need help

[chickenjim77]

Hey y'all I'm new to BYC and had lots of chickens and ducks growing up but now that I have kids of my own I thought it would b cool to get sum again for their amusement as well as mine.so I did last April and this spring decided to make a homemade incubator and try to hatch sum Chic's.. So I made my bator out of a Hercules Styrofoam cooler using a PC fan a water heater thermostat and a couple 25WATT appliance bulbs. I have attempted 2 hatch's now and have had little sucess . I have a hydrometer that reads high and low temps have ran it at between 45-50% humidity and the temp reads 99° but lil to no results at hatch time. I turn them 3 times a day. wut am I doin wrong?my eggs come from my 10 RIRS and 2 BLACK AUSTROLORPS I think that's wut they r lol and have 1 ROO don't know wut he is. Help plz?????

 

[lazy gardener]

First off, are you sure your eggs are fertile? Do you know how to check an egg for fertility? Then: how much temp swing are you getting in your incubator between the high and lows? Your temp needs to be 99.5. I'm guessing that your thermometer and hygrometer may be out of calibration. Try testing the thermometer against a medical grade thermometer. Also, you might have better luck with what is called a dry hatch. Did you open your eggs to see how far along they got, or even if they started before quitting? Seeing the inside of a quitter egg after incubation can give you a lot of clues about what went wrong. All of the info you need to guide you can be found in the learning center. You'll especially benefit from reading Hatching 101. A few more tweaks, and I bet you'll have a successful hatch.

 

[chickenjim77]

No I don't know how to check for fertility and the temp may fluctuate between 99° and 100° except when I open to turn then it may drop to 97° but recovers fairly quickly I'd say within a min or two.. With my first run I checked the eggs after day 25 and I'm assuming more than half were not fertile cause there was nothing but liquid inside the eggs the others were fully formed..this batch I have going now I water candled at day 18 and out of 20 eggs 8 sunk so I got rid of them the 12 that floated I locked down 1 hatched at day 22 but did not make it I'm now at day 23 and heard a pip about 30 mins ago

 

[AmyLynn2374]

No I don't know how to check for fertility and the temp may fluctuate between 99° and 100° except when I open to turn then it may drop to 97° but recovers fairly quickly I'd say within a min or two.. With my first run I checked the eggs after day 25 and I'm assuming more than half were not fertile cause there was nothing but liquid inside the eggs the others were fully formed..this batch I have going now I water candled at day 18 and out of 20 eggs 8 sunk so I got rid of them the 12 that floated I locked down 1 hatched at day 22 but did not make it I'm now at day 23 and heard a pip about 30 mins ago

I'd agree with Gardener (I've been saying that a lot lately!!) and check the calibration of your thermometer and hygrometer. Usually a late hatch signifies lower than average temps. To check fertility you have to crack a couple eggs and look for the "bullseye" on the yolk. Here's a couple examples:

 

[chickenjim77]

Thanks for the info yall I'm gonna make sum adjustments and c how it goes oh and do sum more research

 

[ronott1]

No I don't know how to check for fertility and the temp may fluctuate between 99° and 100° except when I open to turn then it may drop to 97° but recovers fairly quickly I'd say within a min or two.. With my first run I checked the eggs after day 25 and I'm assuming more than half were not fertile cause there was nothing but liquid inside the eggs the others were fully formed..this batch I have going now I water candled at day 18 and out of 20 eggs 8 sunk so I got rid of them the 12 that floated I locked down 1 hatched at day 22 but did not make it I'm now at day 23 and heard a pip about 30 mins ago

Everything you are describing screams low temperatures during incubation.

Thermometers that do not read in tenths will not work for incubation. They are notoriously off but added to that a temperature that is .5 of a degree off can cause hatch problems. My guess is that you are at least 2 degrees too low on average for your hatch.

Brinsea makes a good thermometer that is for incubating only. Incutherm makes good ones too. You are looking for one that is accurate to .3 of a degree and reads in tenths.

 

[chickenjim77]

OK y'all I figured out my hatching problems thanks to all the advice I got from y'all. Two things temp deffinately to low and non fertile eggs either champ can't keep up with my girls or he's shooting blanks lol... Also iam gonna order a couple brinsea thermometers cause y'all r right mine is not reading accuratley ... I've had 1 African goose egg in the Bayer for 19 days now and candled it last night and omg I could c the lil one moving around inside so excited to c it hatch