Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 Incubator is AMAZING!

[CluckNDoodle]

Do you have a secondary calibrated thermometer and hygrometer?

No, but! Before BYC jumps on me, I know that’s the #1 advice. The manufacturer specifically says NOT to recalibrate.

Side note, we try not to jump on people in this thread! We all had to learn at some point!! lol

Nurture Right has been a very reliable brand for me BUT that's not to say that we haven't had a number of people that needed to recalibrate their incubators and sometimes things just go bad.

Sounds like I need to learn what to look for BEFORE I put them in the incubator. So, am I supposed to candle at day zero, before you incubate them at all?

It's a good practice but not exactly necessary. When you're trying to get to the bottom of an unexplained reason for a high number of quitters it's always helpful to do all of the extra steps though.

-Meat spots would just looks like a dark spot floating in the egg before it's even incubating. It's sometimes a little piece of oviduct that makes it into eggs. Some hens have a tendency to lay eggs with meat spots frequently. I had a discussion about this in another thread once and our non scientific conclusion was that maybe those eggs weren't developing because of hormones in that little meat spot. Since you're seeing development that's not what you're dealing with.

-Other basics to look for when candling before setting the eggs is to look for cracks that might not be easily seen with the naked eye.
Detached air cells.
And to take note of any that may have very porous shells.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I’m not sure if I should try 35-45 or 40-50% next hatch. I’m hatching guineas.

Lastly, take comfort in knowing that guineas are one of the more challenging fowl to hatch!

 

[Bicoastal]

Ok, I'm learning candle BEFORE I incubate any eggs. Look for cracks, a meat spot, or any other weirdness. Egg shells that feel sandpaper-y, does that mean they are porous and I should toss those? I'll post a photo next to show the variety of coloration on the eggs.

I will purchase the Acurite Indoor Thermometer and Hygrometer to test my NR360.

I didn't know guineas were more difficult to hatch. They sure lay a lot! I don't know if I feel gladdened -it's not my fault!- or discouraged -this is going to be harder than I thought! I thought surely the solution was buy a second NR360! Ya know, chicken math. But no, what I really need to do is figure out how to improve hatch rate.

I wish I knew a local BYCer with extra chicken eggs needing incubation. I'd be happy to incubate them as an experiment, then give the chicks back. I'd really like to straighten out my incubation before I aim for a specific color I want to hatch out.

 

[Bicoastal]

Eggs waiting for the incubator. I’ve circled particularly odd ones. Raised, hard white flecks, consistent peppering of hard brown flecks that feel sandpapery, or lack of consistent coloration.. Toss those? I’ve been storing and discarding based on date and cleanliness.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Ok, I'm learning candle BEFORE I incubate any eggs. Look for cracks, a meat spot, or any other weirdness. Egg shells that feel sandpaper-y, does that mean they are porous and I should toss those? I'll post a photo next to show the variety of coloration on the eggs.

I will purchase the Acurite Indoor Thermometer and Hygrometer to test my NR360.

I didn't know guineas were more difficult to hatch. They sure lay a lot! I don't know if I feel gladdened -it's not my fault!- or discouraged -this is going to be harder than I thought! I thought surely the solution was buy a second NR360! Ya know, chicken math. But no, what I really need to do is figure out how to improve hatch rate.

I wish I knew a local BYCer with extra chicken eggs needing incubation. I'd be happy to incubate them as an experiment, then give the chicks back. I'd really like to straighten out my incubation before I aim for a specific color I want to hatch out.

Porous eggs aren't necessarily rough and you may actually be noticing calcium deposits rather than the shell being porous but when you candle a porous egg you will see lots of specks where the light penetrates more. You don't need to toss these eggs (they usually hatch just fine in my experience) but if you have a high number of porous eggs you may need to be more mindful of how quickly they are losing weight during incubation
.
I intentionally did an experiment hatching "undesirable" hatching eggs a few years ago.
I didn't take additional pictures of the severely porous eggs but "Rocket" in these images is a good example of what I'm talking about with more specks that the light can penetrate.

 

[Bicoastal]

I’m in lockdown trying to maintain 70% humidity. every time I add water, the % reading actually drops. This makes it hard to determine how much water to add when I just want to increase the humidity a degree or two (usually before bed and in the morning).

During incubation, the humidity reading would increase within a minute or two as I added water. So I would add a little water, stand by, wait for the humidity reading to stabilize, and stop or add a little more.

In lockdown aiming for 70%, I’m adding a LOT of water at a time, comparatively, and the humidity reading DECREASES every time I do so.

The water I add is room temp. The photo is what happened this morning when humidity reading was 68% and I wanted to bump it up 2.

Anyone else? Anyone know the science behind this? I want to know if adding water at this level is actually causing a decrease or if it’s just the reading.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I’m in lockdown trying to maintain 70% humidity. every time I add water, the % reading actually drops. This makes it hard to determine how much water to add when I just want to increase the humidity a degree or two (usually before bed and in the morning).

During incubation, the humidity reading would increase within a minute or two as I added water. So I would add a little water, stand by, wait for the humidity reading to stabilize, and stop or add a little more.

In lockdown aiming for 70%, I’m adding a LOT of water at a time, comparatively, and the humidity reading DECREASES every time I do so.

The water I add is room temp. The photo is what happened this morning when humidity reading was 68% and I wanted to bump it up 2.

Anyone else? Anyone know the science behind this? I want to know if adding water at this level is actually causing a decrease or if it’s just the reading.

That's because your water is cold. The humidity will normalize once the incubator warms up the water. Keeping room temp water is helpful so the incubator doesn't need to work so hard or if you warm the water to body temp and test it on your wrist like you would with a baby bottle it will pop up a little. 65% is plenty for lockdown though so don't worry too much.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I’m in lockdown trying to maintain 70% humidity. every time I add water, the % reading actually drops. This makes it hard to determine how much water to add when I just want to increase the humidity a degree or two (usually before bed and in the morning).

During incubation, the humidity reading would increase within a minute or two as I added water. So I would add a little water, stand by, wait for the humidity reading to stabilize, and stop or add a little more.

In lockdown aiming for 70%, I’m adding a LOT of water at a time, comparatively, and the humidity reading DECREASES every time I do so.

The water I add is room temp. The photo is what happened this morning when humidity reading was 68% and I wanted to bump it up 2.

Anyone else? Anyone know the science behind this? I want to know if adding water at this level is actually causing a decrease or if it’s just the reading.

Sorry, just read you said it's room temp. It's still colder than the incubator though, which is why it drops slightly. No worries.

 

[aart]

I’m adding a LOT of water at a time

Keep in mind that it's only the surface area of the water that adds humidity.
The depth of the water will dictate how long that humidity level lasts.

 

[Bicoastal]

Keep in mind that it's only the surface area of the water that adds humidity.
The depth of the water will dictate how long that humidity level lasts.

Good point! I’m sure the water has fully snaked through the entire reservoir grid. So I’m adding volume, not surface area.

I’m in the humid mid Atlantic and it’s been raining. Folks in arid climates must have quite of bit of effort to get humidity up in their NR360s.