What are your percentages of hatch with incubators?

[welderskelter]

Wow . Didnt know that it would be that good. Appreciate the response. Thanks guys and girls.

 

[Mellowmalt]

I got the same incubator. My first hatch was less than 20% (for a variety of reasons). Rigged the incubator with some game console cooling fans and got a 100% rate from fertile eggs. I wrote an article to document the process.

Little Giant Still Air Incubator Hack

I like the little details you added and those fans you found are brilliant with their feet all ready to be just placed in there.

I'd never heard of using Hydrogen peroxide. Problem with HP is that it makes my spray bottles leak and I don't want to buy a new spray bottle every time. Can eggs be dunked in it instead? Will it make a difference? I think I'd trust bleach more although I was too scared to ever try bleach cleaning eggs in the right dose.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

I like the little details you added and those fans you found are brilliant with their feet all ready to be just placed in there.

I'd never heard of using Hydrogen peroxide. Problem with HP is that it makes my spray bottles leak and I don't want to buy a new spray bottle every time. Can eggs be dunked in it instead? Will it make a difference? I think I'd trust bleach more although I was too scared to ever try bleach cleaning eggs in the right dose.

I wouldn't use bleach. Sounds dangerous. Some folks use original listerine diluted to 30-50 percent strength.

For HP spray bottle you can usually fit a spray pump directly on bottle rather than move it. Rinse when done.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

My hatch rate has ranged from 0 (poorly packed, old shipped eggs that were also dirty) to 95% (both well packed, fresh shipped eggs and own chickens' eggs). With a good incubator and fresh eggs, no reason not to expect at least a 50% hatch rate.

 

[My2butterflies]

When people give hatch rates, are you only counting fertile eggs?
Or yokers too?

If counting yokers, I’ve had as low as 0% hatch rate a couple times.
Only counting fertile eggs I’ve had better success. At least 85% I’d say. Possibly higher. I do help my hatches though. So losses are mostly due to early quitters.
I have a hova-bator 1588.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

My hatch rates seem to have more to do with the egg being shipped or not and how far if so. I have a NR360 and it's very dependable as far as temperature and humidity. My hatch rates were poor but I've only incubated shipped eggs. I have a Brinsea Maxi Advance II that I used for some eggs shipped within my state and had much better rates. The temp and humidity was always spot on with this machine and it turns gently (which I was told is necessary when incubating Seramas by the breeder). I also have an Incuview that I found was unreliable and the temp ran pretty high. This is the only machine I used for local eggs and I had 12 to hatch out of 12 eggs that I set. They all hatched early due to the high temps and I had 2 crossbeaks (they are EE mixes though and I don't believe it's been discovered if this might run in EE mix or if it's due to incubator issues). Two of these chicks died at 2+ weeks old.
I think it mostly depends on how you get the eggs and how stable the machine keeps temperatures. It's so important to keep an extra calibrated thermometer in the incubator and never trust the digital temp readout on the machine. A calibrated hydrometer is also essential in a good healthy hatch.

 

[salshep20]

My hatch rates seem to have more to do with the egg being shipped or not and how far if so. I have a NR360 and it's very dependable as far as temperature and humidity. My hatch rates were poor but I've only incubated shipped eggs. I have a Brinsea Maxi Advance II that I used for some eggs shipped within my state and had much better rates. The temp and humidity was always spot on with this machine and it turns gently (which I was told is necessary when incubating Seramas by the breeder). I also have an Incuview that I found was unreliable and the temp ran pretty high. This is the only machine I used for local eggs and I had 12 to hatch out of 12 eggs that I set. They all hatched early due to the high temps and I had 2 crossbeaks (they are EE mixes though and I don't believe it's been discovered if this might run in this breed or if it's due to incubator issues). Two of these chicks died at 2+ weeks old.
I think it mostly depends on how stable the machine keeps temperatures. It's so important to keep an extra calibrated thermometer in the incubator and never trust the digital temp readout on the machine. A calibrated hydrometer is also essential in a good healthy hatch.

my muscoys hatched from under my muscoys not and incubator and they cam out healthy

 

[Egghead_Jr]

80% hatch rate is most common and if I really babysit the temp and humidity then 90%. That's not taking into account infertile. Of all eggs in over 80% hatch.

I have two Hovabator. Both have the thermo wafer which require monitoring in first few days. The metal relaxes after a day or two of expanding and contracting which requires adjusting temp setting. After day three it's steady as a rock. Once you take eggs out of turner to lay flat for hatching temp adjustment is needed again. Hence the second model is now used for hatching only so I can keep putting eggs in incubator constantly and even stagger hatches.

 

[Tilhana]

My first time using an incubator I got just under 80% (19 out of 24 eggs that went into the incubator).

This was with eggs from a local farm, bought not shipped. I did candle but didn't trust my judgement since it was my first time hatching, so I ended up keeping all the eggs in until the end. Most of the eggs were fertile, but 3 or 4 quit somewhere in the middle, and one started hatching but didn't make it out.

Incidentally, I would add that all 19 chicks made it nearly to adulthood; I did lost quite a few to predators as they got older and started spending more time outside. But there were none of those early unexplained chick deaths that are considered unavoidable with chicks bought through the mail.

I used a HovaBator 2370, which I think worked out pretty well. Price was about $185 which I think is on the low end for incubators that actually get the job done. I did have secondary temp and humidity meters inside and really babied it. I don't think the temp meter on the bator was as accurate as it could have been. But that's true with a lot of incubators.

From what I've read/heard, really low hatch rates (like below 50%) may well be due to shipped eggs, which can be a total bust if you buy from someone who doesn't know what they're doing or if they're in transit a long time, or the really cheap tiny plastic incubators you can find on Amazon, which are too small and poorly insulated to maintain a constant temperature and humidity. Those would be the first 2 things I'd try to avoid. But obviously, as others have said, there are many other factors that can contribute to a low hatch rate.

 

[CoBeeChicks]

Just curious because my neighbor has had his running quite a while and finally gave up. He even bought a few different incubators. Also throw in the make of your incubator. Please.

Made my own for less than $50 with manual egg turner, 28 maximum eggs, 96% hatch from my own flock.