Thread for any one who wants to take incubation to the next level

[Randhawa chickens]

Hi all I was just wondering if anyone new if there was a way to incubate chicken eggs to get all females any info would be greatly appreciated thanks

And i thought that we could start a huge thread where anyone can post tricks about incubation and start a home base for people to take incubation to the next level

Thanks to All who post
Jai,

 

[yinepu]

i have read where a lot of people who have incubated at higher temps end up with all females.. HOWEVER.. they have a lower hatch rate because all the males die... unlike some critters the temperature does not determine the sex.. it only kills off the male embryos..

so you may set 24 eggs and only have 12 hatch... (assuming it were a 50/50 hatch .. M-F ratio in the example hatch)

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Quote:
Great timing, this is our sons Jr science fair project this year. He was just approved, and we are waiting to start the practical live test.

 

[Bantam Username]

I'm gonna watch this thread, I'm only a first time incubator but am very interested in any tips, tricks and theories for future hatchings.

So if higher temps kill off boys, does it stand to reason that lower temps might kill off girls?

I just found out my incubator is running at a lower temp than it says on the display and 5 of my 6 eggs died, the live one is due to hatch in 3 days so it will be interesting to see if it turns out a roo.....if it hatches that is.....

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
Great timing, this is our sons Jr science fair project this year. He was just approved, and we are waiting to start the practical live test.

well.. that's the theory anyway.. I've never tested it on any of my eggs.. so it's going to be interesting to see how your son's project works out.. please keep us updated!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
I'm not sure if it would work that way or if it would only kill off the weaker embryos.. going to be interesting either way to see what your baby turns out to be

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Deffinetly, this project goes from now until the beginning of February for final results and exhibition and judging.

 

[EM Squared Farms]

Hi Egg Incubatorors !

We researched before we started incubating and I took the advice of a science teacher that hatches out eggs in their classes every year.

She recommended to hatch at a little higher temp. They recommend this because the incubator is being opened a lot to turn the eggs three times a day and take out chickies. (instead of one that has an egg turner and the incubator is only opened to take chickies out)

The thermometer recommends 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

We hatched ours at 102 degrees Fahrenheit and the chickies usually do hatch a day or two earlier. Which is nice, because then when the date written arrives, we pitch the egg. Also, you know there is only an expected 75% hatch rate, which was about what we saw. (for every 12 eggs, only 3 will not hatch)

I'd have to ask my son about the percentages for each breed. This should be interesting. We bred 5 different breeds and hatched out 111 eggs. On our website you can get the breakdown of how many per breed.

Sometime near the end of egg incubatation, I let him take over. He of course wanted to lower the temperature because he felt that was the more proper temperature. Whatever, he's taking care of them.

I know the Marans and the golden sebrights and the bb red OEG were the last breeds to be hatched.

I'm pretty sure with our Ameraucanas and Silkies, we got pretty much half. With the Marans, I know we only had 3 hens for the black ones and 1 or 2 for the blue.

I'll have my son work up a list and post it.

Give me a few days. He's returning from his trip late tonight. Will post soon.

Good luck !

Just wanted to tell you that 102 is still OK to hatch (cheapo thermometer that lays on top of the eggs). Only 2 or 3 died in the shell because they couldn't get out (too weak, should have helped them out).
The others were just not fertilized (he broke open the bad eggs that didn't hatch in the compost pile and there was just smelly yuck in there).

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
I would cry if i only got a 75% hatch rate.. I'm so used to 90-100% hatch rate on my eggs... at 75 I would wonder what I did wrong.. (shipped eggs though are another matter altogether)

 

[Cowgirl71]

Last year I was hatching sexlinked chicks and I found that higher temperature=high percentage females, but a poorer overall hatch rate (because many of the males died in the shell). At the higher temperatures, I was getting about 80% pullets.

I also recently read on here that somebody recommended putting apple cider vinegar in the water of the breeder flock. Somebody had recommended it to him/her, and so s/he tried it. 18 chicks hatched. They grew up into 17 hens and 1 rooster. I hope to try this method next year (I haven't had a chance to try it since I unplugged all of my incubators in May).