Manually Turning Eggs...

[KMoKoop]

Hello, fellow chicken tenders I am pretty new to hatching chicks. I hatched a couple late last fall, had a small group hatch about 4 weeks ago and just went into lockdown with another batch. My hatch rate isn't great and I know that there are a lot of factors in play... I am hoping to get some insight to help improve results going forward.

I am using a Little Giant Still Air Incubator and am turning my eggs manually. When I turn them- about 3x a day, I take the cover completely off and turn as quickly as I can before putting the cover back on. Temp and humidity always drop, but it doesn't seem to take too long to get back to where I have it set. (100° and 60% humidity)
Is this the best way to manually turn eggs? I would love an automatic turner, but have not yet decided if is worth the investment for this incubator or if I want to just wait and get a better incubator.

Another question I have is about during hatching... my most recent hatch, I had 2 eggs that had pipped and had fairly large openings; I was sure they'd be next to emerge from their shell. But the chicks that had already hatched knocked them around to where I could no longer see the hole and they ended up not hatching. I've read that I should not be opening the incubator and that hatched chicks should be left in the incubator to dry. So how do I stop this from happening again?!

I have 20 eggs in the incubator now that just went into lockdown with a hatch date of 4/24. 12 of them are shipped eggs and I am really wanting the best hatch rate possible, so please- all suggestions are welcome!

Hatch 1 (11/29/21) 2 of 5 hatched
Hatch 2 (3/25/22) 9 of 16 hatched, 3 pipped but did not zip.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Having owned an LG 9300 for a brief period, I would suggest you get a different incubator. I bought this incubator to use solely as a hatcher and it had such terrible temperature swings that I was nearly pulling out my hair in frustration. Obviously, temperature swings will have an adverse impact on the development of eggs.

Does your independent thermometer show the unit is holding temps steady? Don't trust the display - it's often inaccurate, even in more expensive models.

If you're looking for a more reliable, value-priced incubator, I can recommend one that will cost about twice what the LG does, as well as a value-priced automatic turner that will work in it. For chicken eggs, I strongly prefer the autoturner to hand-turning.

 

[KMoKoop]

Having owned an LG 9300 for a brief period, I would suggest you get a different incubator. I bought this incubator to use solely as a hatcher and it had such terrible temperature swings that I was nearly pulling out my hair in frustration. Obviously, temperature swings will have an adverse impact on the development of eggs.

Does your independent thermometer show the unit is holding temps steady? Don't trust the display - it's often inaccurate, even in more expensive models.

If you're looking for a more reliable, value-priced incubator, I can recommend one that will cost about twice what the LG does, as well as a value-priced automatic turner that will work in it. For chicken eggs, I strongly prefer the autoturner to hand-turning.

Thank you. For now, I'm working with what I have. I will likely invest in a new incubator down the road, but am not in a position to do so now. I'd really just like to know if the way I'm doing things now can be improved upon.

My independent thermometer is what I use to determine temp and humidity. I only use the one on the incubator to adjust settings, if needed.

 

[sdm111]

Your humidity Is too high. Search dry hatch method. Always dry hatch with Styrofoam incubators. That will probably help your hatch rate exponentially

 

[sdm111]

Classic sign of too high humidity are chicks pipping but not zipping. They grow too big (too high humidity) and cannot turn to zip. They die in that position. Even if they do hatch they are unhealthy and mushy

 

[sdm111]

When I incubated I took chicks out as they hatched before they were dry with no I'll effects on the others

 

[raingarden]

It is frustrating because the temperature of the air fluctuates as the thermostat turns off and on. Also, you can check the temperature of the air but there is no way to check the internal temperature of the egg itself. I really suck at incubating eggs and do not seem to be getting any better at it.

 

[KMoKoop]

Your humidity Is too high. Search dry hatch method. Always dry hatch with Styrofoam incubators. That will probably help your hatch rate exponentially

Today is day 18 and lockdown began this morning. Humidity is at 50%. Should I leave it as is or do something different??

 

[sdm111]

Today is day 18 and lockdown began this morning. Humidity is at 50%. Should I leave it as is or do something different??

At 18 fill the trays with water to get the humidity up. If I were you I would research assisting hatch. You can help them and hatch them I've done it alot with success but the chicks will likely not have the vigor of normal size chicks.

 

[Acre4Me]

I’ve used this incubator with success. My results improved a lot with the addition of the fan unit sold for this incubator. I purchased from incubator warehouse. However, with or without the fan, I hand turned up to approx 40 eggs (I think it holds 44?). I placed stable cups of water in the corners (using the glass yogurt containers from Yoplait Oui) to keep eggs out of the coldest spots and for the water to hold temp briefly. When turning, I did remove the lid and quickly turn all. In fact, I would remove the outer ring of eggs, turn the rest of the eggs and move them outwards, and put the removed eggs in the center. Lid back on. Another thing that helped with temps and fluctuations, were draft shields. One time the incubator fit right into a cardboard box that was as tall as the incubator. Other times, I would use large pieces of cardboard to shield the incubator from drafts so it would not see as many or big temp fluctuations.

In another homemade incubator I used for quail I used some cleaned and sterilized (baked in oven and cooked in oven overnight) rocks as heat sinks at the bottom. The thought being that they would provide heat once lid replaced as it was a still air incubator.