None of my eggs hatched *update on page 4*

[becky3086]

Which wouldn't matter if you tilted the whole incubator like she did. I think you did everything fine except maybe the water wiggler but then I have not used one of these either. Also were the air plugs taken out, was the incubator opened for a short time each day? I find this helps mine a lot.

 

[Felicia]

I didn't candle everyday, I candled on the 7th day, and again on the 17th day. And on the 22nd day, I quickly took one egg out and checked it - plus I used the window instead of opening up the whole thing.



Quote:
I did have the air plugs out, and the incubator was opened everyday, while I put more water on the sponge.

 

[steffpeck]

I wonder if the humidity was a little to low. Mine ran 40-50% the first 19 days and 65-75% during day 19 through hatch.

I know how sad and frustrating it is to have poor hatches. I have had my share of them.

 

[Kung Foo Chicken]

Was your thermometer calibrated? My electronic accu-rite was kinda accu-wrong. The probe was 2 degrees too low and the internal was 3 degrees too high. Humidity on it was off 10%.

 

[Felicia]

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I feel stupid for asking, but what does calibrated mean?

I did have 2 thermometers in there to make sure one wasn't incorrect.

 

[CANDLE98]

Calibrated means that the thermomitor is checked against a known standard. Anything that can measure anything can be calibrated. I used to work calibration in the Air Force. So to check a thermomiter, you would set up an environment that would be the same every time you set it up for example ice always freezes at 32 degrees so if you put your thermomiter in ice water it should read 32 degrees and you can tell how off your thermomiter is by what it reads. Does that answer your question?

 

[Felicia]

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Yep, that makes sense. Thank you very much for explaining it so well.

I didn't do that, but like I said, I did have a second thermometer in there - one digital and one not and they read the same thing.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

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I get great hatches doing this--I change the tilt about every 4 hours, which is 5 times a day.

Rusty

 

[Chef]

What a bummer Felicia! I'm sorry to hear about this. To me it sounds like you did your homework. Although I'm not sure about the water wiggler or the carton method. I tried to hatch in the egg carton before and my hatch wasn't to good. Like everyone is saying momma hen would not have them like this in a nest. I think you said it was 99.5 inside the wiggler and if thats the case then I think it may be a little off. The temp in the bator should be 99.5 and the inside of the egg a little higher. I would also give it another day or two. Do you hear any peeping at all? I would try to do and extraction on one to see if they are still alive. Carefully chip away a piece of egg from the fat end(air cell end) of the egg and see if the chick is alive. I sure hope they are just laggin on you a bit. Please keep us posted.


Chef

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

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Hmm, I'm a bit confused here. Are you sure about tilting the incubator probably not helping? Seems that the eggs would tilt just fine if the incubator was tilted. I just set my soft drink bottle on my keyboard and tilted the keyboard back and forth....sure appeared to shift the cola inside the bottle from side to side.

Ed

Oh I missed the egg carton part--I was imagining eggs rolling about in there!