Incubator help

[Angelak]

We have given 2 tries at incubating,1st time 2 pipped but died,was told humidity was too low..2nd try with humidity meter n better thermomoter we had none hatch...we could not get humidity past 59 no matter what we were told to try.we wete told this time eggs were not fertile...so we are sooo frustrated.....is incubating this hard?
Any help would be awesome!

 

[postalpoultry]

No, it really isn't that hard. Now, it does take some time to establish a constant temp sometimes. I know a guy that is always tryin' to incubate out in the shed where the outside temp is constantly changing and he never gets anything. He always asks me for help and when I say you need to put incubator in the house where temp is better controlled he says "oh no! the smell, the mess" so I guess he doesn't REALLY WANT chicks LOL!

few ?s....... where are you incubating?
do you have your own eggs?
have you established constant heat?
do you have a sponge in the incubator? (helps with humidity)
have you covered more of vent holes on incubator? (to get more humidity)

lets start with these

 

[Jeff n Stella]

Not to hi jack this thread, but I just placed 20 guinea eggs in my hovabator. what should the humidity be maintained at, (if possible) and should I wet the sponge and add water to the bottom of the incubator. it does have an egg turner in it as well.
Thanks, and excuse me just jumping in here.
Jeff

 

[postalpoultry]

lol it's not a private thread, welcome!
I like to keep guineas at about 60/65% humidity until the last week when I raise it to 75/80%
I use the sponge when I can't get humidity I need with just the water in bottom of incubator.

 

[Angelak]

Yes temp stays 99.5-101.1,i am trying to use a lil giant incubator.I was told keep water in bottom n use a maxi pad soaked in water in incubator n still could not get humidity past 59.covered a vent hole n still no difference.We r using our own eggs therefore no expense for eggs,n we have incubator in my bedroom.
So maybe it was true that these eggs werent fertile,we tried candeling them but not sure we even did that correctly bc we didnt c veins or a black spot ir maybe we were candeling correctly.at this point we just have no clue.lol

 

[loveourbirds]

Yes temp stays 99.5-101.1,i am trying to use a lil giant incubator.I was told keep water in bottom n use a maxi pad soaked in water in incubator n still could not get humidity past 59.covered a vent hole n still no difference.We r using our own eggs therefore no expense for eggs,n we have incubator in my bedroom.
So maybe it was true that these eggs werent fertile,we tried candeling them but not sure we even did that correctly bc we didnt c veins or a black spot ir maybe we were candeling correctly.at this point we just have no clue.lol

I don't know if this will help you, but I started with little giant incubators. my best hatches were when I didn't use a hygrometer at all. I just filled the circle resivoir and left the 2 straight ones empty until day 18, then I filled them all. make sure your incubator is thoroughly sanitized between batches. I soaked mine in strong bleach water overnight. I left one vent hole uncovered until day 18 then opened both.

I live in a more humid area in southern ohio, so this might affect things.

on your eggs, it sounds like your fertility is low. can I ask what you are feeding?

edited to mention:
with my sportsman incubators I run my humidity at about 45%, increase to 55-60% after day 18.
with a little giant incubator you will have to open it- there is no such thing as "lockdown" for you.

 

[loveourbirds]

Not to hi jack this thread, but I just placed 20 guinea eggs in my hovabator. what should the humidity be maintained at, (if possible) and should I wet the sponge and add water to the bottom of the incubator. it does have an egg turner in it as well.
Thanks, and excuse me just jumping in here.
Jeff

ive always hatched my guinea eggs right with my chicken eggs, but let them turn a week longer of course.

 

[postalpoultry]

Yes temp stays 99.5-101.1,i am trying to use a lil giant incubator.I was told keep water in bottom n use a maxi pad soaked in water in incubator n still could not get humidity past 59.covered a vent hole n still no difference.We r using our own eggs therefore no expense for eggs,n we have incubator in my bedroom.
So maybe it was true that these eggs werent fertile,we tried candeling them but not sure we even did that correctly bc we didnt c veins or a black spot ir maybe we were candeling correctly.at this point we just have no clue.lol

well I am going to say, you were told correctly about fertility of eggs.Because lets say your humidity was next to nothing but you had a good steady temp, at 6/7 days (usually sooner) you would have seen veining (humidity would have come into play later on, with early embryo death or hatching problems). Sooo I would say those eggs were NOT fertile. I asked about eggs not because of expense but because of fertility (you would be amazed how many people try to hatch grocery store eggs) LOL not sure about previous poster as you would COVER holes toward end of hatch to RAISE humidity. at any rate 59% isn't that bad to start out, I hatched many a batch before I even had a way to read humidity! Don't give up!!!
Try this fill resivouir AND put in a nice big n thick wet sponge, put lil piece of tape over each and every hole you can find on incubator. read your humidity after 24/36 hours this should give you your MAX humidity then just remove 1 piece of tape in another 24/36 hour period to get the humidity where you want it. Hope this helps you and really try again, you can do this!


OH! and as far as candeling goes, forget all that fancy smancy box with a hole and bright light inside stuff you hear!!
all you need is a GOOD BRIGHT flashlight and a dark room!! if its there you will see it!!!!

 

[Jeff n Stella]

The temp in my Hovabator was at 100 even. and the humidity at 60. I lowered the temp and it dropped to 97. so I raised it again this morning, but not to its original setting.hopefully to 99degrees.How important is 1 or 2 degrees difference? How would I go about lowering the humidity? Its been at 60% since I started this project yesterday? Another question I have is that the 6 adults I purchased yesterday, have already laid 4 eggs by yesterday evening. IF and WHEN these hatch, should I move the chicks to a brooder for protection, or let them stay with the adults?

 

[Angelak]

What we r wondering now is when u put eggs in incubator does the small pointy end of egg go up or down,bc we r wondering if that is part of failure.we feed our chicks layer n a ckn feed mix(unsure of brand or ingrediant %).