Need some advice....

[smarler77]

I am a newbie to hatching. I have 12 eggs in an incubator at school in my classroom. The incubator didn't have instructions. And today was day 21.

Here is what I am not sure about....

did I need to lay the eggs on their side in the bottom of the incubator? What I did was cut apart an egg carton and put the eggs in the "cups" with the big end up on Tuesday. I didn't cut the bottoms out. The egg carton is styrofoam.

There doesn't seem to be any activity yet.

Should the temp be different now? It is a still air incubator and from what I have read the temp needed to be at 102. It has been very consistant and I have kept water in there also.

I am afraid I have candled them too many times. BUT from candling, I do know that 2 of them were not fertile.


I am more anxious than the kids are! I am just afraid that none of them are going to hatch.

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

from TN
Im not sure about hatching in egg cartons but I know some people do it. The temp should stay the same, but the humidity should be bumped up a little. Im sure they are people on here that can help you better than I. Good luck with you hatch.

 

[2kidsn'chickens]

I guess I'm a little confused.. Were the eggs in the carton cups for the whole incubation or did you just put them in there? Have you been turning them? Are you measuring humidity?
Dont worry about the candling too much, I dont think it will have a major effect on your hatch since I did the same thing and they came out fine. Just make sure your humidity is between 50-70% and give it a few more days. You might go in tomorrow to some pips!

 

[smarler77]

We had them in an automatic turner. We haven't been measure humidity. The incubator that I barrowed from our extension office only came with a thermometer. I asked them about the humidity and they said just to keep a small styrofoam cup in about half full of water in the incubator. so that is what I did.

I am hoping that I will go in today with some activity. If not today, then by Monday.

 

[smarler77]

Well, there were no babies when I went into school this morning. So this afternoon we cracked them open to see what was inside. What we found was nothing. I am pretty sure that there were only 2 eggs that were fertile. Most of the eggs looked like there had been scrambled. The yoke was runny. What would cause this? They hadn't been handled rough.

 

[Ruditchka]

Its very possible your thermometer is off a few degrees and the eggs were too hot. This happened to me recently and I found my thermometer to be reading about 2 degrees lower than it should have been! Or maybe the eggs weren't fertile or, if shipped, mishandled and damaged. Walmart sells an electronic therm/humidity unit for 7 bucks that says it is accurate w/in 2+/- degrees.... I bought one and it read 2 degrees +/- lower than my red filament one and I have my incubator set now at roughly 101.5 degrees w/it and I just candled 23 eggs and 15 definately had movement at 9 days while some others were hard to tell so I kept them in there for now. I tossed 7 yesterday that had no growth whatsoever when I cracked them open(thank God!) Its a long way yet 'til school's out so maybe give it another whirl using another thermometer. If you get the one I mentioned, at least you can check the humidity also! Good Luck!!

 

[cugo18]

hello there i am a newbie to the farming world and i have my 1st set of eggs that my husband bought (which were two kinds) and also from the pairs that i have and they laid eggs for me. Put all of the eggs into the incubator on April 2nd and 3rd and we have had only 1 of the eggs to hatch that my husband bought two differenet types and 4 of my birds i already had. my temp was set at 99.5 from day one and the hum was at 45% up til day 18 and them raised up to 70% after that. the 1st chick to come was on the 22nd and the last hick that i got was on the 24th. i am wondering why the others have not came out yet. do you think they will before the end of the month. also i lost one of the babies not sure why. and i have two that look as if they are cripled. not for sure i have two sets of red cochins that are related or not would that matter for the healthiness of the babies or what. also on the last two they were pipping for at least 24hrs and then just stopped so i helped them get out maybe that hadsomething to do with the one dieing or not. please any advise would be great. I have another set inside that same incubator with the 1st set and wondering if they should be there. sorry for the long history/story. just have alot on my plate for me being a stay at home mom.