I have had a question today as why when they put in 6 fertile eggs, after 23 days upon checking 1 was just a yolk and 5 were fully formed but did not hatch, what is the problem. I am afraid the problem is caused by too much humidity in the incubator, only 5 of the eggs were fertile eggs the other was a dud but of the 5 that did develop there was not enough loss inside the egg shell due to incubator humidity and with a chick developing to large it was unable to turn to break out of the shell. I would suggest a new batch of eggs and maybe 50% less water than the last incubation, ideally have the incubator have water in only every other day so 1 day in 2 it is dry. Then of course plenty of humidity for the last 2 days. I hope this helped you Peter

What is the temprature for an old brinsea hatchmaker for incubation? The incubation temperature is the same for hens eggs at 37.7 centigrade or 100 farenheit the incubator model really does not matter. When to put water in the rings? Ok this is harder, it really depends on your enviroment so i would suggest getting a hygrometer as you should run about 40% - 45% for the first 19 days and 60% - 65% for the last 2 days. Should I turn the eggs once a day? To be honest no you should turn a minimum of 3 times a day ideally 5 or more. For this model place a X on one side of the egg and a O on the other side so you know you have turned all eggs each time. Hope this helps Clare

Humidity in an incubator is a very important issue - as it controls many things but what you need to do is to enable the chicks are the right size to escape the egg. The biggest and I mean biggest cause of eggs hatching in your incubator is humidity that is too high. Humidity for chicken eggs is 40-45% for 19 days and 60-65% on the last 2 days. If you have a still air incubator this is fine. Who still has a still air incubator? Not many so we mostly have moving air incubators (ones with fans in to ensure even temperaturs in the incubator). The problem with this is it gives false readings on hygrometers you may be using. None of the current incubation incubation books I have read have understood or explained this point and hence the incubators improve but hatching does not. I have however calculated humidity readings from the current hygrometer options and to get best hatchings I suggest. Still air incubators 40-45% for 19 days then 60-65% for next 2 days including hatching day. Moving air incubators (fan assisted) 28-35% for 19 days then 48-55% for next 2 days including hatching day.  Why is it different? Really it is not it is just the moving air is affecting the readings on the hygrometer. (Please not RCOM incubators are accurate moving air incubators and can be run at 40-45% and 60-65% as their set up reads where the air is not affecting the probe)

Your eggs have arrived and your incubator has been ready for a day do you put the eggs in straight away? NO when your eggs arrive please DO NOT put them in the incubator straight away this will lead to a dreadful hatching. When your fertile eggs arrive open them so they can breath and leave them to settle for 12-24 hours. They should be left at room temp about 10-18 degrees. NOT in the fridge on a radiator or in direct sunlight. After 12-24 hours place in the incubator and you have done your best to store your posted hatching eggs. Happy hatching

To clean eggs if heavily soiled I recommend using a fine sand paper and gently rub off the excess dirt. PLEASE clean your hatching eggs carefully not excessivly shaking as this will lead to early deaths in the shell. If you wish to wash eggs please ensure the water you wash them in is slightly warmer than the fertile egg NOT HOT/BOILING Water. If the hatching egg is imersed in warmer water than the fertile egg temp it will close the pores and no bacteria will get into the hatching egg. If the water is colder than the egg you want to incubate it will draw the surface bacteria through the pores and will more than likley lead to poor hatches. I also recommend adding our incubator / egg disinfectant at a rate of 1-200 which will kill off most bacteria on the eggs and allow for much better hatching results.  

I have been asked again what should I use for ground cover in a fixed chicken run, to be honest I hate fixed chicken runs as diseases and worms can build up here, movable runs are so much better but of course we are not all so lucky. So in this situation I would suggest small chipped bark to about 1″ deep, deeper if you can. If the peices are too large the chickens can not dig it about and it will become caked with droppings very quickly and will need to be changed very often. Ideally on a 10′ x 6′ run with 6 chickens I would suggest changing every 3-4 weeks if the run is covered but if it is rained on then this will give a life of 4-12 weeks. If it smells dont delay change it. Please dont forget in a fixed run you must worm your birds on a very regular basis.

Hello, this is just a little message to say from March 2008 P&T Poultry has taken UK distribution for the RCOM incubator and Brooder range. In 2007 this was held by Brinsea but now we are developing a new range of R-COM 20 seris incubators with different humidity controllers and easier menu usage. We also plan to launch a range of 3 Reptile incubators and Top of the Range Bird Brooders and even Pet Intensive Care Units. We will of course still offer the current range of R COM incubators as they are still the best on the market and with humidity control can not be beaten for price. If you have any questions or comments please post them and i will reply as soon as I can.

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