I am using an R-com 20, which cost c£270. The eggs were turning every hour until day 19. Humidity read at 45%, then 65% for the hatch. I got a hygrometer to check and this says it run at 37 degrees rather than 37.5 degrees. The humidity appears to be correct at 45%, though when I set it at 65% it reads 69% on the hygrometer. Something is wrong as you say, as the last two times (since the humidity was set correctly) most of the eggs are developing fully but not hatching. I have only had three out of 15 eggs hatch this time (all my own eggs), and last time was similar, with hardly any eggs hatching. I had a wheaten marans chick that pipped all the way around the egg so that the shell was in two parts, and there was a one inch gap in the white skin so you could clearly see the bird, but this also did not hatch (but I think wheatens are complicated). I need to find out what is wrong, as otherwise I can't use it again with such a loss rate.
I cleaned the movable parts of the incubator by putting them in the dishwasher, then wiping the rest of the incubator with egg wash. Obviously there are internal parts I can't sterilise. Is it possible that one of my bought-in unhatched eggs could have had an infection of some sort and that this is affecting my hatch? The birds hatched have been healthy but I had one recently with a crossed beak and this one whose innards came out.
