Worst incubation EVER, so discouraged, let's speculate 😭

[theprov31gal]

Hello

I use the little giant deluxe, which is going to be similar to your farm innovator in style, and I absolutely love it, but it isn't perfect.

Sometime ago, I purchased 2 Govee wireless transmitting thermometer/hygro meter. And it was 2 because there was a special deal on Amazon. Anyway, at the time I had a nurture right 360 and was experiencing some bad hatch rates - from the beginning with that thing.

The beauty of the Govee is #1 it is prized for its accuracy and factory calibration. And #2 it uploads data to your phone 24/7. You can check down to the minute what temp is was and when. As we speak I have quail hatching - attached is a screen shot of the hatch froM the Govee app. You'll see how well my incubator held temp for the entire hatch. There is one drop, and that is my one and only candling. (Celadon quail eggs are super dark and hard to see into. Attempting to candle after then is pointless)

It will do this same thing for the humidity.

Anyway, back to the nurture right. I ended up sticking both govees in there and found that the units temp reading is off (which is standard for hobby bators) but more concerning were the cold spots. The NR turns every hour, and you'd see these hour long peaks and plateaus on the whole graph, and the difference was +\- 5 degrees F. I wasn't suprised my eggs weren't hatching.

NOTE: I did recently just get a keebonix incubator for the same reason, fun or test hatches. It also hatched its first chicks today, and it was 6 out of 7 on a bantam batch. So I wouldn't recommend just yet, but im impressed with it.

Moral of the story(ies) - if you have a box, that can hold the right climate in order to hatch whatever eggs you have, you turn the eggs, and the eggs are fertile - those eggs are going to hatch.

The Govee or other monitoring devices will eliminate all this uncertainty you have about your incubator. I recommend the 2 pack for calibration purposes, and so you can run the machine for say 5 days and move the monitors around within them. See if you have hot or cold spots, or if any spot doesn't get as much circulation, etc.

Govee Hygrometer Thermometer H5075, Bluetooth Indoor Room Temperature Monitor Greenhouse Thermometer with Remote App Control, Notification Alerts, 2 Years Data Storage Export,LCD https://a.co/d/iLSWoQt

Thanks for this info! I also have 2 little giants going. And consistently I get 5 or 6 eggs that hatch 2 3 or 4 days later than the others and the same for early birds, a few a couple days before they're due.
So there must be cold and hot spots.
There are 3 down there right now who are on day 31in a little giant, and have not pipped, but are still moving. I don't know what to do with them. I have a safety hole , there's nothing else to do.
I'm off to buy a few govees!

 

[theprov31gal]

I bought a Farm Innovators incubator recently, thinking it was a good deal as it came with an egg turner. I hatched 4 of 12 copper maran/orpington eggs and 0 of 10 silkie eggs. A few eggs were infertile, maybe 4 eggs. There were a lot of early deaths. I had Muscovy eggs in it too and about half of them died early (I put them in a different incubator). I spoke to someone I was buying hatching eggs from a few days ago, he also bought a Farm Innovators incubator. This person is an experienced hatcher (I am not.) He had a low hatch rate with it and had to assist many of the chicks that did hatch. He said his Kebonnix 12 egg incubator always gives him 100% hatch rate if they are fertile. He uses it for test hatches and for custom hatching. After doing some research (mostly using this website), it appears the Kebonnix and Maticoopx are supposedly good Chinese incubators. However, the Farm Innovators is like all the rest of the Chinese incubators you see on Amazon. They fluctuate in temperature and produce poor results. I bought a digital Hovabator (2370) from the local feed store. ($152+tax Canadian, cheaper than on Amazon). I put the egg turner in the Hovabator plus some extra in the empty space. It's been less than a week so I don't know how well it works, but it seems to keep the temperature constant. The heat cycles on and off every few seconds. The Farm Innovators incubator seems to fluctuate in temperature a lot. One issue with it maybe be that the heater is too powerful and the fan isn't powerful enough. It comes up to temperature very quickly. It's also much quieter than the Hovabator I purchased recently. The Hovabator fan is very loud (it whines too). After the Farm Innovators cooked most of my eggs, I wanted to throw it in the trash. I thought about giving it away, but I wouldn't want to put that on someone else. I am using the Innovator Farms right now because I had to clean one of my incubators. (I am doing a staggered hatches and I bought too many eggs.) I have a Fisherbrand Traceable clock/humidity/temperature I am using monitor the temperature and humidity. (They use them at the hospital and throw them away after their calibration expires). I am monitoring it closely.

Thank you so much! I'm getting great advice here! I've got 2 farm innovators and 2 little giants and I'm thinking I'll start over with new incubators, I don't know when, but in the meantime, I'm getting a few govees to help me know what's going on. And I'm going to see about the fisherbrand too.

 

[Kiki]

Thanks for this info! I also have 2 little giants going. And consistently I get 5 or 6 eggs that hatch 2 3 or 4 days later than the others and the same for early birds, a few a couple days before they're due.
So there must be cold and hot spots.
There are 3 down there right now who are on day 31in a little giant, and have not pipped, but are still moving. I don't know what to do with them. I have a safety hole , there's nothing else to do.
I'm off to buy a few govees!

I use a a Little Giant Still air....and a few Govees. I have excellent hatch rates.
I keep my incubator in a stable temp environment and never really have to adjust the temp dial until lockdown when I take the turn out. The turner motor produces heat.

 

[byc_user]

Thank you so much! I'm getting great advice here! I've got 2 farm innovators and 2 little giants and I'm thinking I'll start over with new incubators, I don't know when, but in the meantime, I'm getting a few govees to help me know what's going on. And I'm going to see about the fisherbrand too.

FYI about the Fisherbrand humidity/temperature/clock, the Inkbird ITH-10 is comparable and it only $13 on Amazon. I have both and I put them beside each other. The Inkbird is comparable. (Fisherbrand one is $60+). I bought mine at the feed store, where it is sold as a GQF but in the box it's actually just a Inkbird ITH-10 with a sticker on it. The only downside with the Inkbird is the display is a bit hard to read.

 

[byc_user]

Hello

I use the little giant deluxe, which is going to be similar to your farm innovator in style, and I absolutely love it, but it isn't perfect.

Sometime ago, I purchased 2 Govee wireless transmitting thermometer/hygro meter. And it was 2 because there was a special deal on Amazon. Anyway, at the time I had a nurture right 360 and was experiencing some bad hatch rates - from the beginning with that thing.

The beauty of the Govee is #1 it is prized for its accuracy and factory calibration. And #2 it uploads data to your phone 24/7. You can check down to the minute what temp is was and when. As we speak I have quail hatching - attached is a screen shot of the hatch froM the Govee app. You'll see how well my incubator held temp for the entire hatch. There is one drop, and that is my one and only candling. (Celadon quail eggs are super dark and hard to see into. Attempting to candle after then is pointless)

It will do this same thing for the humidity.

Anyway, back to the nurture right. I ended up sticking both govees in there and found that the units temp reading is off (which is standard for hobby bators) but more concerning were the cold spots. The NR turns every hour, and you'd see these hour long peaks and plateaus on the whole graph, and the difference was +\- 5 degrees F. I wasn't suprised my eggs weren't hatching.

NOTE: I did recently just get a keebonix incubator for the same reason, fun or test hatches. It also hatched its first chicks today, and it was 6 out of 7 on a bantam batch. So I wouldn't recommend just yet, but im impressed with it.

Moral of the story(ies) - if you have a box, that can hold the right climate in order to hatch whatever eggs you have, you turn the eggs, and the eggs are fertile - those eggs are going to hatch.

The Govee or other monitoring devices will eliminate all this uncertainty you have about your incubator. I recommend the 2 pack for calibration purposes, and so you can run the machine for say 5 days and move the monitors around within them. See if you have hot or cold spots, or if any spot doesn't get as much circulation, etc.

Govee Hygrometer Thermometer H5075, Bluetooth Indoor Room Temperature Monitor Greenhouse Thermometer with Remote App Control, Notification Alerts, 2 Years Data Storage Export,LCD https://a.co/d/iLSWoQt

Thank you for the recommendation. I will be buying some Govees on my next Amazon order.I got my Kebonnix and I'm testing my two thermometers in it. The incubator is set to 100F, and the Inkbird reads 98.9F and the fisherbrand is reading 99.9F. The inkbird is one degree lower! That is no good at all. They are reading 39% and 40% humidity, and the Kebonnix reads 50% humidity (out of frame.)

EDIT: The Inkbird ITH-10 is reading 0.6F low (30 minutes after the 1st photo), but 0.6 low is still unacceptable in my opinion.

 

[BastyPutt]

EDIT: The Inkbird ITH-10 is reading 0.6F low (30 minutes after the 1st photo), but 0.6 low is still unacceptable in my opinion

I think that is well within an acceptable margin of error. Shouldn't be a problem at all.

Basically, as long as the temp is consistent. If you are a few degrees higher the whole hatch, chicks will hatch a bit sooner. Lower - later. What you don't want is eggs spinning around to
Hot and cold spots. That is when
You get staggered hatches or failure to hatch.

 

[IrisJade]

I started 70 Pekin duck eggs in 2 farm innovators incubators, automatic turning.
-Well, 7 days later only 50 had started. Blah.
- 7 days later , there were 45 , 4 blood rings. And one near explosion. GAG.
- 7 days later we have only 42 , more late death
- today I candled before lockdown and MORE DEATH , there are now only 40.
And if that 40, 2 look dead but somehow have a baby moving in them , albeit small movement. Like really the egg looks dead. Few veins, lots of free blood splotches. They are probably dying as we speak.
And now one is INTERNALLY PIPPED, on day 24, who knows how long. It's moving but, it's too soon.
One incubator many air cells are a bit too small for my liking , though I kept both at the same humidity.
I've always been MAGIC at duck eggs, this is DEPRESSING. What is going on?
I'm worried hatch day will come and go with nothing but a big RIP .
And the kicker is I hatched there as a favor for my friend who is too busy.
She's going to be disappointed and I'm going to have to go insane and go somewhere and buy 50 ducklings and pretend I hatched them for her because I'm criminally insane.

I honestly felt this post to my heart, this is my first time incubating and i cried when 2 of the eggs died i always think its my fault but ive done everything by the book but i guess its just life and its chances of survival is low

 

[Oob Child]

I honestly felt this post to my heart, this is my first time incubating and i cried when 2 of the eggs died i always think its my fault but ive done everything by the book but i guess its just life and its chances of survival is low

My first time I lost an egg and then a chick. I cried, but it has helped me learn. And in my case it definitely was my fault, I kept opening the incubator and trying to help them hatch. Ended up with one shrink wrapped and another drowned, but I think that one had something wrong with it.

Good luck with your chicks, hope all goes well.