Toxic Incubator

[kclassroom]

Hi all,

I am hatching eggs in my classroom. I had 14 hatch in a styrofoam incubator. Because of the high hatch rate and the varying hatch times, my incubator got really gross on the inside. I had four more who were trying to hatch, but never made it. Could the air in the incubator be toxic? With 14 chicks in there in the past 4 days, there is a lot of waste, broken eggs, etc all over. I am guessing the waste is leading to bacteria growing which is effecting the ones that are trying to hatch. We removed chicks when they were dried off and if there were no active hatchers, but I am disappointed these last ones didn't make it. Any thoughts?

 

[RadEggs]

I do have thoughts, not about the incubator though. What are you going to do with 14 chickens in a classroom? How will you deal with it when they grow up?
Figure that out now if you haven't already.
Lots of people don't think about that part of hatching chicks.

 

[RadEggs]

Also not all eggs will hatch. That's normal.

 

[kclassroom]

I do have thoughts, not about the incubator though. What are you going to do with 14 chickens in a classroom? How will you deal with it when they grow up?
Figure that out now if you haven't already.
Lots of people don't think about that part of hatching chicks.

Don't worry I wouldn't start this project without a plan. I have done this for 4 years already. I will take chicks home and so will one of my students' families.

 

[kclassroom]

Also not all eggs will hatch. That's normal.

I get that, like I said I've done this before. I was more curious if it is the bacteria growing in the incubator that would lead to the last one who started to hatch stopping. This is the first year that I have had at least 4 days between hatching so my incubator is getting very smelly and I can imagine in the warm/wet environment that bacteria is growing.

 

[SourRoses]

The bloom on eggs normally protects them from bacteria. Some eggs have a compromised bloom but they usually succumb to that early in incubation. So the chance of bacteria causing later eggs not to hatch is low.
The typical reasons for later eggs to fail to hatch are:
1. Humidity loss / temperature lows from the incubator being opened.
2. Eggs being rolled around by chicks until they become discombobulated and malpositioned for hatching. If there's still fluid in the egg that hasn't absorbed, an upside-down chick can drown in it.

It's always a good idea to set eggs to hatch on the same day. It's something most of us learn the hard way once or twice... or more. So very tempting to add eggs!

 

[McChooky]

I get that, like I said I've done this before. I was more curious if it is the bacteria growing in the incubator that would lead to the last one who started to hatch stopping. This is the first year that I have had at least 4 days between hatching so my incubator is getting very smelly and I can imagine in the warm/wet environment that bacteria is growing.

Some use an extra incubator for hatching the chicks.The remaining eggs are left in the original incubator until they're ready to hatch (no mess!)This is commonly done by those who stagger their hatches.

 

[kclassroom]

The bloom on eggs normally protects them from bacteria. Some eggs have a compromised bloom but they usually succumb to that early in incubation. So the chance of bacteria causing later eggs not to hatch is low.
The typical reasons for later eggs to fail to hatch are:
1. Humidity loss / temperature lows from the incubator being opened.
2. Eggs being rolled around by chicks until they become discombobulated and malpositioned for hatching. If there's still fluid in the egg that hasn't absorbed, an upside-down chick can drown in it.

It's always a good idea to set eggs to hatch on the same day. It's something most of us learn the hard way once or twice... or more. So very tempting to add eggs!

Good to know. This is the first year we were not able to get eggs from the same person so it was hard to set them to hatch on the same day, definitely a lesson learned for us. We had one that started hatching later yesterday and made really good progress but then just died and that's always hard to watch. We've tried helping chicks in the past but with limited success.

 

[kclassroom]

Some use an extra incubator for hatching the chicks.The remaining eggs are left in the original incubator until they're ready to hatch (no mess!)This is commonly done by those who stagger their hatches.

This is a great idea! But how do we move hatching chicks without shrink wrapping them?

 

[McChooky]

This is a great idea! But how do we move hatching chicks without shrink wrapping them?

The eggs that are due to hatch on day 18 are moved to a 2nd incubator for 'lock down'. The only way to prevent the chicks from being shrink wrapped is to have the humidity raised in the 2nd incubator (the hatcher)The temperature should be the same in both incubators