First time incubating advice

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Be sure to order more eggs than you want chickens, sometimes the post office handles the boxes rough and it causes low hatch rates.

If you can find local eggs, driving distance, you will start off with a better chance.

Totally agree! I don't really *want a lot of chickens, ideally I'd only like to keep one pullet, and sell off the rest. The incubator holds 7, so even if I only hatch 2 I'll be delighted. This is a total experiment so if nothing else I'm looking to learn from it.

 

[PaulX]

How often, if ever should I be opening it to candle, etc.?

I believe you can candle every day if you like. The mother would normally leave briefly for food and water every day too. I candled a lot after day 14 (duck eggs) because I had problem with air cell size and had to monitor it.

I am not familiar with this particular incubator but I would suggest you get a calibrated thermometer to double check the temperature before you set eggs.

I advise you to get a second thermometer that can measure egg shell temperature (a digital with a probe will do fine). My incubator is filled to full capacity and as the incubation progressed, the eggs started to generate heat, making egg shell temperature much warmer than incubator air temperature. It is egg shell temperature that you need to control, not the air. (it needs to be between 37.5-38.3 C or 99.5-101 F, the most optimum is 37.8 C 100 F.)
http://en.aviagen.com/assets/Tech_C...s/Ross_How_Tos/RossHowto3EggShellTempEN13.pdf

Be sure to order more eggs than you want chickens, sometimes the post office handles the boxes rough and it causes low hatch rates.

I wanted to keep 3 female ducklings but ordered 24 eggs lol. It's day 26 and everyone's alive!... so, I'll need to give the excess away, but better be sure rather than end up with lonely single chick/duckling, given that it's my first hatch I didn't expect it to go this well.

 

[aart]

My best advice for a new hatcher is...
...test/calibrate your thermometers and hygrometers for accuracy!!!
I have read many, and experienced a couple, disastrous hatches due to inaccurate measuring devices.
This works well for me:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/