incubator instructions were followed to the "T", proper temperature and humidity were maintained (I remove my egg-turner from the bator, perhaps your friend has a different model that does not require it to be removed). I also don't understand the "director" not allowing the eggs to be candled. Were you going to candle the eggs yourself? If this is at a school, you stopping by to check the eggs after checking in with the school office after school is out should not be a big deal. Also, the candling would be very educational and interesting for the children to see the developing embryo during school hours. Perhaps you should borrow your friend's incubator and give it a trial run yourself on a handful of eggs and see how you do. There are too many unknown factors here to make a judgment as to what could be wrong. Was the incubator unknowingly turned off for a period of time when your friend wasn't there? Was the temp too high? Not enough or too much humidity? Were the eggs placed in the correct "pointy-side down" position? Since the two eggs that pipped did so on Monday and Tuesday and now it is Friday, I am certain that they have surely expired. I would candle the remaining eggs to check for any signs of movement and if none detected, break into the air cell to check for signs of life before discarding the eggs. I have had eggs hatch on Day 24, but it sounds highly unlikely in this case. I'm sure some other people will probably disagree with opening the air cell, especially if you've never done it before.

 

[france]

This is a preschool/daycare. I have no contact with anyone except my friend who works there. I have no idea if
anyone has directions to the incubator or not. I will ask and make sure. The incubator belongs to the school.
I told her to keep the eggs in it for the weekend and I would ask on here if anyone has any advice.

 

[faykokoWV]

other advice

tell her to get a job where the director is not a jerk

 

[WhoaNellie]

Re: Help - School Incubator Issuesother advice

tell her to get a job where the director is not a jerk

HAHAHAHA Sorry that struck me so funny. I agree BTW!