Is this a quitter?

[Jester57]

This is day, 14, and I’m pretty sure that all my eggs have bit the dust. I just have this one that I have a small amount of hope for. What do you think? I don’t see movement in any of the eggs, and they don’t appear to have grown any bigger. This is my 1st time incubating, so I don’t want to just toss them out if there’s any possibility that any of them are live. But the embryos appear to just be free floating within the egg itself. This is the only one word the embryo isn’t moving when I shift the egg around. But it’s not very big, and I don’t think it’s grown very much since the last time I checked them.

 

[Jester57]

Also, no blood veins.

 

[SilverBirds]

So sorry, it's a quitter. How do the others look?

 

[Iluveggers]

I’m sorry. First incubation is tough! I would love to help you troubleshoot if you are interested. Let me know and if so I have a few questions. Hopefully whatever went wrong can be fixed for the next hatch!

 

[Jester57]

This is actually the best looking one. The others all have almost non-existent to slightly less dark spots, but all are smaller and slosh around inside the egg. The incubator I got is a cheaper one from Amazon and I really had no idea how to operate it. The first week had a lot of temp and humidity variation as a result. I’m better now, but still go from 70% humidity to 25% over night. Temp hasn’t been as much as a problem, but it still goes higher than I’d like occasionally.

I am concerned that the incubator is apparently designed to operate at 60% humidity, but I’ve seen recommended humidity all over the place.

I’m getting a drip bag to maintain a more or less steady humidity, but any other suggestions for a successful hatch would be appreciated.

 

[Iluveggers]

This is actually the best looking one. The others all have almost non-existent to slightly less dark spots, but all are smaller and slosh around inside the egg. The incubator I got is a cheaper one from Amazon and I really had no idea how to operate it. The first week had a lot of temp and humidity variation as a result. I’m better now, but still go from 70% humidity to 25% over night. Temp hasn’t been as much as a problem, but it still goes higher than I’d like occasionally.

I am concerned that the incubator is apparently designed to operate at 60% humidity, but I’ve seen recommended humidity all over the place.

I’m getting a drip bag to maintain a more or less steady humidity, but any other suggestions for a successful hatch would be appreciated.

First question: did you add a separate calibrated thermometer/hygrometer? Some incubators show inaccurate temps or humidity. My 360 runs a bit lower than the temp on it so I adjust it higher. Govee makes a bunch of good ones, or you can try a meat thermometer or aquarium thermometer if you know it’s accurate.

A wet sponge inside can also help if your humidity won’t stay up at night.

 

[Jester57]

First question: did you add a separate calibrated thermometer/hygrometer? Some incubators show inaccurate temps or humidity. My 360 runs a bit lower than the temp on it so I adjust it higher. Govee makes a bunch of good ones, or you can try a meat thermometer or aquarium thermometer if you know it’s accurate.

A wet sponge inside can also help if your humidity won’t stay up at night.

No, I think that was my first mistake. I did have a separate thermometer/hygrometer inside, but I didn’t know enough at the time to calibrate it. The thermometer appeared to match up with my laser thermometer, so I’m fairly confident about that one. I’m more concerned about the hygrometer. I’m working on calibrating it now.

Any size recommendation on the wet sponge? Anytime I added water, the humidity would shoot way up. I have to leave the vent completely open to get it back down to between 50 and 65%. If I caught it at just the right time, I could leave the vent partially open and maintain a more or less constant humidity.

 

[Iluveggers]

No, I think that was my first mistake. I did have a separate thermometer/hygrometer inside, but I didn’t know enough at the time to calibrate it. The thermometer appeared to match up with my laser thermometer, so I’m fairly confident about that one. I’m more concerned about the hygrometer. I’m working on calibrating it now.

Any size recommendation on the wet sponge? Anytime I added water, the humidity would shoot way up. I have to leave the vent completely open to get it back down to between 50 and 65%. If I caught it at just the right time, I could leave the vent partially open and maintain a more or less constant humidity.

I would run the incubator for a few days with a few different sizes of wet & damp sponges to see which one keeps the humidity where you want it. Keep an eye out during those few days and try to adjust. Once you get 24 hours of relatively stable temp & humidity, you’ll know you are ready to set eggs. And definitely calibrate a separate thermometer/hygrometer first, as that will make a huge difference!

Good luck!