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What are the dos and donts of hatching eggs in an incubator2007-11-24 17:16:35

i have used an incubator twice and have no success I keep getting conficting information about putting water in at the start or near the end. I also don't know if the temperature was too hot, the temp gague said it was ok most of the time but the first lot died in the shell and had a thick rubbery substance around them which seemed to be what prevented them from pipping out. Please do not want titles of books but rather the value of those who have had some experience in this field.

Answers:

I'd be willing to bet your incubator has a wafer thermostat.If so these are hard to regulate.Especially if the room it is located has large temperature fluctuations.Make sure where ever the incubator is sitting that the entire bottom is on that surface.If any part of the bottom of the incubator is exposed to air the temperature under the eggs will be up to 5 to 10 degrees colder then the air above the eggs.Always use more then one thermometer,use only thermometers which have one degree increments.Probe type thermometers are the best.They can be bought at most stores and easily checked for accuracy by boiling a pot of water and putting the probe end halfway into the water avoiding the bottom of the pan.The temp should read 212 degrees f.Example if it reads 214 degrees then you will know that it reads 2 degrees to hot.when incubating your temp with that thermometer would be 98 rather then 100.Humidity is another thing which is difficult to gauge without a hygrometer.Though not 100% accurate I found a digital thermometer which also shows relative humidity keeping it between 40 and 50% worked wonderfully for my hatches this year.I fill the water reservoirs and allow them to nearly run out of water before adding more water.I use 3 thermometers,2 probe styles and one digital that shows humidity on the inside.The 2 probe thermometers I put through the styrfoam about a half inch above the top of the eggs on opposite corners of the incubator about one third the width distance.These are easily read being the reading end is on the outside.I also candle A few eggs from different location in the incubator to see how much moisture is being lost.I begin doing this at the end of the first week and then every 3 days till hatch.I hope this helps if you need to contact me feel free to do so.Unless I visually seen the eggs it would be hard to tell if they were to dry or to wet.Candling prior to breaking them open is the best way to tell.Not knowing how many days past the hatch date you left the eggs in the incubator would say much about the condition of the inside contents of the egg.If your hatch does not occur on the 21st day there is and was a problem.

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It depends HUGELY on what kind of eggs you are trying to hatch.