Tips for incubation

[donteatbees]

Hello everyone! My family finally bought an incubator today and it's supposed to get here Wednesday. I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on using an incubator. The incubator routes the eggs on its own and has a candling light in it, it's real fancy sounding.
I've heard that one old wives tale about lower temps = more hens (though lower hatch rate bc the roos just don't hatch). I'm wondering, if anyone has tried this and been successful, what "formula" for temps and time you used?

I'm also quite nervous about using an incubator, so if anyone can tell me any typical beginners mistakes or anything you wished you've done differently, please let me know! Or even storing eggs before hatching. I'm going to be testing the round vs. pointy egg thing too, which isn't much of a test as most of my eggs are rounder anyway.

I do know it's a good idea to mark each side of an egg to make sure they're being turned properly. But that's about it.

And thank you in advance to everyone!

 

[TexasBlues]

Good luck.
Temps at 99.5°F humidity at 20-40%. Less is more. Don’t open incubator until all have hatched.
No need to mark eggs if you have a turner.
I have no experience with the temps that kill male chicks.
I’m testing the round egg theory. I selected 28 out of 80 of the roundest eggs to hatch.

 

[2ndTink]

Make sure the incubator is calibrated. I like to add a wifi Govee thermo-hygrometer to the incubator so I can track the temperature and humidity through the process. I had one incubator low, and one incubator that was inconsistent, so this helped me troubleshoot and adjust.

 

[donteatbees]

Good luck.
Temps at 99.5°F humidity at 20-40%. Less is more. Don’t open incubator until all have hatched.
No need to mark eggs if you have a turner.
I have no experience with the temps that kill male chicks.
I’m testing the round egg theory. I selected 28 out of 80 of the roundest eggs to hatch.

Don't open it at all? Not even to candle eggs? And the only reason I'd mark the eggs is in case the rotation thing breaks and I need to start doing it myself.
Good luck, let me know how it goes for you!

 

[donteatbees]

Make sure the incubator is calibrated. I like to add a wifi Govee thermo-hygrometer to the incubator so I can track the temperature and humidity through the process. I had one incubator low, and one incubator that was inconsistent, so this helped me troubleshoot and adjust.

Where do you get that?

 

[TexasBlues]

Don't open it at all? Not even to candle eggs? And the only reason I'd mark the eggs is in case the rotation thing breaks and I need to start doing it myself.
Good luck, let me know how it goes for you!

I meant to say during lockdown. I like to candle around day 10 and 18

 

[donteatbees]

I meant to say during lockdown. I like to candle around day 10 and 18

Oooh okay that makes more sense. I was confused, when I've hatched with a broody hen I took them all out from under her (i had them numbered so I never missed one) to candle them and make sure they were undamaged almost daily

 

[2ndTink]

Where do you get that?

Govee WiFi Hygrometer Thermometer... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BVLP9C5?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Amazon

 

[BoundlessLove]

Wishing you good luck with your hatching!
I tested the round egg theory when I incubated turkey eggs. Put in three “turkey trainer” chicken eggs.
I chose the roundest three eggs our hens hatched. It’s been a while, but I believe they were RIR and SLW cross. Two out of three were roosters.
They were great turkey trainers, though.

 

[BoundlessLove]

Also, do you have a plan in place in case you lose power? This is super important to figure out Before you begin incubating eggs.