Incubator Temperature Issues!

[Lynka]

Thanks for all the advice. Sorry I havent replied- been so busy.
Ive put the eggs in with the idea that the digital thermometer is almost correct.
I havent done the salt test but will do that tonight (I know I should have done it before I put the eggs in, but time has not been my friend lately).
My eggs were shipped in (but I live in New Zealand so we are talking huge distances). One lot had a rough trip down (lots of smashed eggs) so I dont know how the others in that lot will go.
Incubator is in my room- so no drafts and the likes.

 

[BYC910]

I know the feeling no time for what you want to do the most. sorry about your eggs .shipped from where by what carrier if insured file a claim. I'm just finishing my only shipped eggs this year. They traveled 700 miles on the ground. They made it here ok out 20 shipped 14 made it to lock down 11 have hatched 1 was not fully developed & 2 yet to hatch . I only think 1 of the 2 will hatch. watch for high temperature spikes there the worst ones .don't be afraid to open the incubator to let out heat . humidity is so important be sure you check humidity outside as well as inside your incubator . anything between high 30s & low 50s inside is ok If the outside humidity is high you don't need add a lot of water . I add water in CCs or MLs. The humidity here is around 65 to75 % most of the time It took me three hatches before I had a good one. the only other thing I can say is shipped eggs cost so much if this hatch doesn't do well find local eggs try again & again & again and if need be again .I guess you can tell I don't give up. Let us know how it goes good luck and happy hatching.

 

[BYC910]

Thanks for all the advice. Sorry I havent replied- been so busy.
Ive put the eggs in with the idea that the digital thermometer is almost correct.
I havent done the salt test but will do that tonight (I know I should have done it before I put the eggs in, but time has not been my friend lately).
My eggs were shipped in (but I live in New Zealand so we are talking huge distances). One lot had a rough trip down (lots of smashed eggs) so I dont know how the others in that lot will go.
Incubator is in my room- so no drafts and the likes.

Ok you should be on day seven at least have you candled yet .how's your temp. what time is in New Zealand anyway. let us know about the eggs that is

 

[Lynka]

Temp seems stable enough though Im having some issue with my humidity, but cause Im out of the house so much, I have to do what I can and that's all I can do.
NZ is about 18 hours ahead of USA (+/- given the different time zones)
I candled the other day- I put 23 eggs in a 19 of them had some growth (it's almost winter here so that's actually really good). However since then, a few of them seem to have stopped growing- 2 blood rings, 2 had 1 or 2 vessels but that was it, another had vessels on only half the eggs, so Im down to about 13ish.
I then found another issue- I started to realise they were always facing the same way in the incubator- so i dont think my auto turning is actually working! So we have changed to manual upright turning- so hopefully I do it well enough. day 21 is 27-28 so finger crossed none of the others stop!
Thanks for the interest (no one in my life wants to hear about my eggs lol)!

 

[WVduckchick]

We are interested! Lol I have a sister in law that also hatches. Before I got some myself, she would talk about it and I wasn't really interested. Now that I have my own, it's almost obsessive lol This place is great to share your stress, worries, failures, and successes!

 

[BYC910]

We are interested! Lol I have a sister in law that also hatches. Before I got some myself, she would talk about it and I wasn't really interested. Now that I have my own, it's almost obsessive lol This place is great to share your stress, worries, failures, and successes!

You know We have never and most likely will never meet in person but we share a common goal good hatches & healthy birds . I already know all of us are good people because of how excited we get when they hatch and because everyone is ready to jump in with advice or a story about what just happened with their hatch or what they are going to do on the next hatch.an its just get's better .

 

[BYC910]

Temp seems stable enough though Im having some issue with my humidity, but cause Im out of the house so much, I have to do what I can and that's all I can do.
NZ is about 18 hours ahead of USA (+/- given the different time zones)
I candled the other day- I put 23 eggs in a 19 of them had some growth (it's almost winter here so that's actually really good). However since then, a few of them seem to have stopped growing- 2 blood rings, 2 had 1 or 2 vessels but that was it, another had vessels on only half the eggs, so Im down to about 13ish.
I then found another issue- I started to realise they were always facing the same way in the incubator- so i dont think my auto turning is actually working! So we have changed to manual upright turning- so hopefully I do it well enough. day 21 is 27-28 so finger crossed none of the others stop!
Thanks for the interest (no one in my life wants to hear about my eggs lol)!

I've had a really busy day When you first posted I wondered if the temp. was not your problem . now I'm thinking your auto turner was not working properly during your last hatch. You can order a new motor on ebay. cost $20 or less U.S . I glad you found out maybe you saved some of your eggs. try to turn as many times a day as you can. let us know how they hatch good luck

 

[WVduckchick]

 I've had a really busy day When you first posted I wondered if the temp. was not your problem . now I'm thinking your auto turner was not working properly during your last hatch. You can order a new motor on ebay. cost $20 or less U.S . I glad you found out maybe you saved some of your eggs. try to turn as many times a day as you can. let us know how they hatch good luck

That's good advice, motor shouldn't be too hard to replace, if its dead. But before you get a replacement, check the plug-in connection, and also make sure that the little peg on the motor that sticks over into the turner slats starts and stops to the sides, not up and down. Like in the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions, not noon and 6 o'clock, if that makes sense. I accidentally turned mine off in the middle of a turn one time, so it was swinging, but ending up in the same position every time because I had made it stop in the wrong place. To fix it, I had to turn it on, hit the reset button to make it move, then turn it back off when it got to the right position. Took me forever to figure it out!

 

[Susan10]

This is uncanny. I have the same incubator (with a red top, not yellow) and all my eggs seemed fine until hatch. At lockdown they just never internally pipped and died fully formed in the shell. I checked my thermometer and the the temp was way lower than all of the 4 other thermometers I put in there, but all of them have vastly different readings. I have 3 other eggs in there so I went to Walmart and bought two baby thermometers, which were within .1 of a degree to one another. I am going by that now, and doing the saltwater test to calibrate the hygrometers. It's ridiculous how off all these things are.

 

[WVduckchick]

This is uncanny. I have the same incubator (with a red top, not yellow) and all my eggs seemed fine until hatch. At lockdown they just never internally pipped and died fully formed in the shell. I checked my thermometer and the the temp was way lower than all of the 4 other thermometers I put in there, but all of them have vastly different readings. I have 3 other eggs in there so I went to Walmart and bought two baby thermometers, which were within .1 of a degree to one another. I am going by that now, and doing the saltwater test to calibrate the hygrometers. It's ridiculous how off all these things are.

Good luck!

And please don't take this as a smart-*** comment, but just because 2 thermometers are close to each other, doesn't mean they are accurate. Do the ice test on them, if they can read down to 32°