Incubating Fail!

[CattleRancher]

I am a newbie at incubating. And I apologize ahead of time for the long post. I have 4 jumbo Guinea Keets as well as 10 1 year old Hens, 2 Roosters, (12) 10-week old pullets. A friend of mine asked if I could hatch out 15 guinea keets for him, mine were laying 3 per day so I was storing the laid eggs while rotating 3 times per day until I had enough (would’ve been 5 days, but after 4 days, they decided to only lay one total per day. I didn’t want to wait any longer, so I bought 18 guinea eggs from a friend. Totaling 32 with my 14 and her 18. I made the mistake and purchased a crappy little giant 9300 styrofoam incubator with a fan, digital thermometer/hygrometer and egg turner, in which I do regret. I didn’t have time to order and have one shipped, so that’s all I could find locally. I let it sit and get the temperature and humidity regulated (or so I thought.) it was very consistent at 99.5% temp and was always at 49% humidity. I never added water and it stayed at that percentage. We live in South Dakota and finally after a 2 year drought, got quite a bit of rain, I do know it has been humid out. I candled the eggs at 7 days, and unfortunately, 18 were infertile, no progression at all, but I left everything in and planned on getting everything out at day 14, since I am new to candling. So, at day 14, I took the 18 out, had 5 with blood rings, so took them out as well. I noticed 4 that were definite active embryos, and 5 I couldn’t tell if they were active or not (eggs were a little darker,) so I left 9 eggs in. So, at this point, I was curious about the temp/humidity. I purchased an incubator/teranium thermometer, and the readings on it were 104 degrees and 29% humidity. I then realized the LG built in thermometer is not accurate at all. I adjusted the LG temp and got everything to read out on the new thermometer the way it should be (99.5 and 50% humidity.) Today is day 25, so time to lockdown. I candled one last time, only 1 definite active embryo and again, 1 growing and air cell is equivalent to the timeframe, but don’t see any motivement. My 6 year old and I did an eggtopsy on the other 7, one was feathered over and was pretty decent size when it died and 6 all died early on. I don’t know how, out of 32 eggs, I only have 1 for sure alive as of today. What could cause so many blood rings, so many dying early on? I am attaching photos of the one bigger one and two of the 6 small ones. Any advice would be helpful, my friend wants me to give it another shot for 12 eggs this time. I don’t want to fail this bad again.

 

[Rose Quartz]

View attachment 1423640 I am a newbie at incubating. And I apologize ahead of time for the long post. I have 4 jumbo Guinea Keets as well as 10 1 year old Hens, 2 Roosters, (12) 10-week old pullets. A friend of mine asked if I could hatch out 15 guinea keets for him, mine were laying 3 per day so I was storing the laid eggs while rotating 3 times per day until I had enough (would’ve been 5 days, but after 4 days, they decided to only lay one total per day. I didn’t want to wait any longer, so I bought 18 guinea eggs from a friend. Totaling 32 with my 14 and her 18. I made the mistake and purchased a crappy little giant 9300 styrofoam incubator with a fan, digital thermometer/hygrometer and egg turner, in which I do regret. I didn’t have time to order and have one shipped, so that’s all I could find locally. I let it sit and get the temperature and humidity regulated (or so I thought.) it was very consistent at 99.5% temp and was always at 49% humidity. I never added water and it stayed at that percentage. We live in South Dakota and finally after a 2 year drought, got quite a bit of rain, I do know it has been humid out. I candled the eggs at 7 days, and unfortunately, 18 were infertile, no progression at all, but I left everything in and planned on getting everything out at day 14, since I am new to candling. So, at day 14, I took the 18 out, had 5 with blood rings, so took them out as well. I noticed 4 that were definite active embryos, and 5 I couldn’t tell if they were active or not (eggs were a little darker,) so I left 9 eggs in. So, at this point, I was curious about the temp/humidity. I purchased an incubator/teranium thermometer, and the readings on it were 104 degrees and 29% humidity. I then realized the LG built in thermometer is not accurate at all. I adjusted the LG temp and got everything to read out on the new thermometer the way it should be (99.5 and 50% humidity.) Today is day 25, so time to lockdown. I candled one last time, only 1 definite active embryo and again, 1 growing and air cell is equivalent to the timeframe, but don’t see any motivement. My 6 year old and I did an eggtopsy on the other 7, one was feathered over and was pretty decent size when it died and 6 all died early on. I don’t know how, out of 32 eggs, I only have 1 for sure alive as of today. What could cause so many blood rings, so many dying early on? I am attaching photos of the one bigger one and two of the 6 small ones. Any advice would be helpful, my friend wants me to give it another shot for 12 eggs this time. I don’t want to fail this bad again.

oh man. that's a rough go of it.

I got myself a hovabator, it's similar to little giant's incubator. the first thing I did was put in multiple thermometer/hygrometers that I knew were accurate. one side is colder than the other. and neither side is what the incubator thermostat that came with it says it is.

I've never set your kind of eggs before, I'm limited to chickens eggs, but I would suggest running it with just thermometers set in there for several days with the turner too, having it in there running can affect the temperature. check for hot and cold spots. at the very least knowing where they are you can avoid putting eggs there.

And make sure the eggs you're setting are clean, not washed or wiped off, just clean.

good luck I hope your next batch hatches for you.

 

[CattleRancher]

oh man. that's a rough go of it.

I got myself a hovabator, it's similar to little giant's incubator. the first thing I did was put in multiple thermometer/hygrometers that I knew were accurate. one side is colder than the other. and neither side is what the incubator thermostat that came with it says it is.

I've never set your kind of eggs before, I'm limited to chickens eggs, but I would suggest running it with just thermometers set in there for several days with the turner too, having it in there running can affect the temperature. check for hot and cold spots. at the very least knowing where they are you can avoid putting eggs there.

And make sure the eggs you're setting are clean, not washed or wiped off, just clean.

good luck I hope your next batch hatches for you.

Thank you, I did let it set for 2 days before putting any eggs in it, and I forgot to mention that I rotated the lid once per day (because I did notice the cold spots right away,) the ones on the same side as the fan/heater were always warmer so by rotating the lid, that distributed it a little better to all the eggs. And my guineas lay in the nesting boxes with the chickens so the eggs are always clean. I’m just at a loss, hopefully it was just a round of bad luck .

 

[Rose Quartz]

Thank you, I did let it set for 2 days before putting any eggs in it, and I forgot to mention that I rotated the lid once per day (because I did notice the cold spots right away,) the ones on the same side as the fan/heater were always warmer so by rotating the lid, that distributed it a little better to all the eggs. And my guineas lay in the nesting boxes with the chickens so the eggs are always clean. I’m just at a loss, hopefully it was just a round of bad luck .

I wouldn't rotate the lid. just leave it, and then you'll know where the best place is for the eggs to go.

 

[CattleRancher]

I wouldn't rotate the lid. just leave it, and then you'll know where the best place is for the eggs to go.

There were 32 eggs in there so I had to do what I could to keep the whole area warm . I know where the colder spots are at, but with that many eggs in there I was limited on warm areas that I could put the eggs.

 

[Unexpected chicken lover]

It was probably the crappy built in hydrometer and thermometer causing the temp fluctuations. NEVER trust built in ones, I too, learned the hard way. Sorry you went through that

 

[HuskerHens18]

I'm about 40 minutes from South Dakota! Welcome to BackYard Chickens!!
Sorry about your rough incubator experience I bought a farm innovators 4250 with egg turner, it works fairly well and although wasn't accurate, it was close enough I got a 50% hatch.
I bought an Egg-O-Meter and a humidifier that read the humidity, that helped my hatch rate a lot. But I'm still learning, incubating is hard.

 

[CattleRancher]

It was probably the crappy built in hydrometer and thermometer causing the temp fluctuations. NEVER trust built in ones, I too, learned the hard way. Sorry you went through that

Thank you, I appreciate it. I just hope that’s what it really was. I checked it daily and thought I was doing everything right.

 

[Unexpected chicken lover]

Thank you, I appreciate it. I just hope that’s what it really was. I checked it daily and thought I was doing everything right.

I did too my first go round...it was heartbreaking

 

[jvls1942]

If you have a fan, I wouldn't worry about cold spots. the air is circulating in a small area.
I used to run 8 LG's and Hova"s at one time.
then I got three large GQF's.

chalk this hatch up to a bad experience and try again..

LG"s and Hova"s are notorious for air leakage.

I always ran a piece of duct tape around the crack where the top set on the bottom
I never candle. you lose too much heat and humidity by opening the bator.
it takes those styro bators forever to recover. my GQF's recover in about 5 minutes.. I can hatch about 1400 eggs at a time..
I usually hatch over 300 guineas per season.
to add water, use a funnel with a tube attached and poke it through a hole in the top of the bator. do not get the eggs wet.
poke the tube between the eggs and fill the reservoirs that way..
preset the bator to 100F to 100.5F without having any water in the reservoirs
bone dry.
once you add water, the temp should drop and that is the temp you will use for incubating.
if the temp rises up to 100.5F it just means you are out of water. do not adjust the thermostat,, just add water..
super dirty eggs can be washed.
don't get hung up on bluhm,, it is over rated for your small operation.
keep things clean and you won't have any trouble with infected eggs.
when/if you smell a bad egg, get it located and removed asap.. your nose is the best detector for this.
stay away from shipped eggs. pick them up in person , if possible..
don't hold eggs for more than 5 or 6 days before setting them..
you don't have to turn held eggs more than once per day.
I have been hatching eggs for more than 50 years. these things have worked for me.
I started out hatching with a kerosene heated incubator from Sears and Roebuck,
(used) .
still have it in the garage..
AND use just ONE thermometer ..
when you get one that you can trust, guard it with your life....
....jiminwisc.......