Incubator Help

[budharley 945]

I bought a rcom 20 pro , I have been Having mixed results temp 37.5 ,humidity 45 then 60 last three days I'm having a lot of full term either pip and die or don't even pip also a lot of half term . These are just eggs of Pekins and ko shamo my dads going to throw so I'm trying to get this incubator Sussed out using these eggs . Any help appreciated ,I was thinking just do a hatching without no water and see how that goes ????

[burnie69 376]

I bought exactly the same a few years ago from P&T poultry and was having the same problems. I rang and the bloke said it needs calibrating. Hence why I've put in previous posts about buying a hygrometer. I ran mine and 40% for humidity for 18 days and bang it 70% for the last 3 days hatching.I check calibration every year before I start just to be on the safe side. For £15 for a hygrometer you'll be surprised how your hatch rates will improve.I had 29 hatch out of 31 last week in my R-com 50. You should be having similar success.

[budharley 945]

I bought exactly the same a few years ago from P&T poultry and was having the same problems. I rang and the bloke said it needs calibrating. Hence why I've put in previous posts about buying a hygrometer. I ran mine and 40% for humidity for 18 days and bang it 70% for the last 3 days hatching.I check calibration every year before I start just to be on the safe side. For £15 for a hygrometer you'll be surprised how your hatch rates will improve.I had 29 hatch out of 31 last week in my R-com 50. You should be having similar success.

Thanks for the reply Burnie how do I go about calibrating it cheers

Also do you have a link for a descent hygrometer their all different

Edited April 23, 2016 by budharley

[burnie69 376]

There should be a clear sticker on the lid with all instructions in. If not refer to the manual basically you hold 2 buttons together and alter the humidity to what you meter inside is reading. Look on ebay for a reptile hygrometer it doesn't have to digital just accurate.

[budharley 945]

Thanks mate

[morton 5,368]

I bought a rcom 20 pro , I have been Having mixed results temp 37.5 ,humidity 45 then 60 last three days I'm having a lot of full term either pip and die or don't even pip also a lot of half term . These are just eggs of Pekins and ko shamo my dads going to throw so I'm trying to get this incubator Sussed out using these eggs . Any help appreciated ,I was thinking just do a hatching without no water and see how that goes ????

Don,t turn the eggs the last 48hrs and have less humidity.Its also of paramount importance that the incubator is sterilised before use and the eggs are washed with a suitable cleansing agent,a build up of harmful bacteria often kills developing embryo,s and to much humidity drowns them.

[burnie69 376]

Why less humidity? You up the humidity to soften the shell . Believe me I've been hatching 21,000 eggs a week for the last 13 years. You don't lesson the humidity in the last 3 days.

[morton 5,368]

Why less humidity? You up the humidity to soften the shell . Believe me I've been hatching 21,000 eggs a week for the last 13 years. You don't lesson the humidity in the last 3 days.

Less than the humidity he had the eggs at.If incubation is to be done scientifically then a chart needs to be adhered to,weight gain over the incubation period directly attributed to the humidity levels,its a complicated process than most folk with an incubator never need to adhere to,often a water source in the incubator and the same humidity at the onset and finish will still hatch the majority of eggs.The easiest way is to have the same humidity over the course of the eggs hatching cycle until the final 48hrs,then stop turning the eggs and increase the humidity slightly,thats all thats needed,natural incubation,by the parents,is done with a relative humidity that never changes over the hatching period.Industrial incubation units have an higher hatch rate than the average home incubation hobbyist unit.Then there is the different incubation needs of waterfowl eggs etc.etc.A very useful read is Practicle Incubation by Rob Harvey or id look on the web for Practicle Poultry incubation to give the novice an intro to the basics.

[burnie69 376]

We all can copy off a poultry site. I've done it for years. The same Rob from P&T poultry sold me a incubator what I wasn't having results in. When I rang and asked he was the one what said it needed calibrating. When I said it's brand new it should already been done. His reply was that it comes straight from the manufacturer he doesn't have anything to do with it. But he'll be taking the % on the sales. If a incubator is running correctly then you'll never drop humidity on the last 3 days. If it's not youd only know by weighing the eggs weekly then in the 2nd and 3rd week you'd reduce humidity because like I've said in previous posts humidity makes the chickens grow inside the egg. To much will give you to big chick's in the eggs and they'll either be dead in the egg or struggling pipping out. What Budharley is having . Reducing humidity at the last 3 days makes your eggs with shell's like concrete.

[morton 5,368]

We all can copy off a poultry site. I've done it for years. The same Rob from P&T poultry sold me a incubator what I wasn't having results in. When I rang and asked he was the one what said it needed calibrating. When I said it's brand new it should already been done. His reply was that it comes straight from the manufacturer he doesn't have anything to do with it. But he'll be taking the % on the sales. If a incubator is running correctly then you'll never drop humidity on the last 3 days. If it's not youd only know by weighing the eggs weekly then in the 2nd and 3rd week you'd reduce humidity because like I've said in previous posts humidity makes the chickens grow inside the egg. To much will give you to big chick's in the eggs and they'll either be dead in the egg or struggling pipping out. What Budharley is having . Reducing humidity at the last 3 days makes your eggs with shell's like concrete.

Again i stated less humidity than he had is set at.Another thing few take into consideration is the environment they place their incubator in,a room with a fluctuating temperature,because of sunlight,a radiator,a draught etc,may cause the incubator to work in a less productive manner.The only thing that makes the chick develop in the egg is the ambient temperature,the humidity level plays a lesser part,important certainly.

[burnie69 376]

I stated calibrating the Machine to find out how the incubator is set. Why would you use less humidity if your machine isn't running right in the 1st place. Waste a set of eggs ? He's already done that.If the humidity isn't as important why can you alter the weight of chicken in the egg by altering the humidity? Alter the temp all you'll get is eggs hatching a day earlier or a day or 2 later.Edited to say. These little R-com incubators are fool proof if there on the dot with temp and humidity you'll take out as good as many chick's and the eggs u put in as long as you've candled them.

[morton 5,368]

I stated calibrating the Machine to find out how the incubator is set. Why would you use less humidity if your machine isn't running right in the 1st place. Waste a set of eggs ? He's already done that.If the humidity isn't as important why can you alter the weight of chicken in the egg by altering the humidity? Alter the temp all you'll get is eggs hatching a day earlier or a day or 2 later.

Re-read the original post,he stated he had a relative humidity of 60 at the end of his incubation,for poultry that is to high and possibly caused the "dead in shell" as to much humidity is want to do.I posted to use less humidity than 60,at that stage for poultry.Temperature variation in an incubator is far more fatal to the developing embryo than a humidity variation,fact,from my experience.

[burnie69 376]

So I'm running 3 machines. 2 are R-com's . 40% humidity for 18 days. 70% humidity for the last 3 days . How is this to high? 36 eggs posted from utah USA to Boston USA. Collected from post office put in a suit case and flown over. Candled at 2 weeks 31 eggs fertile. 27 hatched using this method. Tell me it's wrong ? I'm talking about chicken to not pheasants.

[morton 5,368]

So I'm running 3 machines. 2 are R-com's . 40% humidity for 18 days. 70% humidity for the last 3 days . How is this to high? 36 eggs posted from utah USA to Boston USA. Collected from post office put in a suit case and flown over. Candled at 2 weeks 31 eggs fertile. 27 hatched using this method. Tell me it's wrong ? I'm talking about chicken to not pheasants.

I could quote you countless examples of incubators that are run with a variance of humidity levels and still will achieve hatch rates that are more than acceptable.The lad wanted a basic insight and i attempted to give him a basic answer.Chickens are a pheasant and are incubated as such.

[burnie69 376]

A chicken is 21 days incubation

Pheasants are 24 days incubation. I wish I could rear My pheasants as easy as my gamefowl. I talking from experience that's all. Facts not fiction of a poultry site. The R-com comes with a guide of setting 45% 18 days 65% last 3 days. I played about with my incubators and got better results alter it. Hence why I quoted he wouldn't benefit dropping it.