Novital Incubator help please!!!

[georgieboy]

Hi, i am in need of some help with hatching eggs using my novital covatutto 20 egg semi auto incubator. I have tried lots off eggs with this and have not had good results. First time i set 12 eggs and kept the small water trough half full until day 18 when i filled it to the top. Only got 3 hatch with 5 beinf fully formed and dead in the shells. Second attempt i invested in a hygrometer, kept the water trough filled but noticed that the humidity was less than 30% (it only registers above 30%). Day 18 and i closed it all down, this time putting extra water trough in and also a wet cloth which kept the humidity at 65-70%. Again only 3 chicks, with the rest dead in the shells and not internally pipped. What am i doing wrong? I have a friend who insists i should run this incy dry until day 18 but i asked a guy at my local livestock market and he says these forced air incubators run too dry even with the small trough full and i should add more water right from the start. HELP! I have some more fresh eggs ready to set and i am hoping the good people on here will be able to steer me in the right direction of a better hatch

Thanks in advance - George

 

[georgieboy]

This should have read "i have tried TWO lots of eggs not "lots of eggs!"

 

[hihk]

never hatched chicken, but hatched ducks & geese (need higher humidity than chicks in general) in novital 20 too. yes the fan of this machine makes it really really dry (and hot). if i were you, i'd read different advice online (BYC, FAO, university studies, etc.) and find the compromise conditions of all these. then i'd try to achieve that humidity. btw, u can add some plastic containers (i used those from take-away) in the big compartment to increase humidity. for my ducks & geese i'd fill the whole thing (small+big compartments) with water (but still a bit dry, cos the machine was running hot, and the fan is running quite fast). btw, i put 3 thermometers in different places and there are cool and hot spots, so be careful. i change the egg positions every morning so each egg gets more or less the same heat throughout the process. good luck!

 

[georgieboy]

Thanks for that. It seems to me that this is perhaps not the easiest incubator to use. I have now got it running empty in the garage with an extra container of water in and the humidity is at 41% with the temp 37.5. Interesting that you say there are hotspots though and i will try rotating the eggs when set. Thanks for the help and any advice from other members would be greatly appreciated.

 

[georgieboy]

I see what you mean about hot spots. The temp was rising a little too much for my liking so i checked lower down with the thermometer and it was fine.Got the humidity bang on 40% and can hopefully get some better stability with the temp. Instead of your way of moving the eggs around daily, i thought i could just put the top on the other way around. Do you think that would help or is the main difference between the outside and the centre?

Thanks - George

 

[kev0]

Hi George
These really are good little incubators I use one very often with no problems and really good hatch rate's dont loose sleep worrying over humidity I run all my incubators dry untill the eggs start to pip around 18 days then I add water or even damp wood shavings Ive been hatching for years. One of the best incubators on the market is the novital covattuto 7 the one that uses a small golf ball light bulb to warm the eggs I often tell people it would probably hatch golf balls !! The fact that the chicks are fully formed tells me they have probably drowned due to the fact that the air space has been to small, As for hot and cold spots yes you do get them even in a force air incubator once again dont worry too much even a broody hen has the same problem if she is sitting a lot of eggs just shuffle them round every so often Ive lost count of how many time's my incubators have gone cold even over night and guess what no problems at all just a day late hatching and stronger than ever !! Best of luck