Struggling with success and need tips/advice

[Poetastic]

next thing you know you will have 24 2 week olds in the house and 22 7 week olds outside under a brooder and 18 that are 3 months old in another grow out pen. not to count the 20 that are just starting to lay and the 50ish that are between one and four years old..... and talking about adding more pens.... and hatching both ducks and turkeys starting soon.... did I mention the 28 chicken, 9 duck and 3 turkey eggs in the bator due feb 28th???? ok maybe I should find a group............ or a different group that can help me with the subtraction instead of enabling me to set more?????

You sound like you're overrun with poultry! I am too. It only takes one batch to start an addiction to hatching lol. My hens love hatching as much as I do, as some of them easily hatch batches of ten at a time. Last spring I had a mink stop by and it killed almost all of my chickens in one coop. I need to replace a lot of them so I can hatch all I want for now. What breeds do you hatch? The clutch of eggs I put in are from leghorns but I keep my leghorns with polishes, phoenixes, RIRs, and a ton of crosses. I really want pure leghorns but the chances of that are probably super low. Oh well, at least I'll get some cool mixes. I wish you luck with your hatches!

 

[PlymouthRockBBredSebright]

I am still a novice myself as I have only been incubating a little over a year.... I have seen my own success increase over that time.
I guess its best to start with a few questions??
what type of incubator?? ie still air or forced air
do you have an extra thermometer/hygrometer inside to double check the numbers?
is it a calibrated thermometer/hygrometer?
have you talked to others in your area to find out what humidity is working well for them?
My biggest failures happened when I failed to take into account that I live at a different elevation than a lot of the folks that I was taking advice from. I tried the dry hatching method and failed badly, but I am at 6000 feet above sea level and in a very dry climate.

My basic understanding is that a still air incubator needs to be run at 101ish and move the eggs around as you may have hot and cool spots.
I run my forced air incubator at 99.5 and use an auto turner.
I have seen some folks state that they have better luck turning by hand 3-5 times per day.... I work away from home, and I am forgetful and sometimes just lazy so I prefer the turner.

Also, PLEASE make sure to NEVER turn your eggs the LAST 3 DAYS of incubation! It can kill them

 

[Poetastic]

Also, PLEASE make sure to NEVER turn your eggs the LAST 3 DAYS of incubation! It can kill them

I'll definitely avoid that. Thank you!

 

[rita2paul]

i would also get your self a good therometer to double check your incubator, i had this problem and i will always double check in the future. your incubator might not be holding the right temp.

 

[Poetastic]

i would also get your self a good therometer to double check your incubator, i had this problem and i will always double check in the future. your incubator might not be holding the right temp.

What kind/brand of thermometer do you recommend?

 

[aliciaplus3]

You sound like you're overrun with poultry! I am too. It only takes one batch to start an addiction to hatching lol. My hens love hatching as much as I do, as some of them easily hatch batches of ten at a time. Last spring I had a mink stop by and it killed almost all of my chickens in one coop. I need to replace a lot of them so I can hatch all I want for now. What breeds do you hatch? The clutch of eggs I put in are from leghorns but I keep my leghorns with polishes, phoenixes, RIRs, and a ton of crosses. I really want pure leghorns but the chances of that are probably super low. Oh well, at least I'll get some cool mixes. I wish you luck with your hatches!

Thank you! I have a mixed flock the only ones that are Pure are some German Bielfelders that I hatched in Aug. 2017 I am looking forward to hatching from them. Otherwise I have a cuckoo marans rooster and several mix girls out of him, a RIR rooster and Mixed girls out of him, white leghorns, EE, welsummers, light brahma, turkens, Delaware, dark Cornish, Golden Sexlink, and silver leghorn girls. and of course a years worth of mix girls that could be any of the above but most are good layers so far. I love the colorful eggs and hens

 

[Poetastic]

Thank you! I have a mixed flock the only ones that are Pure are some German Bielfelders that I hatched in Aug. 2017 I am looking forward to hatching from them. Otherwise I have a cuckoo marans rooster and several mix girls out of him, a RIR rooster and Mixed girls out of him, white leghorns, EE, welsummers, light brahma, turkens, Delaware, dark Cornish, Golden Sexlink, and silver leghorn girls. and of course a years worth of mix girls that could be any of the above but most are good layers so far. I love the colorful eggs and hens

That's quite a diverse flock you have! I bet the crosses are gorgeous. I have quite a variety too. Some of the breeds I own include, RIRs, austrolorps, polishes, brown leghorns, phoenixes, and d'uccles. I have A LOT of phoenix crosses. I feel like all the babies I hatch will be weird mixes. I've heard a lot of good things about the German Bielfelders.

 

[rita2paul]

What kind/brand of thermometer do you recommend?

i got mine off ebay, i bought two one cheap one and the another a bit more expensive, they were both reading the same measurement.