It's offical I am the worst Hatcher

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well if you're getting back to basics Danny every where I read the temp say 99.5-100F that is on the instructions with the still air. edited for content.

I don't know what incubator or how old your instructions are but all the later models say 102. My comments were not meant to be degrading. They are facts. People tend to want to hear the easy answers and never want to hear facts. I am trying to help and that is all. If you choose not to listen to facts that is your choice.

I suggest you re-evaluate your approach to people and the words you choose. " It's just hard to understand why people use off the wall methods and still wonder why their eggs don't hatch." ...edited for content Take note that Goffle Road poultry has been in business long before any of us were a spit in the eye... And I don't imagine they're speaking to the person who's experienced but rather to the newbie who would like have a little giant or the like.... They sell hatching eggs they would WANT success....

http://www.gofflepoultry.com/Incubate.html

"Incubation Of Eggs

Startup:
Preset temperature between 99-100* Fahrenheit. Verify stability for 24 hours before setting eggs. Do Not re-adjust temperature after placing eggs in incubator. Temperature may drop initially upon placing eggs in incubator but will stabilize back to normal temperature after the first 24 hours of starting the incubation process. "


Further my NEWEST Little Giant was just urchased a few months ago. Prior to that I'd looked up their booklet online because I could not find mine from my old one.

these are the search results from google on the little giant http://www.google.com/search?q=+MILLER+MFG+CO+INC+++little+giant+still+air+incubator&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBF

in
the results it's number 9 - click on that & that's where you'll find the chart on page 4. in Step #9. that is the same as the one I just bought that says 99.5 F for chicken eggs.
 
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I have a hygrometer I got from walmart wondering how accurate it is!!
I really want to open the eggs to see what I have done wrong but I figure I will give them a few more hours would hate it if one was still alive...
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3chickens if you've got eggs that haven't hatched I think you should give them an extra few days. I don't know what day you're on but I always allow my eggs an additional 2 days past the hatch date so that it would be day 23 or day 24.
 
I think I will wait till tomorrow till I open
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I figure with 1 that hatched a day early I am doomed....
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Poor little chick seems like when I hatch 1 they turn out to be ROOS!!!
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I think I must check that incubator 100 times aday...
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Well what you are doing is obviously not working or you wouldn't be here. So if you don't want to learn thats' your choice. It's hard to learn if you already know.
 
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excuse me? I am here because I was answering someone else.... My last hatch with *shipped eggs was actually pretty good with almost 3 quarters having hatched. my last batch out of the backyard was 100% except for the ones that didn't develop.

Someone had commented they are the "worst hatcher ever" she is not the worst ever but just needs to make adjustments to what she's doing & people were here sharing their experiences. No one was talking down to anyone etc. but just sharing info & experiences UNTIL you....Again I could go back & pick it apart to point out the implied insults but I won't. I could be throwing the same back at you but it would just compound it all and be counter productive to the person/people asking questions....
 
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I would wait to throw it out. No sense throwing out the baby with the bath water.... And you're not doomed...
 
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Aww I know what you mean. I just opened the rest of the showgirl eggs. Shrinkwrapped like I thought, so apparently humidity during incubation is my problem, I need to bump that up. Apparently dry hatching isn't working for me.
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As for the Walmart hygrometer/thermometer, I purchased one of the less expensive ones. Followed it and kept killing things. Purchased one of the expensive ones that beams the info to a station... weeeellllll turns out my cheapo was about 5 or 6 degrees cool!!! No wonder I was killing everyone in the hatcher, freezing them out!!

And I'm sorry that Danny has turned your thread into a flame. I merely meant to comiserate and perhaps share experiences. I'm not doing "off the wall" techniques, they are proven techniques used by many byc'ers. Tilting the incubator has not been the problem, thermometers with inaccurate readings and humidity too low during growth are apparently my problems. The chicks develop normally. But ignorance is bliss.

I keep my water in a dish with a sponge in it, I just squeeze water in through the ventilation holes. Not a problem, I just wasn't putting in enough water during growth. The water doesn't splash out, you aren't tipping the incubator to a 45 degree angle or anything. Eggs are in paper cartons. All of this seems to be working great as I can develop chicks let me tell you!! It's just the heart breaking part of not being able to get them out of the shell!

It's all about figuring out your individual conditions. Your conditions aren't the same as mine, as your humidity is so high there! Good oh! But try using one of those temporal scanning thermometers (like you would take a temp on a kids forehead with) to scan your eggs and see what temp they are. That's how I verified that my new thermometer was more accurate! The cheapo hygro/therm was waaaayyy off. Just for ***** & giggles I left it in the incubator with the expensive one.. sometimes it reads 108 with very little humidity... it's totally all over the place!

I also put rocks in the bottom so that the temperature remains stable. Stability isn't an issue when there are a lot of eggs, but if there are a lot of clears and you only end up with 12 or so at hatch it can fluctuate dramatically. The rocks keep the temperature pretty stable.
 
My short-term memory is screwed up, especially today, so I am having trouble remembering everything written in this thread, but IF I am correct, I think that the temperature "dispute" here might have something to do with the differences between a still air and forced air incubator?

Now, I ONLY use forced air incubators, but perhaps someone with experience in both types might want to step in here and clarify whether or not there are differences between the two?

All I know is that EVERYTHING I have read about a forced air incubator states that embryos are usually killed if the temperature reached 102 degrees for any amount of time and the correct temperature is 99.5-100 degrees during incubation, lower for hatching. I'm proud to say that I just had a 100% hatch from my "designer" Jersey Giant Frizzle Cochin Surprises yesterday using a forced air Hova Bator with turner at 99.5 degrees. I didn't even get that high a hatch using a Humidaire redwood cabinet incubator in the past.

I just wonder if part of the argument isn't comparing apples and oranges? If I am confused here, forgive me, please.
 
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Open that bator and turn those eggs 3 times a day! Why are you rolling them? It isn't going to hurt them to turn them by hand. You will see better hatches, I would almost bet. Turn that temp down to 101-102. No higher than 102 in a still air.
 
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Open that bator and turn those eggs 3 times a day! Why are you rolling them? It isn't going to hurt them to turn them by hand. You will see better hatches, I would almost bet. Turn that temp down to 101-102. No higher than 102 in a still air.

I have hand turned eggs 3 times a day and I have tilted my bator with eggs in cartons. I have gotten nearly identical growth and hatch rate, so I'm happy using either method.
 

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