What am I doing wrong?

[Wills Chooks]

I am hoping someone can tell me what I am doing wrong or what I could do to improve my hatch rates in the incubator. (I have one of the yellow Pet scene 80w incubators that holds 96 eggs)
I put a dozen Ancona eggs under one of my silkies and a dozen in the incubator at the same time and the silkie nearly had a perfect hatch with only one egg being infertile and one not hatching, while the incubator had nearly all fertile at the start and the eggs slowly dropping off as the days went by until there were none left alive on day 21. What is causing this as the same thing has happened before. In the same hatch of the incubator I had 2 dozen Barnevelder eggs and the same thing happened with only 3 ever hatching.
I have done trials with the incubator humidity having it at 60% where it didn’t work and having it dry where it also didn’t work but I have had a few low hatch rate successes at 30% humidity. My temp is at 37.5c and it is automatic turning.

hopefully someone can help
Will

 

[Willow2253]

Do you have a separate calibrated thermometer in the incubator? Often those cheap yellow incubators have a hard time keeping consistent or accurate temperatures which can affect your hatch.

 

[Wills Chooks]

No I don’t but I will get one for the next hatch.
If I find out the temp is not stable how do I make it stable?
thanks Will

 

[mcdze]

stable isnt as important as in the right range .. if the 'actual' average overall temp is like really low your gonna have a really low hatchrate .. if you get a good accurate gauge and just lay it on the eggs in the middle of the unit and put it at 100 youll probably be golden .. it might fluctuate from 98 to 101 for example and that wont hurt anything ..

 

[Wills Chooks]

Thanks what sort of gauge should I get?
and do you think my humidity of 30 is ok?

 

[Wills Chooks]

Should I get a humidity gaug?

 

[MarkJr]

Amazon has a Govee hygrometer for 15 bucks shipped. It’s Bluetooth and about the size of an egg. Put it in a sealed bag and ice water test for temp to verify it’s correct. Then search salt test to verify humidity reading. This will give you a dead accurate hygrometer to adjust your incubator to.
As for incubating, I’ve been told to dry incubate the eggs until day 18. Just make sure humidity does not drop below 20-25%. Lockdown raise humidity to 60-70%. You don’t want so much as to cause condensation dripping on chicks.

 

[Wills Chooks]

Thanks guys that is a great help and I will buy a hygrometer and a thermometer and see if the incubator is telling the truth.

By the way what incubators do you guys use that have the best results.

 

[MarkJr]

Thanks guys that is a great help and I will buy a hygrometer and a thermometer and see if the incubator is telling the truth.

By the way what incubators do you guys use that have the best results.

That hygrometer of Amazon gives temp and humidity.

As for incubator suggestions. Give a price range to hit. There’s too many options otherwise.
Nurture Right 360 hits the 120-150 budget range and seems to be fairly decent. 22 egg capacity. Auto turn.

 

[Wills Chooks]

That hygrometer of Amazon gives temp and humidity.

As for incubator suggestions. Give a price range to hit. There’s too many options otherwise.
Nurture Right 360 hits the 120-150 budget range and seems to be fairly decent. 22 egg capacity. Auto turn.

Ok just a Hygrometer then.
I think a incubator that can put at least 4 dozen eggs in. I’m not sure what price that will get up to.