IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Before you purchase your eggs, please be sure you are familiar with your incubator. Please have on hand an extra hydrometer and thermometer to be able to check the accuracy of your incubator.
When you receive your shipped eggs, please let them get to room temperature before placing in your incubator. Please use a clean incubator. Leave the turner off for 3 days to help stabilize the air cell. After 3 days, turn your turner back on. Candle your eggs at 12 days to evaluate for fertility and take out any non-fertilized eggs. If you are hatching Marans eggs, they may be so dark you cannot see veining, but you will be able to see the egg getting darker compared to the air cell. I keep my humidity relatively low at 40% to 45% throughout incubation and increase it to 65% at lockdown.
Hatching:
Remove your turner and prepare your incubator for hatching by placing a non-slip surface down like shelving liner (the type with the holes all over to allow for circulation). I use short cups of water with shelving liner (or another breathable cover to prevent the chick from drowning in the cup) over the top to help my humidity stay somewhat consistent during hatch.
Three to four days before hatch day, take your turner out and place your eggs, with the large side of the air cell upwards. Chicks can take quite some time to hatch out and I do not recommend helping them unless they have external pipped and have not unzipped within 24 hours. It usually doesn't help them.
Allow your chicks to completely dry before moving them to their preheated brooding area
Hatching shipped eggs is more difficult than eggs that have not been shipped. Shipping can internally scramble a fertilized egg, rendering it undevelopable. Air cells can become saddled making them more difficult for a chick to position in and to hatch out of and also they can become completely detached, essentially rendering them unhatchable. Please take this into consideration before purchasing shipped eggs.
Once you get your shipped eggs, I recommend bringing them up to room temperature for a few hours and placing them right in your incubator with the turner off for 3 to 5 days.
I recommend using a tabletop that gently rocks the eggs back and forth as opposed to an incubator that rolls them. I find also that cabinets may have too dramatic of turns and too jarring for the shipped eggs.
There are many types of incubators, but they all need to be maintained to help you have the best hatches.
Temperature Accuracy
Incubators need to be double, and triple checked. I recommend using an analog and a digital thermometer to double check the accuracy of your incubator. sometimes they become a little off and need to be calibrated. Follow the instructions in your user manual if you need to recalibrate your incubator. If you no longer have your user manual, you may find what you need online with a simple google or you tube search.
Cleanliness
Keep your incubator clean. After each hatch, clean thoroughly your incubator. I personally use dawn dish soap and warm water and a soft toilet scrubber for my foam incubators and wipe down with Clorox wipes.
