Anybody ever do a hatch where you just don't open the bator or candle until lockdown? I'm thinking maybe a full bator and less handling may help keep the humidity more stable in an air conditioned house. Of course if you could see or smell a problem, you'd locate and remove the problem. Anyone ever do this?
Yup, my big hatch of about 60 quail in mid-May. I put over 100 eggs from my own birds in there. The Coturnix had been laid in an outdoor pen and were exposed to temps as low as 8/9 degrees F. And, they had all laid around waiting for 4-5 weeks. So, I thought a 60% rate was pretty good. I didn't candle any of them. Quail eggs are so small and dark, its hard to see anything anyway. Basically, after I put them in there, I opened it twice, around day 7 to do the sniff test, threw out a few bad ones, and again on day 14 to put them into lockdown and sniff again, when I found a couple more bad ones. Really, the sniff test is a perfectly acceptable way of sorting out the truly rotten eggs. As long as you aren't dying of curiosity to see what is happening, its not really necessary to candle.
Quote:I don't candle the eggs in the incubator, my eggs are brown and green, so the light doesn't work very well anyway. I did candle the eggs under a broody that had too many "added" eggs from the other hens---I candled to get at least eight about the same, marked them, then threw the rest out. She wasn't too happy with me sorting her eggs.
when im running large counts in one incubator full trays all hatching at once i just let them ride. add water but thats it. last 2 days i stop the turners in the center and open it when i here cheepin. it works if you have good eggs to start with.
Im on my second hatch ( first attempt failed ) and Im not going to touch the eggs just watch the temp and thats it.
Candling is not a necessary thing to do. Most people that candle alot is because of space issues or just want to know lol Candling your eggs lets you make more room more quickly for steady hatch practices On the small incubators it can be a better run leaving it closed.
