How To Hatch Eggs and get a 90% Hatch Rate

[TuckersFarm]

Out of experience, over 5 years of it I've found that these ways are the best. i have a hatch rate of almost EVERY SINGLE EGG. that's right, every egg that i get usually hatches.

1st buy from local sellers, there is to many scammers on eBay

2nd Keep The Temperature a little high, 100-103

3rd Mist the eggs EVERY OTHER DAY they say the water in the incubator is enough but IT IS NOT

4th Make sure humidity isn't to high or low

5th This is prob the most important thing, take take the egg turner out 3 days before hatch, or else the eggs will turn and it will snap their neck.

6th Do not cheap out on an incubator, like my old man taught me, just cause its a good deal doesn't mean its a good deal for you

7th Recommended incubators,
Chick-Bator Incubator 20-30 Dollars
Little Giant 30-50 Dollars
Hova Bator 40-100 Dollars

 

[Wantaraisechick]

The humidity is the thing hard to deal with for me. At least it was last winter. I agree with you on the temp. After loosing all but one egg(and that chick was deformed) my first try at incubating I keep the temp 100 or a little higher. I found it very important to keep a thermometer on the eggs, I don't trust the one on the top of the incubator. It read 103 while the one laying on the eggs read 99.5 to 100 with my second attempt at incubating. I was successful with 20 out of 25 eggs.

 

[Shellz]

Want effortless 90% hatch rates? Get a Brinsea!
I know, easier said than done. I once had an LG...so I can imagine slightly higher temps may work with these less expensive units. Glad you found your magic formula TuckersFarm. What works for some folks may not work for others though. I'd like to see others try the egg misting. I haven't heard of that one before, unless one was hatching ducks. :/

 

[TuckersFarm]

Misting the controls humidity, and humidity good, unless of course there's to little or to much haha. Thanks -tucker

 

[TuckersFarm]

Yeah I know, it takes some getting used to. Run the incubator for a little bit before and control it then, worked when I was new

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Out of experience, over 5 years of it I've found that these ways are the best. i have a hatch rate of almost EVERY SINGLE EGG. that's right, every egg that i get usually hatches.

1st buy from local sellers, there is to many scammers on eBay

2nd Keep The Temperature a little high, 100-103

3rd Mist the eggs EVERY OTHER DAY they say the water in the incubator is enough but IT IS NOT

4th Make sure humidity isn't to high or low

5th This is prob the most important thing, take take the egg turner out 3 days before hatch, or else the eggs will turn and it will snap their neck.

6th Do not cheap out on an incubator, like my old man taught me, just cause its a good deal doesn't mean its a good deal for you

7th Recommended incubators,
Chick-Bator Incubator 20-30 Dollars
Little Giant 30-50 Dollars
Hova Bator 40-100 Dollars

I have to chime in here.
1. I agree that local eggs beat shipping. Not sure about the scammer thing. EBay's system of feedback screens out scammers.

2. 99.5 in a forced air or at the mid point of the egg in a still air has been proven for 100 years to be ideal. Plain and simple.
Lower temp is preferable to higher temps since a hen gets off the nest every day.
103 is too close for comfort to the zone of heat injury which is 104.9, a temperature that no embryos can survive.
If you are having better success with high temperatures, your thermometer either needs calibrating or is sitting too high in a still air incubator.

http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html
http://www.surehatch.co.za/Egg-Incubation-Info-Incubating-Eggs.htm
http://www.wapoultryequipment.net.au/Information/incubation hints and tips.htm

3. This is dependent on the eggs, ambient humidity and incubator design. I rarely add water until the last 3 days because our ambient humidity is always high and the eggs I hatch aren't as porous. I don't mist but my incubator and hatcher have no problem maintaining humidity. Rather than misting, it's preferable to increase the surface area of the water with sponges or another pan. Misting only briefly raises humidity and can spread disease/infection. It also has the effect of cooling the egg by evaporative cooling.

4. Agreed but having a good calibrated hygrometer or wet bulb thermometer is essential. An alternative is to weigh the eggs when collected, set and at intervals throughout the incubation to determine water loss.

5. I've never heard of snapped necks. In fact, if you've seen how an 18+ day embryo is crammed in the egg with its head twisted to the side, the slow movement of an egg turner couldn't possibly snap a neck. The reason not to turn the last 3 days is that the embryos are moving into hatching position and continuing to turn may have them out of position.

6 and 7 contradict each other

 

[TuckersFarm]

This is How I Get My Hatch Rate, Yours May be different.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good point.
"your results may vary"

 

[Sylviaanne]

Out of experience, over 5 years of it I've found that these ways are the best. i have a hatch rate of almost EVERY SINGLE EGG. that's right, every egg that i get usually hatches.

1st buy from local sellers, there is to many scammers on eBay

2nd Keep The Temperature a little high, 100-103

3rd Mist the eggs EVERY OTHER DAY they say the water in the incubator is enough but IT IS NOT

4th Make sure humidity isn't to high or low

5th This is prob the most important thing, take take the egg turner out 3 days before hatch, or else the eggs will turn and it will snap their neck.

6th Do not cheap out on an incubator, like my old man taught me, just cause its a good deal doesn't mean its a good deal for you

7th Recommended incubators,
Chick-Bator Incubator 20-30 Dollars
Little Giant 30-50 Dollars
Hova Bator 40-100 Dollars

I did a swap with someone here on BackYard Chickens and when they arrived from CA all the air cells were floating. I have less than 5 air cells that have set and a few eggs that at day 13 have very large air sacks. Most of the still have floating air sacks, would it be ok for me to just turn off the egg turner and leave them sit up? Thanks.

 

[ronott1]

I did a swap with someone here on BackYard Chickens and when they arrived from CA all the air cells were floating. I have less than 5 air cells that have set and a few eggs that at day 13 have very large air sacks. Most of the still have floating air sacks, would it be ok for me to just turn off the egg turner and leave them sit up? Thanks.

The new way is to leave the eggs with the detached air cell big end straight up in the incubator. Two or three times a day, twist the eggs 180 degrees. Be very gentle when handling them though. Check them after two days to see if the air cells are back to normal. Leave them another day or so but start turning them normally after 4 days max.

Remember, this if only for shipped eggs with detached or very damaged air cells. If the air cells are fine, begin incubating and turning like normal.

Shipped eggs with air cell damage like that should be hatched at lockdown big end up in egg cartons.