Incubating Ring Neck Pheasant eggs

[coturnixlover]

Yes i am in South Africa

 

[kartking22]

I had both good and bad luck with hatching pheasant eggs. I have a great incubator but had different results in hatch rates as well. All of my eggs were incubated in the same incubator at the same temperature and same humidity levels. Hatch time was between 22 and 25 days. Some hatched sooner and others hatched a few days later. some chicks were fully developed in the shell but never pipped as well. I found my problem after talking with other breeders. My problem was that I wasn't feeding my hens enough protien when they were laying. This has a big impact on the strength of the chicks in the shell. More protien in the yolk makes a stronger chick. Stronger chick means a better hatch rate. After feeding my hens a higher protien feed during laying, I had a better hatch rate. I upped thier feed from 22% to 28% protien when they were laying.

 

[Nakihunter]

Greeting from the Land of the Long White Cloud, Aotearoa, New Zealand.

This is my first post.

I have just set my very first lot of Ring necked pheasants yesterday. 56 eggs . The incubator is new and very basic. It has a temperature control but does not have display or turning. I have put a small digital thermometer humidity meter inside & I am able to maintain 37.6C (99.5F) and 65%. This morning at 7 am I saw the temperature dropped to 37.3.C. Is this a problem?

I statred turning the eggs this morning - 24 hours after setting. I plan to turn them 3 or 5 times a day

 

[Nakihunter]

Any help would be appreciated.

I worked in the chicken breeding industry for many years but that was over 10 years ago and the last i managed farms and flocks was over 25 years ago!

Reading up and researching now brings back old memories!

 

[feedman77]

that is a minimal swing. just air temp. eggs have thermal mass and will not adjust as fast.

you have no worries with that. eggs are fine

 

[Nakihunter]

Thanks for the heads up.

The humidity fluctuates from 64% to 71%. I am not able to keep it constant.

The fan unit on the top also vibrates the whole unit very gently but you can feel it on the body of the unit.

Last night I turned the eggs at 10 pm and this morning at 7:30 am I found that the eggs had moved about 90 degrees!

 

[feedman77]

humidity I dry incubate. as long as it doesn't go below 20 percent during incubation I don't worry about it.

when it's 2 days before hatch I remove from turner and then raise my humidity to 70+ percent.

At least for me I had better results with less humidity. but it was a lot of trial and error.

 

[Nakihunter]

I got a cheap digital thermometer & humidity gauge. I put that on the mesh where the egg sit.

I was getting a steady 37.5 C = 99.5F with 54% humidity with the small channel full of water.

A few days later the glass buld GQF thermometer arrived. This is the standard equipment for one of the American incubators.

I put this on the tray & got 100.5F. I got really concerned. I then put 2 clinical thermometers in and they showed totally differnt readings. I got really confused and worried.

While reading up on this site and others I found that the thermometer is supposed to sit on the eggs. So I put the CFG on the eggs and got 102F which really upset me. So reduced the thermostat and put the digital thermometer also on the eggs.

Now I get 37.5 C digital and 99.5F in the GQF on top of the eggs.

I just hope they are right.

I am still worried that I might have hurt the eggs with the higher temperature for 7 days.

 

[Nakihunter]

This temperature stuff is so variable.

Around day 8 the temperature started going up, I presume from the embryos getting lrger and generating their own heat.

Now I am on day 21 and the last 3 days have been strange. The fluctuations on the 3 differnt thermometers is so variable - ranging from 36.3 to 37.3C on the two digital thermometers. This is 97.5F to 99.1 F. Strange the GQF bulb thermometer on the eggs stays constantly around 99.5F to 100 F - the gradations are not precice enough to read accurately.

The eggs are still warm to touch and so they must be alive.

 

[Nakihunter]

I read on another forum about putting a non-slip mat unedr the eggs at time of lock down. I have cut out a piece of rubberised perforated mat I got from a local $2 shop.

Day 22 tomorrow and preparing for lockdown.

Also preparing for brooding.