IncuView Experiment Fail

[MerleMice]

Something I like to do during incubation is to label all my eggs corresponding to the pattern they were incubated in. A1, B2, etc. Over repeated hatches, this let's me see which spots are consistently poor (dead spots in the corners, under the fan, slow to grow/delayed hatch in row E, etc)

While checking for temperature pockets isn't what you're asking about, it is worth mentioning if you're still learning/fighting your bator.

If you do drill holes, I'd suggest finding some vent plugs online first for you to size them too. Though you probably can just put tape over them when not in use.

I also have had better luck with the dry incubation method!

 

[TwoCrows]

Definitely, if you are closing the vents at lock down to keep the humidity in, you are starving them of oxygen. I will add one or two small cups of water with brand new clean kitchen sponges on the water to wick more water into the air. If your window is super foggy, you are good on humidity, vents need to be WIDE open at hatching time. They need huge amounts of oxygen to hatch.

 

[SimoneG]

Something I like to do during incubation is to label all my eggs corresponding to the pattern they were incubated in. A1, B2, etc. Over repeated hatches, this let's me see which spots are consistently poor (dead spots in the corners, under the fan, slow to grow/delayed hatch in row E, etc)

While checking for temperature pockets isn't what you're asking about, it is worth mentioning if you're still learning/fighting your bator.

If you do drill holes, I'd suggest finding some vent plugs online first for you to size them too. Though you probably can just put tape over them when not in use.

I also have had better luck with the dry incubation method!

Can you tell me about the dry incubation method? new to this but I just got the incuview all in one and humidikit to start (hopefully) hatching. looking for tips

 

[feedman77]

Can you tell me about the dry incubation method? new to this but I just got the incuview all in one and humidikit to start (hopefully) hatching. looking for tips

Dry is actually "low" humidity incubation. I try to keep humidity between 20 to 30 percent. Most of the time this is accomplished by just the ambient humidity in the room. So I don't add any water during incubation.

At lockdown I then add water and raise the humidity to 70 plus.

I have had chicks hatch early when I mis marked days on the calender so,they didn' have any extra humidity they hatched fine.

 

[Kiki]

Kind of long, I'm sorry. But I am really frustrated here and wanted to include as much info as possible.

I have been using an IncuView forced air incubator for over a year and haven't had a hatch rate over 50% - most have been much less than that, closer to 20%. I have redundant thermometers and hygrometers, so I know temps and humidity are good (99.5F and 40%-50% for incubation, 65%-75% for lockdown). We live at 9,000 feet elevation, but I have read that this shouldn't be a problem if the eggs were laid at the same elevation which they are.

I suspected that the egg turner for the IncuView wasn't turning the eggs adequately, so I tried an experiment.

Instead of laying the eggs flat and letting the turner turn them, I put the eggs in standard paper quail egg cartons (fat end up) and just put a box under the end of the incubator. This put the incubator at a fairly steep angle. I switched the box to the other side at least 3X a day, basically rocking the eggs back and forth like other egg turners.

I sterilize the IncuView with a mild bleach solution before incubation and let it dry thoroughly before using it . I don't normally wash my eggs before incubation because they are usually pretty clean when I collect them. This time I did a quick rinse thinking that maybe that was part of the problem too.

My my results were the worst I've ever had. 2 chicks hatched out of 79 eggs. After 21 days I gave up and moved the 2 chicks to a brooder.

I dissected the unhatched eggs. 43 appeared to be fully developed or close to it, 10 looked partially developed and 23 were totally undeveloped.

If the 43 developed eggs hatched the hatch rate would have been 57%. Still not that great, but to have 43 almost fully developed chicks not hatch is frustrating to say the least. I am really getting tired of throwing away so many eggs after each hatch.

Any ideas of where to start troubleshooting here? Thanks for any ideas.

Can you please come back so we can chat.

@gilpinguy

 

[aart]

In case you come back @gilpinguy

Thank you for the responses.
The question about too little oxygen is a valid one. I have been closing the vent hole a little during lockdown to keep the humidity up during lockdown. Looks like I shouldn't do this! In fact, I may drill another hole or two since the factory vent hole in the IncuView is maybe 3/8" wide and I am at elevation. It never dawned on me that they were getting too little oxygen.

The lack of oxygen is because of the carton not allowing air flow to get to the bottom of the eggs during incubation.
Hatching at high elevation takes some adjustments, tho I do not know what those adjustments are.

 

[Rammy]

Ive used my Incuview for over a dozen hatches and its worked great. Nearly 80% hatch rate or more. I never had any trouble keeping the humidity up. Couple times I used a Humidikit, but it was hard getting the little sensor cords in there so I just went back to adding water manually. If the humidity got too high, Id just take out the plug for a while til it went back down. Sorry yours isnt doing as well for you as you'd like.

 

[Kiki]

Ive used my Incuview for over a dozen hatches and its worked great. Nearly 80% hatch rate or more. I never had any trouble keeping the humidity up. Couple times I used a Humidikit, but it was hard getting the little sensor cords in there so I just went back to adding water manually. If the humidity got too high, Id just take out the plug for a while til it went back down. Sorry yours isnt doing as well for you as you'd like.

I brought this old thread back to life because I accidentally ran across this person's YouTube channel and saw his videos about his hatches.

I really hope he still hatching and comes back soon but I'm afraid he might have quit.

 

[SimoneG]

I brought this old thread back to life because I accidentally ran across this person's YouTube channel and saw his videos about his hatches.

I really hope he still hatching and comes back soon but I'm afraid he might have quit.

could you do a link to the youtube video please? I also have an incuview and a hovabator 1588. I had great hatch rates at the beginning of the spring but as the summer went on it got worse in both. I'm guessing the rain, humidity and air pressure had a lot to o with that. as well as young hens.

 

[Kiki]

could you do a link to the youtube video please? I also have an incuview and a hovabator 1588. I had great hatch rates at the beginning of the spring but as the summer went on it got worse in both. I'm guessing the rain, humidity and air pressure had a lot to o with that. as well as young hens.

I do not recommend this video.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...formation-wanted.1340213/page-2#post-21952879