I give up horrible hatch rates arn't worth it!!

[cgjsmith]

I give up. (well after my duck and turkey eggs are done next week) I guess I am just not ment to have cuckoo maran chicks. Or much of anything else. out of my hatches of 7 to 12 eggs I have had 3 eggs hatch and twice now my cuckoo maran eggs get cook very late in the game. this last batch got up to 104 while they were peeping and not a sound is coming out of them. I can't keep the humidity stable no matter what I do or keep it in the 7-'s with eggs in the hatcher (both homemade and a second incubator.) I've got two big things of water one with a papertowel as a wick a wet wash cloth and a regulare wet paper towel. its just so disheartening finding all your eggs with dead babies in them Crystal

 

[joannamarie]

cant you hatch any with a broody hen

 

[Silkie Sue]

All I gotta say is....

Welcome to the club!
How about zero hatching out of 13 eggs all with dead chicks in them.
That, my friend is disheartening.

The good news is .... We can try again.
Good Luck!

 

[Freebie]

I would definately get a good broody hen. They are priceless really if you want to hatch little ones. Of course you have to wait for them to go broody, but some of them are sure determined to wait for some eggs you'll let them have.

 

[cgjsmith]

I have three broodie hens that are great, in fact they have been setting faithfully for 3 months with different sets of eggs under them. Still no babies!! I did end up putting babies under one of the most faithful hen and was going to set these babies under the other hens but not now. Crystal

 

[Freebie]

I feel so bad for you, I only hatched babies under my broody's because I thought they would really like it. The first time I got 1 out of 3

the second broody got 4 out of 7
and the triplets hatched out 3 out of 5

So I don't think my hatch rate is that good, but I am not trying for anything special. Just haveing some fun. Hope it goes better for you

 

[joannamarie]

i thought i wouldnt get any hatch with my broody as she got off and let them go cold but wasnt off for long, never hatched any before and saw on here that allot of people have had bad hatch rates so i was worried.
but i got 2 out of 3 they were local though brought down in a car not through the post

 

[jimnjay]

Crystal, I am so sorry about your rotten luck. That is what happened to me during the first 5 months I had my first still air. I was going to rework it with fan and turner and DH said not to bother. " Go buy yourself a good one that is already set up" I nearly dropped dead with shock. I got the Top hatch because it has it all and cleans up really well.

If you have all that water in there right now, I would say your Thermometer is off. I learned the hard way that it was the source of most of my problems. Humidity is high right now and you more than likely have plenty. The temp raises as they start to hatch as does the humidity. They also go to sleep during the process and you will not hear anything for long periods of time. Hang in there.

 

[chickbea]

Quote:
Hmmm....perhaps your egg viability is the problem. Are you positive that they are fertile?

 

[Smoky73]

That is the problem with incubators. If you want good hatches, you have to spend the money. Sure, some people have good luck with the cheap incubators, and some have good luck with homemade.
People by the styrafoam ones because they are cheap, and can fit alot of eggs. But, if you have 40 eggs and only 20 hatch, is it really that good? Good in my opinion is 75% hatching or more, every time. Not just the first time, but every time. It seems that with the cheap ones, the first few times are the best and it goes down hill from there. I had them, and now I don't. I had the same experience as most people. First few times about 50% then Set a incubator full, and maybe get 15 to hatch or sometimes none. After a few times of that, I chucked them. I spent the money on the Lyon ones, and bought all off of Ebay used, at half the price of what they normally cost and won't ever switch back.

I have a hatch going on right now that I could not have messed up worse on. Didnt write down when I set the eggs, and so a week later, I guessed. I left Friday for 4 days, thought they were supposed to hatch Monday, so I upped the humidity, and disconnected the turner. Came home Monday, humidity at 83% and still nothing. Tuesday still nothing. I candled, and decided they weren't ready yet after all. Turned the turner back on, reduced humidity. Now this morning, they are pipping so I shut off the turner again and reupped the humidity. I have 9 eggs in there currently. I havent ever had anything less than a 80% hatch rate. Last one was 100%.