Little giant incubator questions.

[Thatcher97]

I have purchased a Lg incubator and egg rotator, and have had two settings still unsuccessfull hatches. i have a few questions, when the eggs are at day 18 on the rotator should i unplug the rotator and leave the eggs on that or put them on their side in the incubator? also is there any good places i can order eggs? my hens were killed by a pack of dogs ;(
Thank you

 

[tomcatbubba]

I'd take the turner out and let the eggs lay on their side. Have you done a modification to your knob to make sure you are getting the fine tune adjustments you need? Also, I recommend going and buying a digital thermometer/hygrometer and allow it to drape down in side to get more accurate measurements. I run fairly low humidity (no water in the bator) until day 18 then fill the trays and get pretty good hatches. Since you have had poor hatches I would make sure the eggs are fertile and that your temp/humidity is OK. As for purchasing, I think you are better off finding local eggs as shipped eggs are not a sure bet - especially considering your other failed hatches.

 

[Thatcher97]

I havent had any hatches. ive had eggs that look about 18 days old but never hatch, the issue with the turner is that sometimes im not home for a few days and they might die.How can i fine tune my incubator? The reason why i asked about the eggs is because i had neighbors dogs get in and killed my hens and rooster and my 4-H pig, Thank you very much.

 

[SunnySkies]

I use an LG with a turner. I leave it be until day 18, then I have had better luck (I am still learning) putting the eggs in a separate LG set up as a still air, no fan and adding water in various ways to bring up humidity (you need a hygrometer) and leaving them to it. I fussed over my last hatch and all died. I hardly paid any attention to this hatchuntil day 18 and got more than half to hatch.

Is it somewhere the temp can be stable too? I found putting it in my basement helped keep temp at a constant level.

 

[Thatcher97]

My temp is stable its in my room but ive never seen it past 100 degrees or lower than 99 degrees, is that to big of a change?

 

[SunnySkies]

No, that is fine. Mine varies just like that. I found that for me, the RH was important. Not too high, but higher than the room.