Is it me or the incubator, tried again, did what I was told, filled up the bottom tray with wam water at 17 days, dont turn again and leave, well now 23 days, incubator temp went down when I put the water in to 88-90, today I thought that is it, zilch, eggsare doing nothing, except one that you can hear the poor little thing chirping in there, what do I do, after the last debacle when 12 rare breeds failed to hatch, what am I doing wrong, I feel so guilty

jenn

Each incubator is different so you need to go by the manufacturers instructions, also depends if the instruments you are using to measure humidity and temperature are accurate if you're not using the all singing all dancing types! - too much humidity and they drown in their shells to little and they dry out and get stuck! What kind of incubator are you using?

Also will depend on the eggs -
How old they are before being put in the incubator and how have they been stored?
Are the parents fertile or too old?
Are the eggs dirty or have they been washed?
Have they come through the post? - if you buy eggs off ebay and get them shipped to you they can be very hit and miss, out of 60 eggs I bought one year from various ebayers only 8 hatched mainly from one seller the rest were either infertile or died at hatching time!! Then the next year I bought half a dozen and they all hatched - there are so many variables when doing it yourself rather than a broody and home bred eggs!! Likewise if you buy eggs from poultry auctions they can be pretty hit and miss too - my neighbor hatched 12 supposedly rare breed vorwerks, only half were fertile - there was not a single vorwerk chick in the lot and they were all sorts of colours!!!

Did you candle the eggs half way through to see if they were fertile?
As for the one you can hear chirping at this stage they often don't make it even if they do hatch, which by now is highly unlikely, unless it is one of the larger breeds like the orpington as they can take an extra day, there is usually something wrong with them if they don't pop out within 24 hrs or so of their expected time I'm sorry to say - it is rather gutting I know when you don't get a single chick!

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thanks for repl, this is the basic incubator the round novatel, it should be idiot proof, thing is the eggs were fresh this time certainly from our own hens, didnt wash them they were clean, banties not full size, last time from a reputable breeder sent special delivdry which cost me a bomb, its not that they dont hatch its what the hell I am doing wrong, having had 4 banties rear chicks this year last lot 7 out of 9 should have been 8 but the silly moo trod on one, I feel so guilty I feel as if I have murdered them. not trying again, it can go in the bin

jenn

one dead half out of the shell this morning, rest zilch, I am doing something wrong, I must be not going to try again , I feel so rotten

jenn

If you are 100% sure the eggs are fertile and they are candled halfway through to check and chuck out the dudds then I'd say your incubator settings are wrong, especially given the eggs you are using are from your own hens which you've proved are fertile. Have you had any eggs hatch out from this incubator at all?
I would try again even though it is late in the year even if it is just to work out the right humidity levels and temp for next season - keep candling every 4 days or so to monitor the air space in the fertile eggs and compare to pics on the net, plenty about or in books, as to what it should be - too small an air space and the humidity is too high, to big a space it's too low, I always eeerr on the side of caution with the humidity at the end as I'd rather it was a tad too low until they actually start hatching then I put it up. I've never used a novatel one before I've only used a R-com one and had fairly good results from it - I did eventually sell it though as the amount of hassle and faff incubators are it is far easier to use a broody hen to be honest!!! - and cheaper I went and bought some silkie crosses this year and they were great!!!!

I'd also leave ordering them through the post until you've figured it out - even special delivery is no guarantee at all that they will be fertile or not played football with on the way, I paid £60 for a dozen rare breed eggs once and special delivery on top of that and they were all duff!!!!
You also need to remember to rest eggs that have been sent in the post for 24hrs pointy end down in a cool place before sticking them in the incubator, likewise freshly laid ones need to be rested for 24hrs too before sticking in an incubator.
I'd practice with different setting on the incubator with home grown fresh eggs ie. no older than 7 days and keep a note of what settings work and what doesn't - it's a very delicate art!!, but I'd drop the humidity lower than they say to for the last 3 days and just put up when they are actually chipping through and see if that works, instead of filling the whole tray have a few smaller pots with water in to have more control over the humidity.
Good luck and don't be too disheartened even people who have been doing it for ages can have total disasters!, you could also try ringing the manufacturer and see if they have any advice.

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thanks for advice, it has no humidity control or any other I was told by someone who has used tjis type, you just put warm water in the top bowl initially, then at 17 days put warm water in the bottom to increase the humidity and dont open again until they hatch, but when I put the second lot of warm water in the temp dropped to 88-90 from 94 ish, i agree broodies are best, we had four lots of chicks this year, the first lot were stolen at 6 weeks along with the hen, 2 successfully reared em and I am keeping my fingers crossed for this lot hatched a week ago. we dont put poultry in the field now, they are all in the back of the garden, the lot that were stolen were at the back of the stable where they could not be seen except if you went there, not having neighbours within 1/2 mile can be a drawback, we have had so much poultry stolen from the field that the girls are frightened of weven putting the ponies out or certainly dont leave them out if we are out. we dont know whos doing it, all I know is if I did catch them they wouldnt walk out of here, they would be lucky if they could crawl.

anyway thanks for your advice, I might try again, there is a boy near us who has eggs and this is the last lot that are 1 week old now.

jenn

just discovered a thing on the side that adjusts the temp, its very small and you wouldnt know it was there but I was looking for the instructions on the internt and came across a post from someone who had a similar one and seemed to think you could adjust it, well you can, I have put this upto the max and it is now registering 98, is that better and being completely a non starter what do I do with a hydrometer, do I keep it in as the thermometer or what

many thanks for your replies, really appreciated

jenn

Have put a link to a pretty good guide to incubating eggs and it tells you about the wet bulb thermometer or hydrometer - this reads the humidity and yes you leave it in the incubator and you read it the same way as a thermometer, you adjust the amount of water to adjust this reading.
Anyway here is a link which explains it better than I can, hope it helps! - Incubating Your Eggs From The Easy Chicken for beginners
There are a few others on the net so well worth reading a few!

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Thanks so much

jenn