Re: Need advice on hatching baby chicks

Jack wrote:
My wife bought an incubator from Attwoods and attempted to follow the
instructions for hatching some chicks. She put 20 eggs in it and the
results were as follows: one healthy chick. one chick with a
deformed foot. two chicks that died in the process of hatching.
After waiting 25 days the rest of the eggs were inspected. Most of
them had chicks that were dead in the shell.

The instructions were to set the temp to 100 degrees. The incubator
allowed for an adjustment for the temp but did not do it
automatically. On a couple of occassions, we found that the temp had
dropped to 90 degrees and readjusted it accordingly. The instructions
also said to turn the eggs 3 times a day which we did.

The eggs were collected from 4 hens over a period of 4-5 days and
stored at room temperature in a carton. We candled the eggs after
one week and there were chicks in all of them.

That's what we did. Why did we experience these poor results and what
should we have done? Thanks for any help.

The variation in temperature would have caused the results you had.
Its best to set up an incubator for at least a week before trying to hatch
so you can really see if all of the settings are working.
I would advise longer so you get a wider range of environmental influences
which allows you to really test a machines ability before putting eggs in to
it..
An incubator that does not keep the temperature stable is USELESS - totally
and utterly.
The placement of an incubator in the house can be one of many factors. For
example its very common for an incubator be put on a table that is
conveneint for all to see it -- that is somewhere that gets maximum traffic
and often near a window. Any shafts of light and heat coming in can cook the
thing, and the traffic back and forth causes constant distruptive
vibrations.
The good news is that your birds sound good and fertile.
I would suggest a really good book on hatching and incubation and talking to
the company you got the machine from, although if its faulty you should have
notified them the moment you were concerned about the non-regulation of
temperature -- not several weeks later.

--
regards
Jill Bowis

Domestic Poultry and Waterfowl Solutions
Herbaceous; Herb and Alpine Nursery
Seasonal Farm Food
http://www.kintaline.co.uk


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