Need help - terrible experience incubating

[Debbie292d]

You got lots of good advice above. It's really not that complicated though.

Pulling the turner early is no big deal. They don't even really need to be turned that last week at all if someone was hand turning and wanted to stop. They are large enough and move around so can't get stuck.

Humidity should be 45-50% for the first 18 days, then 70% for lockdown.

I candle them at around 6-7 days, and remove the ones with nothing in them. They are either infertile or non-starters for whatever reason. Then when you pull the racks for lockdown, candle again as you have the incubator open anyway. If you see any that don't look nearly full and aren't moving, it maybe died on the way, but most should be full except for an air cell.

Please try again. You'll have better success the second time around.

 

[ChibaPet]

Please try again. You'll have better success the second time around.

We're definitely going to try again. I've got a Brinsea Maxi24 EX on the way and we'll add at least one digital thermometer to that. We've got a homemade brooder that should be an improvement on what we've used the last couple times we got brand new chicks in - and what we used before worked nicely, yielding happy chickens with no losses.

Thank you for the encouragement and advice.

 

[Debbie292d]

We're definitely going to try again. I've got a Brinsea Maxi24 EX on the way and we'll add at least one digital thermometer to that. We've got a homemade brooder that should be an improvement on what we've used the last couple times we got brand new chicks in - and what we used before worked nicely, yielding happy chickens with no losses.

Thank you for the encouragement and advice.

You're very welcome!

We have about 6 Govee brand hygrometer/thermometers here for incubators and brooders, but wanted something smaller for the incubators and found these on eBay. Inkbird is the brand of our thermostats in the brooders so we trust the company. They are spot on and fit in our incubators so much nicer.

The only bad thing is they can't be calibrated like most of the Govees can, so like if down the road in a month or so, we'll verify it. If we find out it's off a degree, we'll have to just put a sticker on it to tell us when reading, take a degree off, or add one.

 

[ChibaPet]

They are spot on and fit in our incubators so much nicer.

=jaw drops= That's perfect. Snagging a set. Thank you yet again! Set of six, so this will cover both ends of the brooder (heating lamp, so it's long enough that they can get out from under it if they want) several points in the incubator, and potentially other projects.

The only bad thing is they can't be calibrated

Your notion of affixing a sticker after recording deviation is reasonable. Would you consider them accurate enough that if I have all six turned on in a relatively controlled area, I can take the average as a baseline for purposes of showing individual differences between then? I can see what we've got here, but I'm pretty sure we've got some mercury thermometers for school that should be pretty accurate. I was thinking about taping them to the clear shell of the incubator, but those look like they might just nestle into the egg rack - especially if we don't have all twelve slots filled.

Thank you. I feel like what I've learned in here will drastically improve our chances next time - and next time will be within a couple days after all the kit arrives so we can dry-run the stuff and watch temperature and humidity.

 

[Debbie292d]

=jaw drops= That's perfect. Snagging a set. Thank you yet again! Set of six, so this will cover both ends of the brooder (heating lamp, so it's long enough that they can get out from under it if they want) several points in the incubator, and potentially other projects.


Your notion of affixing a sticker after recording deviation is reasonable. Would you consider them accurate enough that if I have all six turned on in a relatively controlled area, I can take the average as a baseline for purposes of showing individual differences between then? I can see what we've got here, but I'm pretty sure we've got some mercury thermometers for school that should be pretty accurate. I was thinking about taping them to the clear shell of the incubator, but those look like they might just nestle into the egg rack - especially if we don't have all twelve slots filled.

Thank you. I feel like what I've learned in here will drastically improve our chances next time - and next time will be within a couple days after all the kit arrives so we can dry-run the stuff and watch temperature and humidity.

We checked them against a recently checked Govee and they were already perfect. As they stated, they were used once for shipping some medical devices or something.

 

[Tex452]

I bought two of the nurture right incubators from TSC, I had success with both incubators without having to adjust the temperature in either one, I hatched 20 out of 21 fertile eggs in one. And 8 out of 8 fertile eggs in the other.
I do a 100% dry hatch method, I add no water, humidity stays around 40%, but when the chicks start hatching it jumped to 88% with the one with 21 eggs in it, the one with 8 eggs jumped to 56% when they started hatching, and all hatched with no problem.
I don’t open the incubator until day 18, I candle the eggs and lock them down, that’s the only time I open the incubator.
This works well in my area ( central Texas) and this is the way I’ll keep doing it.
The way I see it is too much humidity helps bacteria that will rot the eggs, and if not enough is evaporated out of the egg, the chicks will drown.
I hope this helps.

 

[MROO]

That may well be. I'd welcome suggestions for something better. The link in your original post seems to no longer be valid. I'd love a recommendation for something with an automatic turner, good airflow (this says it has airflow but it wasn't strong if it was there), and a reliable hygrometer. I'm assuming they're sold somewhere, but it's also conceivable there aren't reasonable incubators available for sale.

Are the digital thermometers you're mentioning things that sit inside the incubator? I think I'd need a far larger incubator to get them in near the eggs, and the way the turner worked in this one I think it might be a challenge even with small thermometers. I've gotten a couple USB-connectable thermometers but I'd have no way with this design to get them into the enclosure. I'd welcome advice. But ideally I'd like to find an incubator with these functions self-contained and reliable.


It was saying 60% up until we locked down, and then we moved to 70%, assuming the hygrometer wasn't completely confused. Are you saying it was too low based on symptoms? The display said we were on the mark, but I don't trust it.


We didn't wash them but they didn't look soiled. We'll wash the next batch.


Thank you. It was all quite sad.

DON'T WASH INCUBATING EGGS!

Washing eggs destroys the bloom! That's the protective coating that keeps bacteria out of the developing eggs. Without it, your eggs will rot. That's what I suspect happened to your first batch - the seller likely washed them for you so they'd look nice!

Before you give up on your incubator, do a bit of sleuthing. Give it a test run with a couple of thermometers set in different places. Give them a day in each spot, then swap them around. Record the temps for each thermometer in each spot - they should be consistent. Do the same thing with a hygrometer to measure humidity, but you only need one and you won't need to move it around, just check it every day to make sure it's registering properly. Compare all the numbers to the incubator's built in gauges, and they should tell you whether you're dealing with faulty gauges or a faulty incubator.

Most importantly, Don't give up! We've all had lousy hatch rates from time-to-time. You just need to do a little troubleshooting. Your next hatch should go MUCH better!

 

[MROO]

Here's another thought - put a few eggs (or leave a few eggs) in a nesting box and see if anyone goes broody. Once you have a hen sitting consistently for a few days (and giving you the growly stink-eye when you check on her,) you can swap out her duds for fertilized eggs. Your new incubator won't be wasted. It's always a good idea to have a Plan B, just in case Mama decides to quit her post!

 

[Anon112]

You've gotten good advice. I'll just say that I really like my MagicFly incubator, which is on the cheaper side. (And I'd agree with everyone who recommends getting a thermometer to independently check the accuracy of the temperature)

In addition to hatching, I had a chick in shock and she recovered wonderfully after I put the incubator on and popped her in there for about an hour.

Good luck with your next hatching attempt!