Incubators Anonymous

[ladycat]

I've incubated about 35 or so shipped eggs, and only 1 has ever hatched!

I want to order some $75 a dozen eggs, but not til I start getting the darn things to hatch better! Grrr

What kind of incubator do you have?

I had terrible luck with shipped eggs until I got the Brinsea. I use it for the shipped eggs, and get some pretty good hatches now. Well, most of the time.

Yes the Brinsea is expensive (I saved up for months to get mine), but when you consider the money you spend on eggs that hatch poorly in a cheap incubator, a Brinsea soon pays for itself.

 

[DMRippy]

Lots of factors go into shipped eggs. Some peoples eggs are great shipped from CA to TN..... some from AZ to TN not so much..... Some from KY to TN not so much....... Some from FL to TN do pretty well...... so it is just depends of lots of things. Temps when you ship them, if the eggs are really fertile (this time of year it is hit and miss with fertility). Pullet eggs seem to ship better some breeds ship better than others...... POT LUCK really on shipped eggs.

 

[DMRippy]

I just found my guineas nest...... 4.5 doz eggs..... I must set them..... then I can sell the rest I find..... I don't know how old these are so I must set them right?????? OMG..... I set 106 last week and I have more ordered eggs coming so that would make it about 7 doz eggs......

I will be DONE after these all hatch. Maybe I could sell my grown guinea and start over.....

so hard to integrate new keets in the flock.

 

[gander007]

Lots of factors go into shipped eggs. Some peoples eggs are great shipped from CA to TN..... some from AZ to TN not so much..... Some from KY to TN not so much....... Some from FL to TN do pretty well...... so it is just depends of lots of things. Temps when you ship them, if the eggs are really fertile (this time of year it is hit and miss with fertility). Pullet eggs seem to ship better some breeds ship better than others...... POT LUCK really on shipped eggs.

This is so true ....... Roll the dice

 

[misbhaven]

Well none of my shipped eggs hatched this time!

Poo! At least they were just swap eggs, but I still wanted them!

Anyway! I had 2 chicks, from my own eggs, zip almost fully, then my humidity bottomed out through the night and they dried up and got stuck, BAD! Looks like they may have already been sticky to begin with. So I helped them out, but they were so stuck, they still have shell pieces on them! I left those 2 in the bator cause I didn't figure they'd make it anyway. Here we r on day 2 & they're doing well.
Now HOW THE HECK do I get them clean and fluffy???? They are soooooo crusty dried up. I don't want them in my brooder like that. Lol

hmm.. any of the eggs I send you hatch last week 3 of the bantams hatched that you sent me another internally pipped and didn't make it out (eggtopsy i always do them unless i suspect it to be stinky)..turkey are due next week i think 3 or 4 still going..I also had an egg explode this batch on day 15 caught it day 16 turned on another bator added some heat sinks to help it get hot fast so I could clean the running one..
. we could always try again as we are not too far apart maybe in sept and I have 3 broody dorking sitting in the same box which the other contuine to give them eggs so i am going to have oodles of chicks to sell..I think they are on a good 45 eggs...
This time of year the eggs can get too hot and kill them.
I can rule out packaging and fertility in the case of the Dorking eggs as I actually had her mail my eggs back in that packaging..and my Roo is busy boy no matter how hot etc and all of them are just a little over a year, and i just hatched out 5 that I put in two days before I shipped to her ..
Didin't you have a long power outage during this batch?
I incubate in a yellow chinese 48 egg with turner well 2 of them thinking of a third..they come with great Stryo from shipping on the bottom i left it on helps with stable temps, not a brinsea but i do like it and it is very deep if i took out the turner i bet i could get 120 eggs or more in each one..I also incubate in my basement stable temps no heat or cold issues..

 

[sonderah]

hmm.. any of the eggs I send you hatch last week 3 of the bantams hatched that you sent me another internally pipped and didn't make it out (eggtopsy i always do them unless i suspect it to be stinky)..turkey are due next week i think 3 or 4 still going..I also had an egg explode  this batch on day 15 caught it day 16 turned on another bator added some heat sinks to help it get hot fast so I could clean the running one..
. we could always try again as we are not too far apart maybe in sept and I have 3 broody dorking sitting in the same box which the other contuine to give them eggs so i am going to have oodles of chicks to sell..I think they are on a good 45 eggs...
This time of year the eggs can get too hot and kill them.
I can rule out packaging and fertility in the case of the Dorking eggs as I actually had her mail my eggs back in that packaging..and my Roo is busy boy no matter how hot etc and all of them are just a little over a year, and i just hatched out 5 that I put in two days before I shipped to her ..
Didin't you have a long power outage during this batch?
I incubate in a yellow chinese 48 egg with turner well 2 of them thinking of a third..they come with great Stryo from shipping on the bottom i left it on helps with stable temps, not a brinsea but i do like it and it is very deep if i took out the turner i bet i could get 120 eggs or more in each one..I also incubate in my basement stable temps no heat or cold issues..

No. None of ur eggs hatched, but 6 of 8 made it into lockdown with definate movement stil on day 18! So, it wasn't the eggs. Lol I've been having some issues every since I built my big bator and started using my Hovabator as a hatcher. I used to to still air to hatch, now I'm using forced air. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it. They always look REALLY good when they come out of the bator and go into the hatcher on day 18. :/

I'm leaving for a month to AZ tomorrow morning, so when I get back, I'll do some more playing around and see what's going on. I stopped setting eggs, but still have 2 hatches left in the bator that my bf will have to deal with while I'm gone. 1 going in on the 8th that I candled yesterday and still had 49 viable eggs!!!! Lol Biggest hatch yet, and I won't even be here! Poor guy!! LMBO

 

[Tuhmu]

It must just be a bad time for shipped eggs, I candled my buff leghorns last night and only 3 appear to be developing?! Out of 18! I am 98% sure its just shipped eggs and not my coolerbator because I just moved 5 of my 6 "mixed flock" eggs into my brinsea for lockdown and they were swimming around like crazy and have perfect air cells, will see on sunday what the results are.

I am still kind of doubting the airflow in my cooler Bator though? I have a quite large fan in there but this last week I have been getting uneven temps, but its with my digital thermometer. My regular mercury one says its spot on wherever I move it. I think I need to toss the digital and just keep the mercury.

~My fan if any coolerbator users see an error with this please let me know, I'm loading it up again tonight with more bobwhite quail and apparently chicken eggs....I think my order got mixed up with the sellers other customer because they are definitely not quail eggs!

~My digital thermometer


I also have my three shipped brahma eggs, that made it to lockdown, in the racks in my brinsea (they have about 75% of the top egg sticking out and aren't in super tight so I hope it works).

 

[Faraday40]

It must just be a bad time for shipped eggs, I candled my buff leghorns last night and only 3 appear to be developing?! Out of 18! I am 98% sure its just shipped eggs and not my coolerbator because I just moved 5 of my 6 "mixed flock" eggs into my brinsea for lockdown and they were swimming around like crazy and have perfect air cells, will see on sunday what the results are.

I am still kind of doubting the airflow in my cooler Bator though? I have a quite large fan in there but this last week I have been getting uneven temps, but its with my digital thermometer. My regular mercury one says its spot on wherever I move it. I think I need to toss the digital and just keep the mercury.

~My fan if any coolerbator users see an error with this please let me know, I'm loading it up again tonight with more bobwhite quail and apparently chicken eggs....I think my order got mixed up with the sellers other customer because they are definitely not quail eggs!

~My digital thermometer


I also have my three shipped brahma eggs, that made it to lockdown, in the racks in my brinsea (they have about 75% of the top egg sticking out and aren't in super tight so I hope it works).

I'm guessing it's the eggs. Here's what I've noticed.
My cooler incubator works OK. I know because I always hatch a handful of backyard mutts along each batch of shipped eggs. (Last time 5 out of 6 backyard eggs & only 3 out of 15 shipped eggs hatched.) Right now the fan's at the top center like most Styrofoam models, but I read that having it blow across the light bulbs may help even out the temps. I will be changing the location of my fan next time to see if it's true. I also noticed that as I flip my see-saw egg turner, the distance to the light bulb changes. The proximity causes a very slight temp difference. I'm getting good results with the backyard eggs, but there's always room for improvement.

I use a similar digital thermometer. They're not the best. When testing it, I noticed that it reads almost 1 degree lower, so I make sure to take that into consideration when setting up the incubator. The humidity was perfect, so I at least use it for that. I also have an "Egg-o-meter" (brand). Many have said that it reads on the high side. I tested it with a broody & agree. It doesn't measure humidity at all. So now I'm like the person with multiple watches who never really knows the correct time. LOL

 

[Faraday40]

how poor of an air cell ? if saddle shaped a lot of time the will internally pip at the wrong end and can't get out..

The air cells of my last & current batch of shipped eggs are terrible. I let them sit for 24 hours before incubating. Also didn't turn for first 3 days of incubation.
Last batch:
All were detached when arrived (looked wiggly like Jello). Some turned into very strange saddle shaped; some never reattached & had wiggly air cell lines on day 18. 10 out of 15 made it to lockdown because the embryos were large & moving. Only 3 hatched - all within one hour. Only those 3 pipped. The remaining seven, when opened, were fully formed. Only one of those didn't absorb the yolk.

Current batch (different seller & breed):
Again, Jello -like wiggling air cells on all 12 eggs. Yesterday was day 7. Air cells wiggly but slightly improved. 2 clears, 2 look slightly less developed (possible quitters). Saw movement in 8 eggs. (Saw movement in 10 out of 10 backyard eggs. They are my control group hatched under the same conditions.) So far, I'm not liking the odds of my shipped eggs. I may keep them upright for hatching this time to see if it helps. Any other suggestions?

 

[Tuhmu]

I'm guessing it's the eggs. Here's what I've noticed.
My cooler incubator works OK. I know because I always hatch a handful of backyard mutts along each batch of shipped eggs. (Last time 5 out of 6 backyard eggs & only 3 out of 15 shipped eggs hatched.) Right now the fan's at the top center like most Styrofoam models, but I read that having it blow across the light bulbs may help even out the temps. I will be changing the location of my fan next time to see if it's true. I also noticed that as I flip my see-saw egg turner, the distance to the light bulb changes. The proximity causes a very slight temp difference. I'm getting good results with the backyard eggs, but there's always room for improvement.

I use a similar digital thermometer. They're not the best. When testing it, I noticed that it reads almost 1 degree lower, so I make sure to take that into consideration when setting up the incubator. The humidity was perfect, so I at least use it for that. I also have an "Egg-o-meter" (brand). Many have said that it reads on the high side. I tested it with a broody & agree. It doesn't measure humidity at all. So now I'm like the person with multiple watches who never really knows the correct time. LOL

I think that may be exactly what is causing these problems, is doing this see-saw turning, because I do the same thing I think. I have a plastic egg holder that I just lean against the side and then turn and spin it (gently of course). Not sure what else I could do with shipped eggs though.... My own eggs were easy, just roll them over and done. I may have to revisit using my brinsea as my incubator for shipped eggs and the coolerbator for some hatches. Since I don't have any of my own eggs to hatch, trying to build up some flocks atm.