Incubators Anonymous

[aliciaplus3]

Is the incubator still air or forced air?? The sticky chicks would suggest too much humidity.... but I am just learning myself. I have been fighting with my hatching incubator since the 1st of June, I finally got a decent hatch after switching to a different hatcher..... OK so i really hope the next batch does better. I have many turkey and duck eggs coming up and they look promising.

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Is the incubator still air or forced air?? The sticky chicks would suggest too much humidity.... but I am just learning myself. I have been fighting with my hatching incubator since the 1st of June, I finally got a decent hatch after switching to a different hatcher..... OK so i really hope the next batch does better. I have many turkey and duck eggs coming up and they look promising.

Forced air.
High humidity? Wow. I would have thought it was the other way around.
What should the hatching RH be?

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Is the incubator still air or forced air?? The sticky chicks would suggest too much humidity.... but I am just learning myself. I have been fighting with my hatching incubator since the 1st of June, I finally got a decent hatch after switching to a different hatcher..... OK so i really hope the next batch does better. I have many turkey and duck eggs coming up and they look promising.

I hope that it goes better for you too.
What hatcher did you switch to?

I already know that I won't be getting an HovaBator. The constant manual adjusting of the temp is a bit much. This last hatch is the 1st one that I haven't fought humidity non stop too.

 

[aliciaplus3]

Forced air.
High humidity? Wow. I would have thought it was the other way around.
What should the hatching RH be?

I am still learning but as I understand it when the eggs do not lose enough moisture during incubation there is too much left at hatching causing the sticky issue you seem to be describing. When the eggs lose enough then the chicks should hatch without a lot of extra goo.....there is a lot of more experienced hatchers on here that can explain it better.
When I go into lock down I like to see the humidity above 65%.... I am unfamiliar with hatching the two breeds you have, I do remember that when I have Big eggs sometimes they do not lose enough moisture, and the Dark shelled eggs struggle to lose enough.... it sounds like your temp is good.... have you calibrated your thermometer? .5 a degree can make a big difference.

 

[R2elk]

Hi there
Since you're all incubating junkies, I'm wondering if you could all give me some advice.

I've borrowed an incubator from a friend for this year. It's a HovaBator 1602N with an automatic egg turner.

I'm having terrible luck with my hatches. I'm incubating buckeyes and chanteclers.

Of over 50 chantecler eggs that I've set only 3 have shown any signs of development, with only 2 hatching. Eggs are fertile.

Almost all of the buckeye eggs that I set develop, but less than 50% hatch. In this most recent batch, there were 25 eggs that made it to lockdown. 11 hatched with no problems at all. 3 got large pips, but then it was like someone poured a fast setting shellac into the shells. I managed to save 1 through hours of soaking in warm water.

I did the salt test on my hygrometer and know that it reads 3% lower than it should.

Initial incubation period has been steady at 99.5F, RH in low to mid 30s. Lockdown period is same temp with RH between 70-75. The egg turner is functioning well.

I also tried a dozen purchased hatching eggs (picked up, not shipped) with only 2 developing and only 1 hatch.

What do you think I'm doing wrong? Suggestions and advice would be most welcome.

You have not mentioned your incubation humidity which is every bit as important if not more important than your lockdown humidity. I just hatched 3 turkey eggs that were at 30-35% humidity without any problems. I do not recommend using such a low humidity for lockdown but these were allowed to hatch in the incubator that was set for the mid-term guinea eggs and not the nearing hatching turkey eggs.

Common Incubation Problems

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I hope that it goes better for you too.
What hatcher did you switch to?

I already know that I won't be getting an HovaBator. The constant manual adjusting of the temp is a bit much. This last hatch is the 1st one that I haven't fought humidity non stop too.

I absolutely love my hova bator 2362E. It's steady as a rock and I haven't had to adjust it basically at all in the past 3 years! The 1602N isn't normally a forced air, unless they added the fan to it. It sounds to me like your incubation humidity is way too high. Like R2elk said, keeping it down around 30-35% during the incubation period and then bumping it up to 65-70%for hatching works best, at least for me. A lot of people have great success with the lower incubation humidity. Another thing to consider is the viability of the eggs. We're they all picked up or were some speed? Shipping can wreak havoc on hatching eggs. It's also possible that if eggs weren't developing at all, that the roo want doing his job well, was only taking care of his favorite hens, too many roos will reduce fertility since they're always chasing each other off hens, and also free health of the parent stock plays a rule. Just some thoughts.

 

[WVduckchick]

@Michelle Farmer-Brown I agree with the others. But one other thing is ventilation. If you didn’t remove the vent plugs, they need to be out for the whole process. Wide open vents.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

@Michelle Farmer-Brown I agree with the others. But one other thing is ventilation. If you didn’t remove the vent plugs, they need to be out for the whole process. Wide open vents.

Yes, absolutely! I always forget about those plugs. Probably because I've long lost mine lol

 

[Faraday40]

Yes, absolutely! I always forget about those plugs. Probably because I've long lost mine lol

LOL Me too!

 

[WVduckchick]

Ventilation is one of those things we forget about, for sure. I know there have been studies that show some type of prime oxygenation for certain days with less ventilation, but I’ve never had trouble keeping mine wide open.