Incubator help

[Anonymous]

Hi I am new to hatching eggs, bought incubator from friend but he had lost instructions it is a Brinsea Octagon 20 auto turn, auto humidity & temperature but the problem is I set 12 eggs & was upset as only one chick hatched the rest were fully formed but dead in shell.
Problem I have is that this incubator does not seem to have an outer pipe to add water & I had to lift the lid to add water each time which obviously did not help.It has 2 water channels under the mesh mat but cannot add water from outside.
Can anyone advise me about this

 

[Anonymous]

I hve this incubator and this year have approached a 98% hatch rate with nearly 100 eggs, so hopefully I can help.

The lifting of the lid will ,if not done too often or left off for too long cause any probs.
In the British climate I find no need to add any water to either channel for the first 18 days - you will prob get chicks which haven't lost the right amunt of humidity and therefore the airspace at the top of the egg becomes too small to provide enough air circulation for the chick to have enough oxygen to live. And ones that do hatch will be quite wet or sticky on hatch On day 19 I fill one chamber - and that top up daily till hatch. Just make sure it is really full and you will have sufficient in there for at least a 24 hour period if your eggs then start to hatch.
Avoid doing anything regarding lifting the lid if eggs have started pipping. Only lift the lid to remove fully fluffed chicks - normally at least 6 hrs after hatch and just pour a bit of prewarmed water through the tray and into the channel below to make it as quick as poss.

Hope this helps - please come back to me if I have left anything unanswered.

 

[Tim]

I also use the same incubator and also fill one channel (every other day) by lifting off the lid and taking the tray out. I keep the vent about half way most of the time but it does depend on the humidity of the air in the room which varies according to many things... so what works for me, may not work for you. Ultimately it's the humidity in the incubator and the porosity of the egg shells / weight loss that matters.

It's wise to use a reasonable hygrometer - wet bulb or electronic - the little dials you get with kits can be very inaccurate.

There are a few poultrykeeper articles on incubation here: Incubation and Hatching Eggs

and a few more in the chickens incubation and hatching eggs section too.

The only other thing I would add to Allerton Brahmas post is that you stop the turning (lift incubator off auto-turner) for the last couple of days and fill both channels with water so that the humidity is high for the hatch.

Good Luck and let us know how you get on..

Tim