Incubating chicken eggs

[tynyphil]

Tomorrow is graduation day—day19 of 21. Going to remove the egg turners and increase humidity as instructed The white styrofoam incubator I bought several years ago and cost nearly $400 at that time used a couple of times with minimal success the blue one is being used for the first time came from Amazon for about $60 I have about a dozen eggs in each one they should start hatching on Sunday or Monday

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Make sure to post up some "After" pictures!

 

[Oklahomabassin]

Minimal success? Are you starting with fertile eggs? I have been around a bunch hatched in a styrofoam incubator like that.

 

[tynyphil]

Minimal success? Are you starting with fertile eggs? I have been around a bunch hatched in a styrofoam incubator like that.

I keep 1 or 2 roosters with the hens at all times. I did not candle the eggs to check for viability......figured they'll hatch or not.....no big deal as I have 20 chicks being delivered from a hatchery next week of a particular breed I wanted. I think humidity is key and I've been very meticulous this time to see it stays in the instructed range. The blue one has been super easy as far as humidity because of the attached bottle water source. The styrofoam one had to have water manually added every couple of days.

I'll report my success when it happens. I have 12 eggs in the Styrofoam one and 9 eggs in the blue one

 

[cowadle]

some things i have learned about hatching. don't touch the big end of the egg because your oil will block the pores that the embrio breaths through.....when gathering the eggs for hatching keep them at room temp in a cardboard egg container big end up and tilt the carton from side to side once each day. better keep the incubator a little cooler than warmer and away from drafts.

 

[Lee Beaittie]

Hell, two of my wife's hens had been wandering off, off and on for the past 3-4 weeks and last weekend she called me at work to say they where back in the the pen with a total of 11 chicks. We have no idea where they layed or hatched their eggs at. I couldn't have been to far because they made it home with their babies....but????

 

[caliberbob]

Hell, two of my wife's hens had been wandering off, off and on for the past 3-4 weeks and last weekend she called me at work to say they where back in the the pen with a total of 11 chicks. We have no idea where they layed or hatched their eggs at. I couldn't have been to far because they made it home with their babies....but????

You heard about babies getting mixed up in hospitals? I’d do some paternity tests on those chicks to make sure they’re yours

 

[tynyphil]

Make sure to post up some "After" pictures!

Here’s the result. The round cheaper incubator did great. Easy to maintain. Hatched 7 of the 9 eggs put in it. The other styrofoam one resulted in only 6 of the 12 eggs having hatched. It required more ‘work’ having to add water every couple of days to achieve the required humidity.

 

[Big House]

I don't know why, but this popped into my pea sized brain

 

[cowadle]

View attachment 413687
Here’s the result. The round cheaper incubator did great. Easy to maintain. Hatched 7 of the 9 eggs put in it. The other styrofoam one resulted in only 6 of the 12 eggs having hatched. It required more ‘work’ having to add water every couple of days to achieve the required humidity.

did you open the unhatched eggs to see their stage of development? different incubators will have somewhat different hatch times. you could be prematurely giving up on the foam incubator. much can be learned from opening the unhatched eggs.