What did I do wrong? Bad hatch rates

[TOR]

I use a little giant which is older model. Uses a rheostat instead of a temp controller. I use a stc 1000 controller with it now. I use a digital thermometer from incubator warehouse which has a memory so I can monitor the temp swings.
I use this heres a link. I am sure there are others like it.

https://incubatorwarehouse.com/incubator-remote-thermometer-hygrometer.html

I still get variations, it is old rickety. Still do decent with hatches though. I also use towels over the incubator, helps stabilize the temps.

Can you get some eggs locally? Maybe that will help.

 

[Weeg]

Too me, it sounds like the breeder is selling poor quality eggs. It's nothing you did to doom your hatch. All in all you never know for sure with purchased eggs, unless you know the breeder well. When I buy eggs off Ebay I just assume all risk.

The EE/Dark Brahama bantams I got from a BYC member. The egg shells did seem really thin, one broke upon opening, and one broke while I was opening it.
Thats the risk when ordering eggs when you don't know the breeder I guess.

 

[ladybrasa]

Did you incubate the eggs upright or on their sides? Dunno if it would help, but I have been incubating most shipped eggs upright and tilt about 45 degrees back and forth. Also hatch upright in the egg carton cups cut as low as possible.

 

[Weeg]

Did you incubate the eggs upright or on their sides? Dunno if it would help, but I have been incubating most shipped eggs upright and tilt about 45 degrees back and forth. Also hatch upright in the egg carton cups cut as low as possible.

They were upright in the turner.

 

[Weeg]

Alright, so yesterday I started calibrating my humidity gauge. I want to double check that I'm doing this right.
So, I took a very small plastic condiment container, like the tiny clear ones you get to put sauces in at Hagen. I put a teaspoon of salt in it and dampened it with a few drops of water. I placed it and the humidity gauge in a plastic Tuple Ware container, and sealed. I put it in there at 1:06 and checked again at 9:11. At 9, 8 hours later, it read 69%. I heard somewhere on here that it can take 12-24 hours to stabilize, so I left it in the container overnight. At 1 today I'll check it again, (24 hours from 1 yesterday). Right now, 23 hours after, its reading 72%. If it still reads 72% at the 24 hour mark, should I count that as the calibrated humidity, or 69% at the 8 hour mark?
Thanks guys for the help!

 

[ladybrasa]

Not sure what to tell you, sorry. Also don’t know about calibrating hygrometers. For me, I can’t say I’ve had a zillion successful runs, but I never worried about humidity much, except for lockdown. For the first 18 days I’d keep it above 20%, or at least that was my goal. Didn’t seem to cause issues that I couldn’t attribute to something else. However, I ran into big problems trying to keep humidity up for lockdown in my DIYbator. Super difficult, pretty sure I had shrink-wrapped chicks my very first hatching last year. Still, I had about 50% hatch rate on shipped eggs. Hatching after that went downhill for a number of reasons after that, including but not limited to lockdown humidity. Anyway, sorry going off on a tangent- this year I invested in an NR 360 which keeps in humidity much better (but maybe not the best cuz that nice clear lid you have to remove completely to reach in). So my first hatch I incubated for 18 days in the DIYbator and the NR, then hatched in the NR. Got about 50% again on shipped eggs!

Sorry, what I’m getting at is that, I think, humidity days 1-18 doesn’t need to be so exacting, but lockdown generally needs to be maintained at least 60%. Obviously calibrated instruments are ideal, but if a hygrometer is off several percentage points it might not be the end of the (chick’s) world.

 

[Weeg]

Not sure what to tell you, sorry. Also don’t know about calibrating hygrometers. For me, I can’t say I’ve had a zillion successful runs, but I never worried about humidity much, except for lockdown. For the first 18 days I’d keep it above 20%, or at least that was my goal. Didn’t seem to cause issues that I couldn’t attribute to something else. However, I ran into big problems trying to keep humidity up for lockdown in my DIYbator. Super difficult, pretty sure I had shrink-wrapped chicks my very first hatching last year. Still, I had about 50% hatch rate on shipped eggs. Hatching after that went downhill for a number of reasons after that, including but not limited to lockdown humidity. Anyway, sorry going off on a tangent- this year I invested in an NR 360 which keeps in humidity much better (but maybe not the best cuz that nice clear lid you have to remove completely to reach in). So my first hatch I incubated for 18 days in the DIYbator and the NR, then hatched in the NR. Got about 50% again on shipped eggs!

Sorry, what I’m getting at is that, I think, humidity days 1-18 doesn’t need to be so exacting, but lockdown generally needs to be maintained at least 60%. Obviously calibrated instruments are ideal, but if a hygrometer is off several percentage points it might not be the end of the (chick’s) world.

Awesome, thank you!
I'm mostly worried about my thermometer now. Last time I calibrated it, it calibrated at 34 degrees. This morning it calibrated at 36. I did the same thing each time just used a different container. I think I may just stay with the 34 degree calibration since I got pretty far into incubation with the Cochin eggs and no issues, but at the same time only one chick hatched, and died afterwards.

 

[ladybrasa]

Temp definitely does not have wiggle room! To be honest, I haven’t calibrated any of my digitals, but I “cheat” by putting a multitude in the incubator and see what they agree on amongst themselves My incubators - both - seem to fluctuate between about 99 and 101. There is air circulation in both. As far as I can tell, I can’t specifically attribute any quitters to this variation. Humidity and temp does seem impacted by the room temp and humidity, in both incubators, and especially the humidity. Sorry if you know this already!!

 

[Weeg]

Temp definitely does not have wiggle room! To be honest, I haven’t calibrated any of my digitals, but I “cheat” by putting a multitude in the incubator and see what they agree on amongst themselves My incubators - both - seem to fluctuate between about 99 and 101. There is air circulation in both. As far as I can tell, I can’t specifically attribute any quitters to this variation. Humidity and temp does seem impacted by the room temp and humidity, in both incubators, and especially the humidity. Sorry if you know this already!!

Not a bad idea, I'll see if I can get a few more thermometers. Though what if they are reading completely different? What if one says 99 and the other says 102? I guess you could need quite a few to get an accurate result.

 

[ladybrasa]

I have like 6-8 or so and all are within a degree of each other except for two which were like at least 2 degrees off or so? When I first got the NR 360 I had them all loaded up in there!! Seems the NR 360 thermostat is off by about 1.5 degrees or so, so I have it set for 100.5 or 101, I think (not near it right now).

There’s these small cheap rectangular thermometer/hygrometers called Goabroa on Amazon that might be helpful. If one is off they are like a few dollars. And you can stick them anywhere in the incubator, even in an egg holder (not in the water of course!!). pretty sure I’ve seen that brand in use by others on here?

https://www.amazon.com/Goabroa-Hygr..._rd_i=B07QC7JRDP&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_m_rp_25_sc

Another one that might be useful is this one that is temp and humidity, but you can also see generally hi’s and low’s for a 24 hour period. It’s bigger than the goabroas but still reasonably small.

https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Ther..._rd_i=B07VD5S71Y&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_m_rp_18_sc