Incubators Anonymous

[ChickNmamma]

I hatched 6 Salmon Fav, 1 Ark Blue and a malard mix. One more SF internal pipped and quit, 5 more AB went into lockdown kicking and quit ;-(. Everyone looks good.
Now I am going to start having DT's since everything else is so far out. I have Turkeys, guineas and Wait for it...... Literally ...... Muscovy! 35 days can you believe it?
I have broodies sitting on guinea eggs and my BR Turkey on some Muscovy too.
Did I hear that bantams don't take as long to hatch? Like how long exactly? I think I'm starting to shake!

Get a Grip! Go play with the chickies!

My bantams took the regular length of time to hatch.. 21 days. Have patience, they will come... I have heard that some turkeys hatch early though.

 

[gladahmae]

It's easier to see what's going on if you candle on day SEVEN instead of day TEN, right? Right?!

I want to peek at my eggs sooooo badly! Besides, if my BLRW chicks are mostly boys, I'll need to get some more eggs so I can hopefully get some pullets, and while I'm at it get some of the other breeds that I want.

 

[Chickengirl1304]

I

I'm at day 6 of incubating, and the woman I got my FOURTY-ONE (ahh!!) eggs from said to keep humidity between 50-55%. Some of these posts have recommended lower. What works best for everyone here? And it is too late to fix my high humidity?
Thanks!

I run mine about 20-40 and it greatly improved my hatch rate

 

[Zootopia]

I
I run mine about 20-40 and it greatly improved my hatch rate

X 2
I dont add any water during the first 18 days unless the humidity goes below 20%. At "Lockdown" on day 18, I move eggs to the Hatcher with a humidity of about 60% and plenty of air flow. (I just throw the plugs away on the Styro bators).

 

[Chickengirl1304]

X 2
I dont add any water during the first 18 days unless the humidity goes below 20%. At "Lockdown" on day 18, I move eggs to the Hatcher with a humidity of about 60% and plenty of air flow. (I just throw the plugs away on the Styro bators).

Yes I forgot to add...take plugs out makes them stronger

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Day four of incubation.

 

[ozexpat]

19 boxes of eggs just arrived via usps..

is that a lot?

 

[mollybuck]

19 boxes of eggs just arrived via usps..

is that a lot?

Depends on how many are in each box!!

 

[Duck Drover]

I have been hatching my Australian Spotted duck eggs in a Little Giant incubator (incubating in a still air with tuner and then hatching in a different still air with lower temperature and higher humidity) and the greatest difficulty has been with infertile eggs since I have 6 young hens and a young drake together. I am getting some quitters, which is to be expected, but what is the most frustrating issue for me is having ducklings pip internally and then quit. One was rocking like crazy last night and this morning the duckling is dead in the shell because it pipped internally but never pipped externally (I assume it ran out of air and that is why it died). I opened the shell at the air space and saw that the bill was through the membrane just fine. I pulled the head out of the shell and then the body followed. One wing was folded at a strange angle so at first it looked like a stump so I am thinking maybe the head was caught under the wing and my pulling it out is what folded the wing that way but it is only a guess. When I open quitters should I be removing the shell completely to examine the way the duckling is formed in the shell instead of pulling it out by the head? I wonder if I should have made a small hole in the shell last night before I went to bed but it was rocking so hard I expected it to hatch. It is hard enough losing ducklings in the shell but it is even harder when I have a waitlist I may not be able to supply with ducklings if I keep losing ducklings before they hatch.

I think I will retire this hatching incubator since I picked up two used ones that have only been used to hatch reptiles. I have a turner for one but not the other one so I think I will make one my hatching incubator to see if that is a problem. It is difficult to solve a problem if I don't know if I am causing the problem with my technique or if I am just dealing with young ducks that may need to mature more before I get better hatches from them. The fact that I am hatching healthy ducklings tells me I am doing something right so maybe there is nothing I can do better because it is out of my control.

 

[Arielle]

The incubator I made an hour ago

[/URL]

Love the creativity!!!

And welcome to BYC!!