Incubators Anonymous

[ki4got]

Quote: i honestly don't remember what the goal water loss is supposed to be, but i've been incubating for a while now and just go by the look of the air cell prior to lockdown... often i'll put them into the hatcher on day 18 but not add any humidity until the 19th day. usually hatch is late on the 20th day going into 21st.

my last hatches have been ranging between 80 and 100% over the last 2 months for my own eggs, and for the last shipped eggs, i hatched 11/15. the shipped eggs had a number of clears, so i didn't count those in my hatch rates, because i have no control over USPS or the seller's possible rooster issues. i also didn't count any clears of my own, because of being pullet eggs with immature roosters.

interesting to note tho, my LF BLRW is fertile... the last 5 dorking eggs hatched all have rose combs. i love free ranging, except when they decide to swap hens.

 

[ozexpat]

i honestly don't remember what the goal water loss is supposed to be, but i've been incubating for a while now and just go by the look of the air cell prior to lockdown... often i'll put them into the hatcher on day 18 but not add any humidity until the 19th day. usually hatch is late on the 20th day going into 21st.

my last hatches have been ranging between 80 and 100% over the last 2 months for my own eggs, and for the last shipped eggs, i hatched 11/15. the shipped eggs had a number of clears, so i didn't count those in my hatch rates, because i have no control over USPS or the seller's possible rooster issues. i also didn't count any clears of my own, because of being pullet eggs with immature roosters.

interesting to note tho, my LF BLRW is fertile... the last 5 dorking eggs hatched all have rose combs. i love free ranging, except when they decide to swap hens.

As this is my first and only hatch I am going to do in USA before trying to replicate it in the Philippines, I have been methodical and doing weighs so I can essentially see for myself what the eggs look like - both movement and air cell appearance,

My next batch I will collect from local chicken people in San Diego and Lake Elsinore, then carry 40+ eggs to my place in the Philippines and put them in the bator there. It has been quite humid in SoCal this week - 60%. In the Phils at this time of year its down in the 70% range. Temps are 76 at night and 84 during the day. I will observe them until New Years Eve, come back to USA for just shy of 2 weeks and start lockdown on day 19. I hope they wont be dizzy from an extra day on the turner.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: I don't put them in lockdown till day 19 usually.

 

[DMRippy]

Why is it every time I really want to be good and stop or slow WAY down on hatching something happens..... first my roo died, so I had to hatch everything for about a week RIGHT???? so today someone local was giving away eggs, she is not sure of fertility but hey SFH and CCL I will take that chance.

I already a about 18 egg saved so it will be a bigger batch.... I need to sell some pullets.

 

[Flowerbh]

ok, so my first hatching eggs are due to arrive any day now....not sure when because they are a Christmas present but as soon as tomorrow! They were very expensive eggs! My daughter in law wanted to give me some Isbar and Cream legbar eggs because I talked about them alot....anyway, they would not have been my first choice for my first hatch ever....but they will be here and so I am going to do the best I can! I have been reading reading and reading this thread, books on incubating and incubator reviews and am sooooo confused! The instuctions for the incubator (Hova bator Genesis 1588) says to fill the 1st tray with water and that the first humidity readings should be around 35% then to 55% for the last 3 days. The reviews for the incubator said they did like the instuctions said and had great hatches. BUT the books and the threads talk about a dry incubation with humidity around 15%! That's a big difference! What do I do???? Should I try it just like the instructions say or do I do the lower humidity? I really don't want to lose these eggs!!!!

We live in the north GA mountains and keep the house pretty cool....so the humidity in the house is probably on the high side to start with....Please help!

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

I wet hatch. 50% while incubating then 65-70 during hatching. of course then i drop it back down for the remaining eggs

 

[ki4got]

ok, so my first hatching eggs are due to arrive any day now....not sure when because they are a Christmas present but as soon as tomorrow! They were very expensive eggs! My daughter in law wanted to give me some Isbar and Cream legbar eggs because I talked about them alot....anyway, they would not have been my first choice for my first hatch ever....but they will be here and so I am going to do the best I can! I have been reading reading and reading this thread, books on incubating and incubator reviews and am sooooo confused! The instuctions for the incubator (Hova bator Genesis 1588) says to fill the 1st tray with water and that the first humidity readings should be around 35% then to 55% for the last 3 days. The reviews for the incubator said they did like the instuctions said and had great hatches. BUT the books and the threads talk about a dry incubation with humidity around 15%! That's a big difference! What do I do???? Should I try it just like the instructions say or do I do the lower humidity? I really don't want to lose these eggs!!!!

We live in the north GA mountains and keep the house pretty cool....so the humidity in the house is probably on the high side to start with....Please help!

i can only repeat what i've been doing for the last year++... i dry incubate EVERYTHING (10-15% usually) and jump the humidity to anywhere from 50-65, trying to stay between 55 and 60 tho for the last 2-3 days.
when adding humidity, i've had way more dead in shell chicks than i ever have without.

i started incubating eggs back around '92 or so, but without the benefits of the internet, and only a few reference books here and there, my results were dismal, because i followed the incubator's instructions... a few times i was preoccupied with something and forgot to add water, always seemed to be better. so i tried going that route, and things improved. but then i ended up selling the chickens and moving out of state in '97 and took a hiatus from poultry, until i was able to convince my husband (who'd never had poultry) that it would be a good idea...

I got my incubators set up last fall (2011) but it had been so long that i'd forgotten some of the lessons learned, and had to re-learn them...

 

[Overoberyl]

i can only repeat what i've been doing for the last year++... i dry incubate EVERYTHING (10-15% usually) and jump the humidity to anywhere from 50-65, trying to stay between 55 and 60 tho for the last 2-3 days.
when adding humidity, i've had way more dead in shell chicks than i ever have without.

Me too!! Couldn't agree more. Although, at this point I'm only comfortable at 20%, it took me a while to get that low, lol.

 

[Overoberyl]

ok, so my first hatching eggs are due to arrive any day now....not sure when because they are a Christmas present but as soon as tomorrow! They were very expensive eggs! My daughter in law wanted to give me some Isbar and Cream legbar eggs because I talked about them alot....anyway, they would not have been my first choice for my first hatch ever....but they will be here and so I am going to do the best I can! I have been reading reading and reading this thread, books on incubating and incubator reviews and am sooooo confused! The instuctions for the incubator (Hova bator Genesis 1588) says to fill the 1st tray with water and that the first humidity readings should be around 35% then to 55% for the last 3 days. The reviews for the incubator said they did like the instuctions said and had great hatches. BUT the books and the threads talk about a dry incubation with humidity around 15%! That's a big difference! What do I do???? Should I try it just like the instructions say or do I do the lower humidity? I really don't want to lose these eggs!!!!

We live in the north GA mountains and keep the house pretty cool....so the humidity in the house is probably on the high side to start with....Please help!

Well you are already aware this is an ambitious undertaking, but just want to prepare you, I personally have found these two breeds some of the most difficult to hatch, I've tried multiple times to hatch Isbar with NO success, and only just last week hatched my first CL after no fewer than four attempts. I've had very successful hatches as high as 90% (and one 100%!) from shipped eggs of other breeds now so I'm no longer worried that it's anything I'm doing, it's just something with the breed, or that they need specialized conditions that I'm not aware of. In any case, do not get down on yourself if you do not have roaring success, it most likely isn't anything you've done wrong. I will definitely be pulling for you, and hope you have a much better hatch than I have had!

I know for a fact that most of the difficulty I had when I first started hatching was due to humidity being too high. You would probably be fine at 15% but you would also probably be fine at 20% if you want to try that instead. I know for me 20% is a much more comfortable number, lol.

 

[Flowerbh]

Thanks for your responses. Anyone else?
So, I have started up the incubator to see if everything is working (getting it ready)......the egg turner is turning right...I added no water and after it being plugged in for about 2 hours the humidity is saying 70%! Also, I have an extra thermometer/humidity thingy in there.... The thermometer in the incubator is saying only 90.5 degrees with humidity at 89%. The temp on the top of the incubator (built in) is saying 99.5 degrees and humidity of 70%. Does that mean that one of these is not working? I guess I should go get another meter and try that one.

Also, the books say touching the eggs in the incubator (like when you candle them) can be bad for the eggs because of grease/germs, etc. Does anyone ever use surgical gloves when they have to handle the eggs, or do they have stuff on them that can damage them? Just wondering....