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sharron said:
sean, or i have a question for you since you've been breeding birds for a while, why when you set eggs in a incubator do the eggs hatch different days instead of all on the same day? my hatch was due wed and thurs, had two hatch on tues, two on wed and one thur and today three with another just broke into the air bubble
or anyone who may know:idunno all eggs set on same day and time
Click to expand...
Alot depends on the the temperature in the incubator. Even with forced air incubators, the temperatures can vary widely, especially in the Styrofoam incubators. Another factor is storage prior to incubating. If the ambient temperature is 75°F or above during storage, the embryo will start developing. That's one reason "shipped eggs" have such a bad hatchability rate. The embryos have already started development in transit, then people let the egg "rest" before they put them into the incubator. This effectively has killed the developing embryo or in "best case" scenario delayed development time. It's one of the reasons I tell people to put the eggs in the incubator as soon as they arrive, with the turner off. They can rest in the incubator and the embryo will continue to develop and not be killed. If the air cell is damaged, in my experience, those eggs don't hatch, so by letting all the shipped eggs rest in a cool place before putting them in a bator, you will have increased the odds the eggs won't hatch or be a late hatch or a staggered hatch, like you have experienced. Even under a "broody" they still hatch out in a staggered manner, the majority hatch together within a short time frame, and then the stragglers hatch, which can be attributed to the hen not evenly sitting on the entire clutch.
Humidity is a factor also, too little and the air cell increases in size, most of the time resulting in a (dis) died in shell chick but if on the edge it could delay the hatch time required for that chick. Too much humidity and you get "mushy" chicks, these tend to be late hatchers.
The feed you give to your birds can also have an effect on the hatchability. If the parent stock is fed a high quality balanced feed, the chicks in general are stronger than those that don't get the required essential vitamins and minerals. These chicks usually hatch on time, if all other factors are kepted within parameters condusive to incubation.

There are many factors that come in to play when hatching eggs in an incubator. These are just some of the main reasons in my experiences with early or late hatches, temperature being the most important factor. Sorry for a long answer but there is no short answer to your question.
 
007Sean said:
Alot depends on the the temperature in the incubator. Even with forced air incubators, the temperatures can vary widely, especially in the Styrofoam incubators. Another factor is storage prior to incubating. If the ambient temperature is 75°F or above during storage, the embryo will start developing. That's one reason "shipped eggs" have such a bad hatchability rate. The embryos have already started development in transit, then people let the egg "rest" before they put them into the incubator. This effectively has killed the developing embryo or in "best case" scenario delayed development time. It's one of the reasons I tell people to put the eggs in the incubator as soon as they arrive, with the turner off. They can rest in the incubator and the embryo will continue to develop and not be killed. If the air cell is damaged, in my experience, those eggs don't hatch, so by letting all the shipped eggs rest in a cool place before putting them in a bator, you will have increased the odds the eggs won't hatch or be a late hatch or a staggered hatch, like you have experienced. Even under a "broody" they still hatch out in a staggered manner, the majority hatch together within a short time frame, and then the stragglers hatch, which can be attributed to the hen not evenly sitting on the entire clutch.
Humidity is a factor also, too little and the air cell increases in size, most of the time resulting in a (dis) died in shell chick but if on the edge it could delay the hatch time required for that chick. Too much humidity and you get "mushy" chicks, these tend to be late hatchers.
The feed you give to your birds can also have an effect on the hatchability. If the parent stock is fed a high quality balanced feed, the chicks in general are stronger than those that don't get the required essential vitamins and minerals. These chicks usually hatch on time, if all other factors are kepted within parameters condusive to incubation.

There are many factors that come in to play when hatching eggs in an incubator. These are just some of the main reasons in my experiences with early or late hatches, temperature being the most important factor. Sorry for a long answer but there is no short answer to your question.
Click to expand...
thank you, it might have been because of the temp, altho had the air cond on, it was doing everything it could to get to temp but you know how hot it was and we just have a window unit, usually all we need
next time i get shipped eggs will try putting in the incubator again like you said, i did do that once but can't remember how it turned out,
maybe i had to much humidity this time, i still have one in the shell moving around and its way past hatching day.
thank you for the help, going to print this out so i can have it on hand, i tend to forget things anymore.
 

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