incubator challenges please help

[BlackAfrika]

hello everyone , i need your advice(s)

i purchased a 30 egg manual incubator, i will send the pictures later, i set 28 fertilized eggs only 1 chick hatched, 21 developed completely but did not hatch and 6 did not reach embryo stage. please help.

 

[coastingangel]

How devastating. There are so many variables in doing this, it could be the eggs. If the hens and rooster were not at peak the eggs may not be top quality. Do you have accurate temp and humidity monitoring? It is very upsetting but don't be disheartened, there is plenty of advice and info on this site to help for next time.

 

[BlackAfrika]

Temperature was correctly set, not sure about Humidity, that could be the problem, seller of the incubator told me to put in the water, he never mentioned the humidity issue,

the 1 chick that hatched confuses me a lot, not sure if i should take the incubator back or what...

i have 4 Roosters and 24 hens, they lay and hatch eggs on their own , but because we have over 180 eggs a month i decided to buy the incubator to hatch and sell babe chicks...

i have since told the seller about this predicament , he is yet to respond to my inquiry...

 

[coastingangel]

I bought an incubator and followed operating instructions with regards to humidity, which was just add 100 mls per day increasing just before lockdown. It has a temp sensor but not humidity, after a few hatches with an average of 50% hatch rate I bought a small cheap humidity meter. There is no way the manufacturers instructions were correct in just adding 100ml, I have added way more than that daily for this last hatch and have a 75% hatch rate. I have done about 6 hatches now and you learn sommething everytime, my hatch has increased with each one but it is still stressful at day 21!

 

[Mak24456]

Humidity is important, I recommend you get a digital thermometer/hygrometer for accurate reading. They are cheap and easy to use. I'm not at all experienced with diagnosing a problem, but it looks like the membrane has shrunken around the chick on your first photo, which means your humidity was too low.

 

[BlackAfrika]

thank you very much for your advises, i will surely look into them .