Incubation troubles....please help!!!

[birdbrain444]

hey guys n girls... ive spent over 400 on eggs the last 4 or 5 months and have not had a hatch over 15 or 20 % at best! I have a little giant forced air w/turner...I have tried different amount of water in the troughs.. my incubator stays very stable and I keep it right at 100 to 100.5 ...ive tried several different thermometers and hygrometers and still my hatches suck..because of how stable my incubator is that leads me to believe that it has to be my thermometer and hygro that I use...only thing I can figure...ive put a glass thermometer...digital acurite meat therm., digital oral therm., the therm. gauge on the incubator and a digital therm. hygr.combo with a probe that goes down in one of the vent holes I got from inc. warehouse and they read 5 different temps....ahhhh! losin my mind people! suggestions?
also what is the best possible incubator that you can buy without upgrading all the way to a cabinet model? any help is much appreciated...thanks.

 

[Jeepers-Peepers]

I use a digital therm/humidity monitor for homes $9 at Walmart. Most accurate than all the other ones I have. Worth the $9!

- Are your eggs being shipped to you?

- Are you hand turning and forgetting to have clean hands before turning?

- If you are getting 5 different readings how do you know which is correct ?

 

[Daedalus62]

That really is a VERY low hatch rate...

Other than the possible temperature/humidity issues above, some very basic questions... PLEASE DON'T THINK WRONG... Just trying to discard all possible issues here:

- Are the eggs fertile?... Candling at day 7?

- If you eggs are shipped, are you letting them rest/stabilize (for at least 12 hours) before incubation start?

- Eggs correctly placed in the turner tray, with pointy side down?

Cheers

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Shipped eggs are notorious for poor hatch rates. You really wont know if it's your technique unless you try some local eggs and do everything the same.

It sounds like you have a still air incubator. It's recommended to incubate at 101.5F measured at top level of eggs for still air. 99.5F for fans.

 

[birdbrain444]

Ya I let them settle and put them n auto Turner...after doing some research I may be keeping the humidity too high...I live in se KY ...so w the humidity being pretty high already should I not be adding water til lockdown??

 

[Daedalus62]

Ya I let them settle and put them n auto Turner...after doing some research I may be keeping the humidity too high...I live in se KY ...so w the humidity being pretty high already should I not be adding water til lockdown??

So... If you already have an hygrometer, aren't you controlling humidity % inside your incubator?... You shouldn't add any water if it's "high"... Depending on what you mean by "high", of course.

Cheers