Tons of questions!!! HELP

[cece119]

I am new to this whole hatching thing. i did my first hatch and I got 14 chicks out of 20....sounds good right??? Well, now I have a batch of turkey eggs and I dont think any are going to hatch I think I just had beginners luck.

Now I am wondering about sealing the incubators because they hold nastiness and reduce the amount of babies to be hatched???
I read to seal it with latex paint.
Would the smell cause issues with the eggs?
Is it bad for the eggs?
Is this just a myth to seal it? It kind of makes sense to me because styrofoam is porous.
What do people do to keep their hatch rate up?
My incubator started to get moldy once the eggs started to hatch. How do I prevent this. My incubator also smells TERRIBLE!

Next, I am interested in doing a dedicated hatcher just to keep things cleaner....BUT, how do you clean it after each hatch?
What is the best way to use a hatcher?


Any other tips would be great as well. Thank you all chicken lovers!

 

[iliks]

Incubator-home made

 

[iliks]

Incubator-home made

 

[Egghead_Jr]

This may get me some slack but I'll tell you I don't clean my incubator. Incredible as that may sound it's true. I put a layer of paper towels down pre-hatch and simply pick that up after hatch and start another batch. Store the incubator for year and when I take it out look it over, if it's clean looking and smelling I start it right up. Before I used paper towels the screen would be caked with umbilical cords and you name it. Then I scrubbed it with bleach and water, rinsed well. The bottom of incubator you could just use a wet wipe then a damp towel. I don't see the need to seal the incubator at all. Just use a disposable drop like paper towel.

Dedicated hatchers are nice if your prone to doing staggered hatches. It allows you a higher humidity area to put eggs when they are few days from hatching while the others are still being turned and in low humidity. If you don't stagger hatches they are not needed at all. Many have them as they started with inexpensive styro table tops like Little Giant then moved up to more reliable incubator and use the LG as hatcher.

 

[cece119]

Ok, thank you so much! I have 2 incubators now because i have such a demand for babies that my husband hated having to put people on a waiting list and then losing their business to someone else.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I am new to this whole hatching thing. i did my first hatch and I got 14 chicks out of 20....sounds good right??? Well, now I have a batch of turkey eggs and I dont think any are going to hatch I think I just had beginners luck.

Now I am wondering about sealing the incubators because they hold nastiness and reduce the amount of babies to be hatched???
I read to seal it with latex paint.
Would the smell cause issues with the eggs?
Is it bad for the eggs?
Is this just a myth to seal it? It kind of makes sense to me because styrofoam is porous.
What do people do to keep their hatch rate up?
My incubator started to get moldy once the eggs started to hatch. How do I prevent this. My incubator also smells TERRIBLE!

Next, I am interested in doing a dedicated hatcher just to keep things cleaner....BUT, how do you clean it after each hatch?
What is the best way to use a hatcher?


Any other tips would be great as well. Thank you all chicken lovers!

I have never heard of "sealing" it.
I hardly ever have bad smells in the incubator at hatch-why because I don't follow the hands off method. I keep my humidity up and I pull out my chicks and the nasty eggs during the hatch. They don't sit there adding to the nastiness.

I just rinse mine with bleach water.

This may get me some slack but I'll tell you I don't clean my incubator. Incredible as that may sound it's true. I put a layer of paper towels down pre-hatch and simply pick that up after hatch and start another batch. Store the incubator for year and when I take it out look it over, if it's clean looking and smelling I start it right up. Before I used paper towels the screen would be caked with umbilical cords and you name it. Then I scrubbed it with bleach and water, rinsed well. The bottom of incubator you could just use a wet wipe then a damp towel. I don't see the need to seal the incubator at all. Just use a disposable drop like paper towel.

Dedicated hatchers are nice if your prone to doing staggered hatches. It allows you a higher humidity area to put eggs when they are few days from hatching while the others are still being turned and in low humidity. If you don't stagger hatches they are not needed at all. Many have them as they started with inexpensive styro table tops like Little Giant then moved up to more reliable incubator and use the LG as hatcher.

I use the rubber shelf liner that can be bought at the dollar store. I love the stuff!! It gives the screen padding and little legs grip so easy and when it's done, roll it up and throw it away. We try to get a different color each time...lol

Ok, thank you so much! I have 2 incubators now because i have such a demand for babies that my husband hated having to put people on a waiting list and then losing their business to someone else.

You go girl!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Oh and