Sure.
The first hatch I attempted I killed. The eggs were FILTHY, so I tried to sanitize them. Well I forgot to rinse afterward. They were basically poisoned.
The second hatch was shipped eggs I blame most of the problems on poor fertility and poor shipping. But two made it to lock down. Again I believe I am the reason they didn't hatch. The humidity in the hatcher was over 80% and the eggs got wet and I think the eggs were chilled. The chicks looked perfect upon eggtopsie.
The Third hatch also had some fertility issues, 3 bantam roosters in with 40+ hens, Some of these eggs were also Filthy so I washed them under warm running water, sanitized them and rinsed them. Better results I really think lack of fertility was the issue with this batch.
This last hatch most of the eggs were clean, again from the same person with not enough males, but a few were pretty nasty so I rinsed them under warm running water. I actually measured the water temp, 100F I think. I set 47 eggs with the majority coming up clear. 20 developed, I lost 2 early. I eggtopsied every egg from that batch and the clears all looked to be infertile. I locked down 18 eggs, 3 of them looked questionable when I candled at 18 days. Most of the fertile eggs were the dirty eggs (go figure). Of those 18 only 4 didn't hatch. Upon eggtopsie it looked like the 3 questionable died before lock down. There was an unusual odor so I think contamination got them, only one was a dirty eggs. The last egg that didn't hatch I have no idea about. It looked great and its position was great. The only think I can think of is my DH can't resist helping a chick in trouble, thus opening the hatcher. I've told him half a million times not to open it, but he doesn't listen. For the next run I'm going to set them so they hatch on a day off.
So that is how my hatches went. How I incubate:
I keep my humidity at between 40-45%. It is dry here, 10%, so it is hard to get above 45% without adding water to the other channels which was bringing the humidity above 60%. I also tired leaving the vent closed for the first 10 days, my incubator is circulated air so not completely without ventilation. I read that this may make the chicks stronger. I don't know if that is true but it didn't seem to hurt so I will try it again. My elevation is over 5,000 feet. I didn't do any thing different according to the incubator instructions regarding temps. The only research I found about elevation is that eggs coming from sea level will need extra ventilation/oxygenation. I try to hatch at 70% but I use a still air incubator as a hatch and I am having difficulties with that. Mainly temps. I will get it up to around 100F on the wire, what the instructions say, with no added water. I then add water and the temp drops to as low as 96F. I only mess with the thermostat if the temp is greater than 102 after adding the water.
If anyone has tips on going from circulated air incubation to still air hatcher I would really appreciate it!
I hope this helps!
