AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Well Greenaus, you always seem to have something interesting going on.
Good luck with those broodies. It's certainly the best and easiest way to look after the chicks.

With regard to turning, it is important that they develop blood vessels in all directions, as you know. My Bellsouth (with crappy hatch rate) is a manual turn and I turned them from one side to the other 180 degrees (2 ways). Mind you I think the problems with the Bellsouth are temp related. My other incubator - Multiquip (with fantastic hatch rate) only turns through 90 degrees (also 2 ways). It starts on approx 45 tilting upward on the left, then I move the handle and it swings to approx 45 degrees tilting the tray up on the right. I get 95% or higher from this system. Makes me wonder if the amount of turn isn't the crucial thing, as long as it happens 2 or 3 times a day pretty regularly. I know some people swear that you have to turn six times a day, but I never have and I always get over 95% hatch.

Yer dunno if the tilt of the egg has too much to do with a successful hatch Eggsalive. Our Smart incubator is also manual turn and the eggs lay flat and simply get flipped over onto the other side. Each tray holds about 80 eggs depending whether large or bantam and there are seven trays that all get turned like this. Sounds like an effort but ya get the knack of turning them in like a dominoe effect and a full incubator of 560 eggs can all be turned in about 10 mins. So in my opinion a successful hatch has more to do with the temp and humidity.
Like yours, the eggs only get turned 3 times a day and also get around a 95% hatchrate if the eggs are good.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. Greenaus, maybe your problem is something else. Building your own incubator is a real problem solving exercise.

One other thing, why do you sit the eggs in rice? Is it to stop them rolling. Could the rice be insulating the eggs? Probably not - sorry just thinking 'out loud'. I remember you stuck the thermometer in and the centre of that one was good, but I wonder if laying the eggs on a wire mesh grill would ensure that the air was circulating around it better.

I think Deans Poultry is right - it's got to be something about temp and humidity. What about trying a number of thermometers in there in different spots and see if you've got differences? Also, have you checked your thermometer against a few different ones? I know you've checked it against your own body temp, but human body temp changes during the course of the day. Also, how do you know that the eggs closer to the light bulb aren't being affected by the radiant heat and getting too hot. Taking the temp in the centre of the basket might be misleading you.

I know this is a radical idea, but I'm just mulling it over. What about putting the light globes behind shields and using the fans to blow the warm air into the incubator space. Would this give you more consistent temp? I've seen many incubators constructed that way.

Another thing is ventilation. I'll go back and have another look at your pics because I forget how you did your ventilation. I had some poor hatches when I forgot to open the extra vents at hatch time on the Bellsouth.

You are doing a fantastic job. I'm impressed with your persistence.
Good luck.

Greenaus, I had a look, but must be overlooking the ventilation holes. How have you done it?

Most of the stuff below is written on memory alone, so please don't "but you said....a few days ago". If there is a conflict with what I previously wrote go with whatever I said back then.

Ventilation: Manual turn, 2-5 times daily. Plus a few small holes in the sides and lid, none in front or back.

First batch: 15 eggs with 12 fertile and unbroken by my clumsiness. About 17 days in egg carton, turned 2 sides for about 14 days, then 4 sides, hatched on bed of rice day 21. Hatched 4 with another one pipped, but DIS.

Next batch: 8 eggs. 2 infertile at 7 day candling. High humidity for first week, turned 2-5 times a day, 6 under broody bantam on day 19. Broody taken off nest for 1/2 hour, one egg broken by silly kid. At least three hatched on day 21 (too hard to see in and roof nailed shut after broody returned to stop silly kid for messing around).

Unless people count the infertiles and breakages, this is at least a 60% hatch rate, maybe 80 or 100% if there is another one or two in there. These sat on a bed of rice until moved under broody on day 19.

Third batch: half the chooks moulting, 16 eggs in, all upright with big end up, 90o turn via forward/back tilt, on day 9 eight eggs thrown out as infertile or suspected failures (lack of development, possible blood ring, with so many bantam chickens now and preferring large now that I've had my fun I wasn't concerned about throwing out potentially good eggs), 8 put under broody bantam on day 11, broody bantam abandoned those and went and sat on one freshly laid egg in her original nest for hopefully only a few hours, but possibly overnight , now sitting on nine eggs

With no way of knowing how long the broody was off on day 11 and/or 12, I just have to wait for another 9 days to find out what hatches.

The infertiles and the suspected failures may be due to the long pre-incubation period and the laid-back approach to pre-incubation storage and handling. Moulting may have had an effect on fertility, too.

A 60% hatch rate for a home made incubator is pretty good. It sounds like you're thinking of ways to improve it, which is what I would do also, but you must be pretty happy with your results anyway. I don't count infertiles in my hatch rate as you can't blame the incubator for those failures. Fertiles that start and then die I do count.

This is probably how I would think about it:
First batch - 4 out of 12 - approx 30% - great for first go
Next batch - at least 3 out of 6 - 50% - improvement despite high humidity.
Third batch - who knows.

I hope this current batch goes well. You're right to suspect some failures could be caused by long pre-incubation period. I try to get my eggs in the incubator within a week of being laid. That's why I set every Friday. Sometimes I've put older ones in and I get a slightly reduced hatch rate.
Hopefully your ventilation is ok. One sign of low ventilation is a lot of DIS at the end. Those under the broody will be enjoying perfect conditions, so hopefully all will be well.

There are four chickens, two are black two are brown. "Maybe" from a large chook, but all look the same size, so the brown ones are probably from the partridge bantam. 80% hatch-rate.

I find it interesting that ALL of the first eight (four from the incubator and four from under the first broody) were black and only half of these are black. Whoever's the mum of the brown ones must have really picked up her game.

Also, I only told you about incubator batches 1-3 above.

The first broody sat on 7 eggs under very good conditions and she only hatched 4 out of 7 (57%). As I recall, those 7 eggs had been laid in a period of 4 days and stored quite well.

Though, that was the broody that spent so much time on the eggs and so little out eating, drinking and pooing that when she pooed, she created little hills in the broody pen.

Update: Eight eggs under broody bantam #2 are now 5 eggs. This si the batch that has been looked after haphazardly by pretty much everyone including the bantam.

She left the nest and the pen to free-range for ten minutes yesterday (unlikely a problem).

She was off the nest "messing around" earlier today. She ate, dust-bathed, drank, played around on the roosts and wandered around getting pecked on by various others. What a time-waster!!!

She's back on now, but later today I will be moving her and the eggs back to the mower catcher and taking it down to one of the outbuildings with some food and water. She'll be protected from distractions and disturbances down there and reasonably safe. She will be in a well-ventilated, but predator-resistant and storm-resistant "room".

Congrats on your four chickens. Super job!

I had a few moments of concern today when I went down to the pens.

I looked in on the newest mother and chickens and there were four chickens in there but no mother. The covers and stuff over the top were still in place, so no kids had done anything.

I found that she had jumped the divide (seen in this photo) and was in the other mother hen's nest.

I had to remove all sorts of stuff, included the nailed down roof to get to her. Upon moving her back to her side, I noticed one of her brown chicks behind her so moved that back as well.

Then, her and the chicks headed towards the front to eat.

I counted five chicks, briefly thought she'd hatched the fifth before realising it was one of the older ones from the other mother hen. I told her she had stolen a chick, but she showed me she didn't want it anyway by trying to peck at it. I caught it and put it back over the other side.

I'm guessing the brown chick crawled under the divide and its mother went over looking for it. She had a drop of blood on her comb, so I think the other hen might have given her a peck or two. She backed into the nest and protected her chick until I arrived.

As for the older chick. These chicks aren't racist, sexist or ageist. I think it was looking after the three young ones while their mother was away.

You always seem to be having excitement at you place.