What do you wish you had known before incubating?

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Vanilla Gorilla said:
I just bought that exact incubator, and fertilized eggs are en route. I share your concern about the humidity control. As I understand it, you add enough water to maintain half the water pot full until you're 2 days from hatch, then you fill it up so both halves are full. The included instructions leave a little bit to be desired... That still doesn't leave you any way to actually measure the humidity. That aside, it seems like a really solid and well thought out device. I think I'm just going to trust it to work. Good luck!
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Shipped eggs are a risk especially this time of year. There is no way to guarantee that the shipped eggs will be fertile. I ship eggs all over the country and pack my eggs well and have gotten shipped eggs where 3 of 15 eggs hatched. Prior to shipping eggs I do a test hatch to find out the hatching rate and I realize it's not a true test because they haven't been handled by the postal service. I have had boxes that reached their destination damaged but no eggs were broken. Good luck and have fun...
 
this forum is full of helpful information. I too just purchased an incubator. It is a larger one, but is styrofoam. It's made by Harris Farms. We are about to incubate quail eggs, not chicken eggs at the moment. Seems similar enough, but looking at 100 shipped eggs and hoping for 50-60 quail hatchlings - a bit different than 10 or so chicken eggs in a Brinsea Mini. I have my incubator running already even though the eggs have not arrived yet. This way I could play with the amount of water and test it's ability to maintain temperature. I am quite happy with it so far. Just wish I could add water without opening it. I am thinking about running a tube with a funnel on the end through a small hole (currently plugged) in the lid that was designed for a wire to pass through. I figure the less I open it the better. I opted for an egg turner (with quail trays in my case) so I could keep the eggs turning without opening the lid as well.

Something I have read quite a bit on recently is letting shipped eggs settle. It's important to let your shipped eggs rest at room temp (70F-ish) without turning or moving them for several hours -I have read anywhere from 4 to 24 hours. I intend to rest mine at room temp for about 4 hours. Then incubate them with the turner off at first (again I have read different ranges any where from 1 day to 7 days for turner being left off). This whole process allows the eggs to adjust from outside temp to indoor temp and then incubator temp - gradual increase in temp prevents thermal shock to the embryo - and helps ensure that any detached air sacks have a chance to settle in the correct position and reattach hopefully - detached air sacks is a relatively common issue when dealing with shipped eggs.

While I am new to incubating, the above information is based on research of experienced and well educated hatchers, including veterinarians, large and small hatcheries, and individuals like most of us who just own a backyard flock. All of it points in the same direction - let the eggs settle.
 
When you add your eggs to the incubator it will make a difference. Originally eggs while incubating need to loose some moisture so your humidity will be affected as well as the temperature but it's good to test it first. You can put in some bottles of water to help with your test if the incubator is empty. Did you get a still air or circulated air incubator? Good luck and have fun...
 
turning or moving them for several hours -I have read anywhere from 4 to 24 hours. I intend to rest mine at room temp for about 4 hours. Then incubate them with the turner off at first (again I have read different ranges any where from 1 day to 7 days for turner being left off). This whole process allows the eggs to adjust from outside temp to indoor temp and then incubator temp - gradual increase in temp prevents thermal shock to the embryo - and helps ensure that any detached air sacks have a chance to settle in the correct position and reattach hopefully - detached air sacks is a relatively common issue when dealing with shipped eggs.

While I am new to incubating, the above information is based on research of experienced and well educated hatchers, including veterinarians, large and small hatcheries, and individuals like most of us who just own a backyard flock. All of it points in the same direction - let the eggs settle.
cmom said:
When you add your eggs to the incubator it will make a difference. Originally eggs while incubating need to loose some moisture so your humidity will be affected as well as the temperature but it's good to test it first. You can put in some bottles of water to help with your test if the incubator is empty. Did you get a still air or circulated air incubator? Good luck and have fun...
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I have a still air model. There is a conversion kit I may get in the future. Not really looking to spend much more at the moment if I don't have to.
 

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