the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

i have just had my first success from my incubator. 18 fertile? hens eggs went in and only one chick, "colin" hatced out. he or she should be a light sussex. i used the same method as you and sprayed with a mister when needed.
however i have had a better success with my geese eggs which are hatching out now, one is out and the others can be heard chirping from within.also had six turkey eggs, of which only two showed life when candled, these are due later this week.
so good luck and don't give up.

I've just put 12 Rhode Island Red eggs in my incubator. I'm hoping for a good hatch as my last batch of Rhodys sold really well at the local market. I've struggled with humidity in my incubator too and found that moving it around the room helped. It was never in the sun or by a radiator to start with but for some reason it performs better in one corner of the room than it did in the others!!

You won't believe this, but the bl**dy thing packed in again. Came home from work, went in to mist the eggs and the heater is off, stopped, caput. The turning mechanism is still working; we hadn't had a powercut or anything. I'm disgusted. We broke open two of the nine eggs - one was fertile. I couldn't open the others I was so cross.
The incubator is a Covatutto, just in case anyone's interested. A fine example of Italian engineering, no?
Grrrr. I'm going to try and get a broody hen, now.

that's really bad luck. i have a very old fashioned type of incubator which seems to work fine, but i have a bad luck on eegg fertillity. but it is very exciting when they do hatch. try regencey poultry for advice, terry there is very knowledgable on all aspects of chicken rearing.