AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Hi everyone,

I am just about to put my first dozen eggs for the season in my enormous 12-egg incubator.

After my Silkie Pullet incubator let me down last week ( ) and murdered my de Watermael embryos, I have decided to rev up the incubator at least once so the kids can see some chickies hatch.

I did have some trouble with the incubator with 12 eggs in it last year as it seemed to have a hard time maintaining temperature with a full load (although that is what it is designed to do). I've had it running for about 4 days now, so I'm hoping it will cope with 12 eggs this time round.

I've got a mix of de Watermael, d'Uccle, pekin and silkie eggs - although I'm not expecting any great fertility rates from the silkie eggs as the cockerel seems to think it's fine to jump on the hens back-to-front! He seems to have fun, but not sure he's ready to be a dad!

Good luck to everyone else with hatches!

Deb

Hello Deb, last year l had problems with my 20 egg incubator keeping temperature correct that resulted in a very low hatch rate and mainly males, after reading some treads this year I've placed a bottle of water in there and this seems to regulate the temperature that has seen two hatching's of over 90% (might work for you ) good luck

maybe a bottle of water under your failing silkie incuator

Maybe a BIG bottle on top of her to stop her getting off the eggs!! At least my little Belgian x girl (James) seems to be doing an okay job on six new ones.

Thanks for the tip, Glenn. I think I'll just let this lot keep ticking over as is, but will keep that in mind for next time (if I use it again). That makes a lot of sense, though - although I'm not sure where I'd fit it in my incubator as there isn't much room. Maybe under the egg tray.

I measured shell temp with my digital thermometer and it measured around 37.2 so I'm hoping that the average temp is still okay. And I couldn't help myself - I candled them last night (at only 4 days incubation ) and there is actually good embryo growth in about half the eggs. So that's heartening. I think by the time the thermometer gets up to 102F the temp starts to fall again and the eggs don't actually heat up to that at all.

I'm going to check them again in a few days and any that are definitely infertile will get thrown out. I think that might help it regulate a bit better.

I am now collecting eggs to take out to the local hatchery - no stress, and they vaccinate as well! I'm not really sure why I put myself through this incubation, other than to show the kids a few actually hatching again.

And I'm really excited because this afternoon we got our first egg from our new prize-winning blue dun pekin pullet! Yay!

Thanks for your interest and info, Glenn & CL.

Deb

It seems my incubator does actually work despite the early ups and downs, because yesterday I was greeted by a chirping egg and by last night we had the first of our chicks hatch - a little grey silkie!

It is a full 2 days early!!! I set the eggs on a Wednesday night so that they wouldn't hatch while I was at work on a Tuesday. Well that worked!
I now have to head off to work with 2 hatched chicks and 5 viable eggs still in there.

If anything I thought they would be slow to hatch as the early temperatures were a bit too low. Obviously not low enough to slow things down.

A second chick hatched overnight - another grey silkie. One of the Belgian eggs has also pipped so it's all happening.

I only took the turning tray out of the incubator on Sunday as that was Day 18 - lucky I did that or they would have been trying to hatch whilst being rolled all over the place. I also had them out for a while candling them while I took the rollers out and filling up the water etc so I DIDN'T HAVE TO DISTURB THEM after Day 18! Oh well, they hatched despite all the handling.

The firstborn does have crooked toes which I am going to attempt to straighten when I get him/her out. I would love to get them out now as they are looking out through the glass, but I know they will be better off in there for the day, especially since I won't be home.

Deb

Congrats on your little babies. Have you watched the temp? I have found crooked toes can possibly happen after temp high spikes during incubation. Might be something else completely though. Although an early hatch can also indicate slightly higher temp. Maybe calibrate your thermometer/settings before you go again.

I hope you come home to more little peeps.

Thanks Eggsalive. We did come home to one more chick - a de Watermael baby who also had crooked toes! That seems to suggest a problem with incubation somewhere, and I agree that temperature spikes could have been the problem. Also agree with the early hatch scenario. The de Watermael chick also has a lot of yolk and gunk stuck to it - on its back and a bit on its head and bottom. Is this a "sticky" chick and what causes this? It's almost like he is a bit premmie. He is up and about, just messy. The silkie chicks dried clean, even though they were born earlier.

The second chick born has great feet thank goodness, but the other two now have their special shoes on - just made from cardboard and medical tape.

I tried to put the little one in the brooder with the two silkies but they just got straight to pecking it so it is now in a temporary brooder by itself. Just what I need - an intensive care unit for chicks!

I have four eggs left in the incubator. Today is day 21 so I'll see what happens. They were definitely fertile and developing right up until day 18.

This incubation has been a bit of a mess. I took the turning tray out on day 18, which ended up being only the day before the first chick hatched - not great timing. That means the chicks were still being tumbled about while they were getting ready to come out.

I think I'll only use this incubator as an emergency brooder after this lot.

Deb

I wouldn't worry too much about the turning tray. It won't have worried them too much. The main thing is that they didn't hatch in the tray. I frequently forget to take chicks out of the tray and mine drop from the turner down about two feet to the basket (mind you - they miraculously survive the fall). I think the issues are more likely to be temperature. I have found that some particular breeds are more likely to produce those sticky chicks. I had brown leghorns that were prone to that. They seemed a bit more sensitive to temp & humidity changes. Other breeds in at the same time had no worries - maybe they were just a bit more robust. With a better incubator I don't get them at all - that was when I was using a foamy.

The staggered hatch could also indicate spikes, and also the possibility that you might have cold and warmer spots within your incubator. I don't really know, but it's something that I would check out. I stick calibrated thermometers at different places and compare. If you find you have spots, just rotate your eggs around the case when turning them during your next incubation and see if they hatch at the same time. (Oh - that's right you've got a turner - you could still do it at various times during incubation though).

I wouldn't give up on your incubator - just work out the best way to run it. It's always a problem solving project (at least here it is!) I've heard really good reports about the R-Com (is that what you've got?) so they must be able to go pretty well. First hatches are always bumpy but you've done well to get your babies.

Congratulations to your little silkie who's obviously worked out a way of fertilising eggs from the front of the hen - amazing!

Yes, I'm not sure how he's done it.

My incubator is an IM 12 egg model, and I did use it once last season with not so much trouble so I'm not sure what I've done to it this time around.

Thanks for all the information, Eggsalive - you've been very helpful!

I just went and tested the shell temp of the remaining eggs and it varied between 37.7 and 39.3! It is fan-forced, and such a small area, but it seems there is quite a bit of variation.

I have just topped up the wet bulb thermometer and the water tray so I can leave them alone now to see what happens.
Deb

Mmmmm - almost two degrees difference is quite a lot isn't it. Usually with a fan I would expect less difference. Mine has a half a degree between the top and bottom of the cabinet. I don't know much about the IM. It would be interesting to hear from others who have used them successfully and find out their tricks.