Incubating Day 18-19

[Bryam]

Congradulations!!!!

 

[Tiana's chickens]

Well done with your patience and you did a really good job of incubating those 2 chicks. How are they going now?

 

[Marynnaaa]

Well done with your patience and you did a really good job of incubating those 2 chicks. How are they going now?

They are doing great. They are running around and eating and drinking a lot. One is a boy and one is a girl. Their wing feathers are getting way bigger also.

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

!

While it is true that we will never be as good as a hen is at incubating, it's actually not true that eggs in an incubator have a very low chance of hatching. If you have a good incubator that maintains temperature well, have a calibrated, accurate thermometer, and a calibrated, accurate hygrometer, and are incubating within the correct parameters of temperature and humidity, chances are very good that your eggs will hatch. I regularly have 100% of the eggs I put in my incubator hatch. You just need to make sure you have a decent incubator, that your temperature is correct, and that your humidity is correct for your area, and you are turning the eggs appropriately. As long as those things are good, your eggs will hatch, barring any eggs that are damaged such as shipped eggs.

If you put eggs from your own birds in your incubator that are fresh and have been stored correctly, chances are very high that they will hatch if you do things right. If you're having bad hatch rates, chances are something is going wrong with the incubator or the temperature or humidity are not correct and need to be adjusted. Once you get those things right, you will have good hatch rates in an incubator.

What is your method?

 

[mdees88]

What is your method?

Not sure about his method but I also have had extremely good results using my older GQF cabinet incubator. So far I have set 327 SHIPPED quail eggs. These were 5 separate shipments from 3 different states. I averaged a 74% hatch rate on all of the eggs I set and a 93% hatch rate on viable eggs at lockdown. You can see my entire incubation process in this thread... https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/shipped-eggs-getting-a-bad-rap.1241117/

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

Not sure about his method but I also have had extremely good results using my older GQF cabinet incubator. So far I have set 327 SHIPPED quail eggs. These were 5 separate shipments from 3 different states. I averaged a 74% hatch rate on all of the eggs I set and a 93% hatch rate on viable eggs at lockdown. You can see my entire incubation process in this thread... https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/shipped-eggs-getting-a-bad-rap.1241117/

Thank you!

 

[Pyxis]

What is your method?

I use a Brinsea 40 Eco as my main incubator, with the temperature set to 99.5 and I keep my humidity at around 30% for the first 18 days. Then, since I do staggered hatches, as each batch of eggs hits day 18, I move them into my hatcher, which used to be a Brinsea 20 Eco but I have recently switched to a Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 which works very well. For the last 3 days, I keep the humidity at 65%.

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

I use a Brinsea 40 Eco as my main incubator, with the temperature set to 99.5 and I keep my humidity at around 30% for the first 18 days. Then, since I do staggered hatches, as each batch of eggs hits day 18, I move them into my hatcher, which used to be a Brinsea 20 Eco but I have recently switched to a Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 which works very well. For the last 3 days, I keep the humidity at 65%.

That is wonderful to hear as im using the HFNR 360 as well and have my humidity at 66! The first 18 days we kept it around 34. Wish us luck! Should have chicks by Wednesday