How long did it take you to 'get' hatching with an incubator?

[My Pretty Pekins]

Hey,

Recently, we bought our first incubator. We've previously hatched with our Pekin girls, and never had a hatch rate below 85-90%, but this was our first time on the incubator.

The first attempt was 6 of our own Pekin eggs. The 'bator holds 24. All candled okay at both dates but only one hatched. Some of you might know we later ended up culling it due to splayed leg and crooked toe issues.
Hatch rate: approx. 15%, or 0%, depending on how you look at it.

The second attempt was 24 bought fertile eggs. We went with 8 breeds, 3 of each. Mostly because we like variety. These were: Cuckoo, Wheaten and Copper Blue Marans; Rhode Island Reds; Crested Cream Legbars; Speckled and Buff Sussexs; and Silver Duckwing Welsummers.
We were careful this time (like more than before) with humidity etc. When candled, we were all-but-certain on 18 of them, unsure on 3, and almost certainly not with the other 3.
It's now day 23.
Four hatched fine by the end of day 22, so we moved them to the brooder as there were not, at that point, any other pips. Another hatched overnight, plus another two pips. The one that hatched overnight appeared to have it's insides dangling out. It died shortly after hatch. One of the pips was being pecked by the other chicks. We have a feeling that killed it. It died, but was perfectly fine until they pecked it.
The other is still struggling to get out. I don't know that it'll make it. There seems to be blood around the membrane. We removed a piece of shell at one point and have left it since then.

One of the four in the brooder appears to be constipated. It's been more lethargic than the others since hatching. Not massively so, but noticeably sleepier. It is one of the more recent to hatch, though, so this could be why.

What I want to know, though, is how long does it take to get the 90-odd percent hatch rates we used to? I am questioning whether it's fair to continue with such disastrous hatch rates as we've been having. Questioning whether we're doing something wrong and if it's even right to muck up chicks lives with my mistakes.

So basically, that's it. What have you all found? How big of a learning curve is it?
Any advice massively appreciated; thanks in advance.

 

[Pyxis]

Firstly, sorry you are having such bad hatches

My first questions are going to be, what temperature and humidity are you using? Is your incubator still air or forced air? Have you double checked that the temperature and humidity readings are correct by checking them against calibrated thermometers and hygrometers?

Temperature in a forced air incubator should be 99.5. In a still air, it should be 101.5 measured at the top of the egg.

Humidity is a bit more variable. For me, 30% for the first 18 days works best. To see what works best for you, you will want to candle the eggs frequently to check that the air cell is developing correctly, or better yet weigh the eggs to track moisture loss.

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

Firstly, sorry you are having such bad hatches

My first questions are going to be, what temperature and humidity are you using? Is your incubator still air or forced air? Have you double checked that the temperature and humidity readings are correct by checking them against calibrated thermometers and hygrometers?

Temperature in a forced air incubator should be 99.5. In a still air, it should be 101.5 measured at the top of the egg.

Humidity is a bit more variable. For me, 30% for the first 18 days works best. To see what works best for you, you will want to candle the eggs frequently to check that the air cell is developing correctly, or better yet weigh the eggs to track moisture loss.

I'll have to have a look at these. Our manual recommended 50% up to day 18, and then 65% for the rest of the time. We've been using multiple other thermometers etc. and there's never been more than .1 of a degree disagreement in temperature, or about 3% disagreement in humidity.

Is that something to worry about, or not?

 

[Ekck]

It almost sounds like the temp was a little on the low side. What incubator are you using?

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

It almost sounds like the temp was a little on the low side. What incubator are you using?

37.9 approx - it's actually an unbranded 24-egg incubator recommended by several friends. I am now wondering, however, whether it was the best idea or not... but the step has been taken and I know others have succeeded with it, so we'll have to see.

 

[Pyxis]

37.9 approx - it's actually an unbranded 24-egg incubator recommended by several friends. I am now wondering, however, whether it was the best idea or not... but the step has been taken and I know others have succeeded with it, so we'll have to see.

37.9 is a touch high if it's forced air, and too cold if it's still air.

I wouldn't trust the humidity recommended in the manual. If I ever did 50%, my eggs wouldn't lose enough moisture. I would actually weigh the eggs next time to track moisture loss. That will tell you exactly what you want the humidity to be.

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

37.9 is a touch high if it's forced air, and too cold if it's still air.

I wouldn't trust the humidity recommended in the manual. If I ever did 50%, my eggs wouldn't lose enough moisture. I would actually weigh the eggs next time to track moisture loss. That will tell you exactly what you want the humidity to be.

Okay, thank you for the advice. Do you have any estimates for how the weight should change over the incubation period?

 

[AverellFarms]

Okay, thank you for the advice. Do you have any estimates for how the weight should change over the incubation period?

I know there’s a formula on measured weight loss, but can’t remember where I saw it. It could have been in one of the articles here. If you’re candling regularly you can see if the air cell is growing. At day 14 mine were small. I removed all moisture and had a lot of improvement by lockdown. Running at 30% for the first 18 days is a recommendation I’ve seen a lot.

 

[RebekahTN]

I agree on humidity being to high throughout incubation. My biggest problems have been with the incubators not being calibrated properly... (and me not knowing to check the first few times). One of my incubators can't be calibrated and tops out at 104 degrees, but calibration was off by 6 degrees... so that one is now a hospital stop between incubator and brooder for any week or smaller chicks.