looking for tips

[goodmanfarm]

My family and I tried hatching a dozen chicken eggs for the first time a few years ago. We kept up the temperature, humidity, and rotations exactly as we were supposed to, but when hatch day came only 2 baby chicks ended up hatching. We are trying again this year with a dozen eggs, and we are wondering if there is anything we could look out for or do to ensure more of the eggs hatch. Any feedback or tips are welcome, Thanks!

 

[nuthatched]

Was your incubator calibrated? Were these your birds eggs or shipped?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My family and I tried hatching a dozen chicken eggs for the first time a few years ago. We kept up the temperature, humidity, and rotations exactly as we were supposed to, but when hatch day came only 2 baby chicks ended up hatching. We are trying again this year with a dozen eggs, and we are wondering if there is anything we could look out for or do to ensure more of the eggs hatch. Any feedback or tips are welcome, Thanks!

Which bator are you going to use.. was your themometer/hygormeter calibrated.. and are you working with eggs from your own flock, shipped, or ?? What breed or color are the eggs?

Do you recall if those previous chicks hatched on day 21 or not? Do you remember what your temp and humidity were that you maintained last time?

Incubators themselves are super finicky, with some offering easier and better results than others. With tips and tricks.. even the cheapest of them can be very successful.

There are so many other factors also.. egg selection (age, clean, unwashed, uniform size, etc), Nutrition and age of the breeding stock matters.. simply laying eggs doesn't mean they're viable *enough* for hatching.

 

[goodmanfarm]

Was your incubator calibrated? Were these your birds eggs or shipped?

we drove and picked up the eggs from a local farm who is trusted in our area, i don’t think the eggs were the problem because when we candled on day 10, all looked well. The incubator we used was from our family friend who hatched chickens for years, but i’m not sure exactly what would need to be done to calibrate it

 

[goodmanfarm]

one egg pipped very late at night on day 21, and hatched during the night. we found her fully hatched when we woke up on day 22. the other pipped and hatched during day 22

the eggs were purchased from a local farm not from our flock, and they were road island red eggs

i’m not exactly sure what type of incubator we have but i can upload a picture

 

[goodmanfarm]

Which bator are you going to use.. was your themometer/hygormeter calibrated.. and are you working with eggs from your own flock, shipped, or ?? What breed or color are the eggs?

Do you recall if those previous chicks hatched on day 21 or not? Do you remember what your temp and humidity were that you maintained last time?

Incubators themselves are super finicky, with some offering easier and better results than others. With tips and tricks.. even the cheapest of them can be very successful.

There are so many other factors also.. egg selection (age, clean, unwashed, uniform size, etc), Nutrition and age of the breeding stock matters.. simply laying eggs doesn't mean they're viable *enough* for hatching.

we kept the temp at 99.5-99.7 °F, the incubator was self regulating. it also had a built in rotation feature that we had turned on on day 2. we kept the humidity at 45-50% but it was hard to maintain. we did raise the humidity the last couple days to about 65