Giving the birds as clean an environment as possible into which to lay their eggs will both save labor and improve hatchability.
Fresh and clean are the two keys to successful hatching egg management. When gathering and handling eggs meant for hatching, there are several things to consider. The task is to keep them fertile, viable, and moving into the incubator in a timely fashion. There is both a bit of science and a bit of art to the successful handling of “hatch eggs.” Not every egg will hatch, not even every fertile one. With the incubator up and running, the next component of the successful hatching equation is the egg - “ovum” in Latin. In this should be extra thermostat wafers, an extra thermometer, operating instructions, and other spare parts. While on the subject of emergency management, always have on hand a backup kit. The hatch rate will be reduced, but it will buy some time and help to save at least a portion of the hatch. It is OMRI listed.ĭuring a power failure, an incubator can be wrapped with wool blankets (hit up the surplus stores) or other insulating material such as a water heater cover and if the cabinet is kept closed, the eggs will be at least partially protected for several hours. A misting product called Oxine is also good for maintaining health. The bacteria released can really take a toll on embryos.
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If you do have eggs go bad inside the incubator and especially if one goes off “hand grenade” fashion, a full take down and clean up of the cabinet interior may be in order.
Too much chlorine may kill incubating embryos. They add one teaspoon of bleach per pint of water and may do so once or twice a week. To better maintain the healthfulness of the cabinet environment, some will add a bit of chlorine bleach to the water in the humidifier tank. Too high and they may emerge, but die soon after, looking wet and swollen. Too low of a humidity level and the chicks will have trouble hatching and dry too quickly. I am especially conscious of keeping the tray topped up when eggs go into the hatcher tray at the bottom of the cabinet on their eighteenth day of incubation. I have friends that will mist their eggs with warm water once each day with a spray bottle.
It does take a bit of time to get operating temperatures right after a restart from a prolonged rest or when wafers have been replaced. We use a digital thermometer to gauge operating temperature and like it much better than the dial-type with stem that came with the unit. Signs of thermostat wafer wear or failure will include a squashed or swollen appearance or surface discoloration. The test run is to see that the turners work, temperatures are held, and that all racks are free.
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Thermostat wafers are examined and replaced, every surface is wiped down again, and the unit is turned on for a full trial run several days before it will be actually needed. I try to expose the trays to the naturally disinfecting rays of the sun often during the course of the hatching season.Īlong with a second spring cleaning, everything mechanical is given the once over. The clear door is washed, the door gasket checked carefully, egg trays and racks washed, and they and the humidifier tray set out to catch some sun. I scrape down all of the surfaces and wash it out with a solution of bleach and water. At the end of each hatching season and again the following spring, I give the unit a most thorough cleaning. Into that machine goes eggs of all sizes and colors and, if all goes well, out of it comes an equally wide array of baby chicks of nearly every hue and stripe. The purchase of a cabinet incubator with a capacity of several hundred eggs was what marked the real launch of our work with rare and heirloom chicken breeds.
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