Need guidance!

[Jbuchino]

I need some help From any of you experts out there. I am hatching my first round of chicken eggs in an incubator. I have studied the manuals and followed the temperature and humidity and everything for as precisely as I can. I am now on day 23 and haven’t had any hatch. Per guidance, we did a float test and pulled out any of the eggs that did not pass the test. We opened one of the eggs and there was a fully developed chick with a beating heart. Now I’m totally at a loss of what to do. The rest are still in the incubator. Thoughts???? My heart is breaking! I didn’t realize this would be such an emotional process !

 

[Pyxis]

Don't trust the float test - it's not really accurate.

From the sounds of things, your temperature has been low and they are going to hatch late. What temperature have you been using, and is this incubator still air or forced air? Also, did you use a thermometer to check the temperature that you have calibrated and know to be accurate?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

No float test, it's for eating eggs not hatching eggs.

 

[Jbuchino]

Don't trust the float test - it's not really accurate.

From the sounds of things, your temperature has been low and they are going to hatch late. What temperature have you been using, and is this incubator still air or forced air? Also, did you use a thermometer to check the temperature that you have calibrated and know to be accurate?

Ugh. I love and hate the internet. I think it’s forced air. Have not calibrated the temp. How long do you think we keep waiting?

 

[Pyxis]

Ugh. I love and hate the internet. I think it’s forced air. Have not calibrated the temp. How long do you think we keep waiting?

Depends on how low the temperature is. It could take some time. Is there a fan in it? What temperature do you think you've been keeping it at?

Also, what date did you set the eggs?

 

[Jbuchino]

Depends on how low the temperature is. It could take some time. Is there a fan in it? What temperature do you think you've been keeping it at?

Also, what date did you set the eggs?
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The thermometer seems to fluctuate between 99 and 100.4. Hey it stays closer to the 99 range. I put them in the afternoon of the ninth, but they were packed on the ninth and the eighth.

 

[Pyxis]

I'm wondering if your incubator doesn't have a fan, because if it doesn't, those temperatures were too low and definitely would have caused the late hatch.

 

[Jbuchino]

Depends on how low the temperature is. It could take some time. Is there a fan in it? What temperature do you think you've been keeping it at?

Also, what date did you set the eggs?

I'm wondering if your incubator doesn't have a fan, because if it doesn't, those temperatures were too low and definitely would have caused the late hatch.

Yes there is a fan. Is it still possible that they will hatch?

 

[Pyxis]

Yes there is a fan. Is it still possible that they will hatch?

If they're still alive, yes, they might hatch. All you can do at this point is wait. For next time, double check your temperature, since it sounds like the thermometer in there is wrong and is reading higher than the temperature actually is.

 

[Jbuchino]

If they're still alive, yes, they might hatch. All you can do at this point is wait. For next time, double check your temperature, since it sounds like the thermometer in there is wrong and is reading higher than the temperature actually is.

So I just had another Thermometer placed in the incubator to double check the temperature. My thermometer says 91°. Should I increase?