Incubator 101

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Hi guys!!!

its me norris... again.......

i am thinking of buying hens, though something went into my mind... i could probably hatch one... hehe now i really need an idea on what to do... if in case i go in hatching eggs...

when i was a kid i saw my uncle making an incubator.. its a large rectangular box filled with bulbs on top... and it is working... eggs are hatching...

- should i make one too? or buy a real incubator?
- once the is layed by the hen, how many days it should be before putting into incubator? or can I put it immediately? does that make any difference?
- how many days should the egg be in the incubator?
- what is the percentage of hatching a egg in the incubator?

thanks again..... hope you guys dont get tired of my questions... hehe
 
norristhechickenman said:
Hi guys!!!

its me norris... again.......

i am thinking of buying hens, though something went into my mind... i could probably hatch one... hehe now i really need an idea on what to do... if in case i go in hatching eggs...

when i was a kid i saw my uncle making an incubator.. its a large rectangular box filled with bulbs on top... and it is working... eggs are hatching...

- should i make one too? or buy a real incubator?
- once the is layed by the hen, how many days it should be before putting into incubator? or can I put it immediately? does that make any difference?
- how many days should the egg be in the incubator?
- what is the percentage of hatching a egg in the incubator?

thanks again..... hope you guys dont get tired of my questions... hehe
Click to expand...
hi norrris
somme people have great results from home made incys
so your choice
i store eggs up to 10 days before incubating
21 days in the incy
and percentages vary on many factors
 
That depends on how much time and money you are willing to spend. It is easier and faster to buy one but they are very expensive. I bought a still-air one with room for 12 chicken eggs. Many of the broods were born with physical defects like bent legs and beaks, probably due to an excess in temperature, so I decided to built my own with room for 40 eggs for about the same amount of money I spent in the smaller one. I am just about to try it for the first time but I have already tested for calibration and it seems to work well. No homemade incubator is equal to another but they all work with the same principles. It is a beautiful science project which looks simple, but you will have to spend time reading web pages to gather all the information you need. I never found a project to follow step by step, so I had to take this and that from here and there. You will also need good reliable material (thermostat, thermometer, hygrometer...) otherwise you will have to buy things twice.

It is recommended that you store your eggs for no more than 7 days after they've been laid. 5 days would be perfect. You can also start incubating an egg the same day it was laid. There are a few techniques which may improve egg incubability in 2% when storing the eggs, but I wouldn't bother about that for the moment.

Chicken eggs should hatch in 21 days if they are kept constantly at 37.5-37.7ºC (55-60% humidity), and at 36.5-37 (70-75%) during the last three days. Different species need different parameters.

Percentage of hatching eggs may vary not only due to incubator factors but also due to parental health and genetics.

Good luck.
 
oooh Perdro that is very high humidity :o :o - I run mine dry for the first 18 days then go up to 50 -55% humidty for hatching
 
dorinda said:
oooh Perdro that is very high humidity :o :o - I run mine dry for the first 18 days then go up to 50 -55% humidty for hatching
Click to expand...

That's strange, some people claim you should even maintain humidity at 85 to 87% for the first 18 days of incubation and 90% for the remaining three days.
 
Hi, 85-90% is far too high- big, squashy, wet chicks are the result of high humidity- 40-505 max during incubation (chicken eggs) and up when pipping to 60-70% is sufficient.
regards, David :)
 
hi, im a little confuse here, what humidity and temperature to be considered the best? from day one to hatch day.. thanks
 
Unfortunately we seem to have our own ideas on humidity in particular which we have learned on our own incubators, often by trial and error. After a time, I threw the instruction booklets away and decided to run them dry until the eggs chipped then put it up to 60 - 65 %. That's when I started to get good hatches.

Prior to this, running them at 40 % hmidity until day 18, I found I had a lot of chicks dead in shell but almost fully formed.

My incubators are in a stable all year.
 
i fill up the water trays under the eggs and let my inc do what she does best then turn off the turner 18 days, mostly get good results. my home made one was a waste of space went to full term and died. still got the bits just in case of emergency
60% boys sounds about what most people i know get and they hard to rehome
 
I keep humidity at 45% upto day 18 the 55% until day 21.
A game keeper friend has shown me how to sex eggs (do not think it works but I am 2 months into a trial so far, seems to have worked with the pekins 38 hatched 2 cockerels!), gold sabelpoots all female, but until the orps are sexed I am still very wary.
 
Pedro said:
dorinda said:
oooh Perdro that is very high humidity :o :o - I run mine dry for the first 18 days then go up to 50 -55% humidty for hatching
Click to expand...

That's strange, some people claim you should even maintain humidity at 85 to 87% for the first 18 days of incubation and 90% for the remaining three days.
Click to expand...

Are you in a hot dry climate somewhere Pedro ?
 
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