Low hatch rates, not sure what is going on.

[twigg]

Quote:
Calibrate your thermometers:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=130840

Then we can take it from there.

 

[kentuckychickenmomma]

We have hatched year round , the last few hatches have been the worst. Maybe it is in the weather or something , but today when I got home from work , we had 7 already hatched when it is now day 21 , which for us is not normal , ours are usually born at least on day 19 or 20, so anyhow , I had left the hubby directions to NOT open it for any reason till after I got home and we would take them out if any had hatched since opening the bator can cause the chicks to not finish hatching as I had read somewhere on here. For the first time EVER in my hatching chicks I actually had a bantie hatch.. I am so excited about this.


I just personally think it is a bad time of the year for hatching , not just on here , but friends of ours who usually have 100% hatching has had a rough time latley. Let me know how yours turns out ok.. Good Luck ..



PS, A friend once told us that the quails are hard to hatch

 

[twigg]

Quote:
Early hatching suggests that it is time to calibrate your thermometers

Good for you with the bantie ... that will probably be our next hatch.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
Quail are very easy to hatch, the main trouble people make in still air incubator, they dont check temp. at the top of eggs,or try to incubate with larger eggs, a no no in still air incubators

 

[Heather J]

When I first got the new thermometers I put them in the incubator with the one I had running. They showed two and three degrees off, respectively. Over the next day they got closer and closer to the temperature on the original thermometer. And, when one showed 104, I put the original thermometer back in there with it for an hour or two and it showed the temps were still stable at 100....


I'm going to try incubating fewer eggs and starting one batch after the hatch in that bator is finished. That should allow me to run my turners longer and I'll be more insane about checking my humidity *at least* twice a day in all of my bators. Hopefully that will help. It can't go much worse.