yeah the big this is calabration you have to run the bator for a few days before adding eggs but don't worry you can hatch more laterI recently decided to hatch out chicks for the first time. I borrowed a Little Giant Still Air Incubator with egg turner from a friend. She had owned it for many years, and had always had good luck with it. She told me, "Don't worry, it's easy, just read the instructions." Bad advice!
The instructions are hugely inadequate for a novice, especially a first timer. It said to turn it on and adjust the temp knob until it could maintain a steady temp for 6-8 hours, then to add water and put the eggs in. It didn't say how much water, and it didn't say what temp the water should be. It just said to add water to the "moisture rings." So I filled the rings, luckily using warm water but obviously not warm enough. The rings held a cup of water. It did not say to determine if the incubator could hold a steady temp after adding the water, so I didn't. It did not say to prewarm the eggs up slightly before putting them in a warm incubator, so I didn't. I just put the huge amount of water in, put the eggs in, and closed the lid. It specifically said the incubator should take 2-3 hours to warm up again with the eggs inside, and to not open the lid for the next 24 hours. I removed one vent plug, as directed.
The humidity quickly went up to 65%, and the temp stayed between 94-96 that entire next day. I wanted to adjust the knob, but the person I borrowed the incubator from said she has never adjusted the knob since she got it regulated, and that even minor adjustments can cause major temp changes, so I just waited for the temp to increase more. I didn't know at the time that maintaining at this temp for a few days was a problem. After one day I became worried and put the second vent plug back in. That raised and maintained the temp at 97-98 degrees, and the humidity rose to 74%..
After 2 days, I decided that this would never work, so I quickly opened the incubator and removed all the water (which was not easy or convenient with this design). That brought the humidity down to 21% and the temp up to 99 degrees within a few hours. I found it difficult to add even small amounts of water without either removing the eggs or taking a chance that the water would splash on the eggs, so I added a wet paper towel to the incubator every day to maintain a humidity between 20-30%, which is what was needed to get the air sacs the proper size in these eggs. I candled at 7 days, and all the eggs appeared clear, but I'm inexperienced at candling so I didn't throw them away. I continued with the incubation and candling until day 18, when I had to decide whether or not to start lockdown. Since I wasn't seeing anything when candling, I decided to open the oldest egg (the least likely to hatch) to see what was inside. There was no development at all, still just yolk and albumin, the yolk was intact, and nothing smelled at all. The albumin was watery, but that's expected after 10 days of storage and 18 days of incubation. So I know my hygiene and egg selection is good. I continued to open one egg after the other, in order of least hatchability to most hatchability, until they were all down the garbage disposal.I know that the eggs were fertile, since almost all the eggs from the same birds under broody hens hatched perfectly.
So, huge lesson learned. I was in a big hurry to get the eggs into the incubator to coordinate the incubator hatch with the broody hen hatches. I wanted to add the incubator chicks to the broody clutches, so I needed them to be less than 12 hours apart. I didn't get the incubator until the last minute, so I didn't have time to read up on it or pre-test the humidity issue adequately before adding eggs, which I would have done even if the instruction didn't say to, if I'd had the time. And I'd never used an incubator before, so had no idea that one cup of water was too much. I don't know if the Little Giant Still Air Incubator is any good or not, but it definitely has inadequate instructions for a beginner. It is only around $50, so the price is great. But it is difficult to adjust the temp, and difficult to add water unless only holding a few eggs. There may be other problems with it also, but my eggs didn't get far enough to recognize any other issues. I will be buying my own incubator soon, and will definitely not be buying a Styrofoam model, or a model with just an unmarked stick as a temp control knob, or a model where it is difficult to add water. And I will want to read the directions before I buy the machine, just to be sure that they make sense, and are specific enough to be useful. Sometimes a more expensive model is the least expensive in the long run, because cheap is only a good deal if it isn't a waste of money. I'm very glad I was able to borrow this model before buying an incubator, as I learned a lot. And I'm very glad that the eggs that were lost were from my own hens, and not expensive eggs that were shipped in.
