I did everything wrong and still got chicks

[lghrnlvr]

I wanted to write this because all the info I read on incubating made me believe it was impossible. lol
My first mistake was I built an incubator instead of spending a ton of money on one.
My second mistake was I didn't buy a humidity checker. I just poured water into the bottom of the incubator.
My 3rd mistake was wild temperature swings. Most of the time my temperature stayed between 99-100°f but I did see it up to 105°f once and sometimes low enough not to register on my digital thermometer.
Sometimes I didn't turn the eggs an odd number of times. One day in the middle of incubation they didn't get turned at all since I had to leave state.
I candled the eggs constantly. lol. it can be addictive once you start seeing legs and heads moving around.
Even though I made every mistake possible I still hatched out 6/8 eggs.
I hope this helps someone feel a little better about making mistakes during incubation.

 

[Aacre]

Thank you! It does make me feel better.

My incubator is also homemade- out of a 10 gallon aquarium. The table it sat on broke and half of the eggs died (yes died.. They were all half way through their term). But I had 4 that I thought survived. Yesterday was lockdown, I decided that one must have died because of the fall complications, and so now I only have 3. One of the three is cracked and so I put candle wax on it. It was alive until a couple days before lockdown. It seems too little to break out, as do the other two, but it's my first hatch. I guess we'll see come Sunday. I sure hope they survived- it would be awesome, actually..

 

[djkCR14]

It was nice to find this thread, thanks for starting it ... I also have a homemade incubator and it has worked really well for me. It's made out of a simple styrofoam cooler, with glass window on top, metal rack where eggs sit and in the area below is the thermostat, 40 watt bulb, computer fan and a small plastic bowl with a sponge that I keep humid. I put an X on one side of the egg and an O on the other, and every day I turn them. My temp is set at 99 - 100, and I don't worry too much with the humidity, although higher is better it seems. I've successfully hatched about three batches so far with pretty good percentages of the eggs. The chicks hatch out and stay in for about 3 days before I move them to a brooder box. Right now I have the largest batch of eggs I've tried so far - 25 eggs that are just over a week in - so I'm hoping for good results again.

The only thing I'm not sure about is the best way to candle them. If anyone can give me some pointers in that area, I'd appreciate it. How do you check for egg fertilization? I've candled the chicks before, but need more information. Thanks again ...