Well dang. :(

[Chotii]

I only have one live chicken egg left out of the 6 I started with, and 10 days left to go. That one doesn't look nearly big enough for its actual developmental age, and I don't expect it to survive either.

So far, eggs attempted 10, chicks 0.

I'm becoming very discouraged. Very.

 

[lux_interior]

 

[Dirt Road]

Are you using an incubator or a broody hen? Are the eggs shipped, or your own?

Jim

 

[Chotii]

Incubator, I don't have a broody hen. It's just a styrofoam-box incubator, but at least the last batch I tried got to about 15, maybe 16 days before they died, and they LOOKED like chicks. These are only about 10 days in.

It is a 'still air' incubator, heated with a 25W bulb. I have an 'instant read' kitchen thermometer stuck through the lid and it stays right at about 100F. The incubator sits on the tile floor, which is as stable a temperature location as I can find in the house, being right on top of the house's foundation.

I think it's a temperature-fluctuation problem more than anything. But, the first batch were fresh from a local breeder; this recent batch were shipped and I know those have a poor success rate even at the best of times.

 

[walkswithdog]

Instant read kitchen thermometers are CONTACT thermometers - they're supposed to be in almost anything EXCEPT AIR.

You need either a liquid garden if you are looking at dirt cheap and not much more for the digital accurite at Walgreens. Spring ones - the round ones - usually are not very useful they're inaccurate and they become more inaccurate as the spring wears out.

You use a medical thermometer in a wad of play dough or silly putty egg-sized (wrapped or bagged so it doesn't dry) you put it in the incubator - let it come UP to temp for four hours. Then check it. That's your actual temperature. Compare it to the digital. mark the digital with the difference - so if the actual is 105 and yours says 104 the difference is the digital plus ONE. That way you don't forget to add or subtract the difference when you look.

And get a hydrometer unless you know your humidity that alone can kill a hatch.

At the top of this forum there is a "sticky" it says READ ME on Hatching. Go there, do that, follow all the links and read them.

Get one or two thermometers, check their accuracy, read all the links in the Hatch thread and you'll get it right eventually.

 

[Dirt Road]

Quote:
Good advice!!

Don't get too discouraged, it's a learning process, and most of us have been there.

Jim

 

[giasmom]

Great advice from the others. Also do you have enough ventalation in there?