Eggs in different stages of development?

[apollora]

Hi All!

Hoping to get some help on an incubation puzzle.

The eggs I ordered ended up being too many for my Brinsea Octagon 28 incubator so I went down to my local farm store and purchased a styrofoam Little Giant still air bator.

All eggs were set at the same time and I followed the shippers instructions on incubating at a lower humidity since they are dark eggs (Marans).

Apart from the air cells being way too large for day 15 it also appears that some of the eggs are not as developed as the rest.

Most of the eggs are mostly dark with movement as I would expect at this stage but several of them are significantly smaller but are still moving around like crazy.

So my question is, can you have such a significant difference in development within the same incubator? I’ve never had this problem with my Brinsea.

I’m by no means an expert but I’ve had excellent hatch rates with the Brinsea over the last 5 years or so.

Thank you in advance for any input!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Are the eggs with apparent different growth rates in the Brinsea or LG or both?
To start off, get the humidity way up in the one with the too large air cells.
The slower eggs may have been stored longer than the others. Each day of storage lengthens the incubation time by an hour or two.

 

[apollora]

The difference in growth rate are all in the LG. All the eggs in my Brinsea are doing fantastic.

I filled most of the channels in the LG last night, I will make sure to increase the humidity as much as I can.

That’s interesting about the storage of eggs, I didn’t realize that it would delay their growth that much.

Thank you!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

OK, then I think I know what the problem is. In a still air, especially a square on like a LG, not only do you have thermal stratification from high to low, you also have cool and warm spots. I would swap the position of all the advanced ones with the retarded ones.
In the future, rotate eggs around the incubator every couple days, or once a day when you turn eggs.

 

[Herds N Birds]

OK, then I think I know what the problem is. In a still air, especially a square on like a LG, not only do you have thermal stratification from high to low, you also have cool and warm spots. I would swap the position of all the advanced ones with the retarded ones.
In the future, rotate eggs around the incubator every couple days, or once a day when you turn eggs.

I have the same problem, even though I HAVE been swapping their positions since the beginning, most every day. Some seem way slower than the others. What can I do about this when the advanced ones are hatching, but the slow ones have maybe another week?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I have the same problem, even though I HAVE been swapping their positions since the beginning, most every day. Some seem way slower than the others. What can I do about this when the advanced ones are hatching, but the slow ones have maybe another week?

Since you have been doing the due diligence and doing the rotation, the only other option is a better, different incubator. A short-term fix would be adding a fan. That will eliminate most of the hot/cool differences and especially thermal stratification.
Aside from all that, another issue with those cheap Styrofoam incubators is a combination of the sketchy thermostat and the fact that the heat element is only 40 watts. At 40 watts, it takes forever to return to temperature after it is opened. The sketchy thermostat makes stabilization even slower. All this exacerbates the original issue of thermal stratification and cool spots.
What bothers me most is that LG has been making the same exact incubator for perhaps 20 years or more selling hundreds of thousands of them. At about $100, I'm sure there is little profit margin but surely, the sales have enhanced their bottom line. In all that time, they could have opted for a more reliable thermostat. Today those electronics are quick, precise and cheap. They were lazy and chose not to improve their product.

 

[HandyTandy]

I have the same problem with eggs hatching and other waiting. by the time the others hatch they will get picked on by the order mor rambunctious chicks. I really want to take some out but don't want to shrink wrap the new peppers.

 

[TOR]

I have the same problem with eggs hatching and other waiting. by the time the others hatch they will get picked on by the order mor rambunctious chicks. I really want to take some out but don't want to shrink wrap the new peppers.

shouldnt if you remove the chicks fast enough, open..close... there will be moisture when they hatch depending on how airtight your incubator is. I leave the chicks in till dry than remove them. still others to hatch. Styrofoam incuabator. If you worried about the other eggs can put piece cloth or something so the other eggs are not rolling.

you can always put a wet rag in fill resevoir or something if humidity gets to low.

Once the main hatch comes I never had a problem with moisture.