Cleaning eggs to be incubated
I often have some very dirty eggs that I want to try to hatch. That is not ideal, but for valuable eggs it is worth trying. Some days it seems like all of the eggs I collect are dirty. The recommendation is to wash them in water that is 10 – 15 degrees warmer than the egg. This prevents the porous shell from pulling the dirty water and any contaminants into the shell. I have been doing this for some time now, and for the last year I have used Tek Trol to disinfect the incubator and the eggs.
Hatching in tabletop incubators
I incubate eggs in cabinet incubators, but I try not to hatch chicks in those, as it creates quite a mess and also, I prefer to raise the humidity and drop the temps for hatching. Because the environment needed for hatching is somewhat different, I prefer to hatch in tabletop incubators, not cabinets.
Temperatures
- Incubation 99.5 to 100
- Hatching 98.5 to 99.5
Humidity
- Incubation 30% – 40%
- Hatching 60% to 95%
The biggest issue I have with the cheap styrofoam incubators is that they are underpowered and hard to clean. The Genesis from GQF is the exception regarding power, it is digital and has a much more powerful heating element – but it costs more. During hatch, chicks are not nearly as sensitive to cooler temps. They are, after all, mere hours away from being housed in a brooder that is kept around 95 degrees. This makes the cheap incubators more valuable for hatching than for the actual incubation period.
Cleaning styrofoam incubators is another matter. Anything that touches the styrofoam tends to stick or even embed itself. Better made, hard plastic incubators like the Brinseas or R-COM’s are a breeze to clean. To prevent a hard to clean mess, I line the bottom of the styrofoam incubator with a disposable “puppy pad”, like this:
Cleaning styrofoam incubators is another matter. Anything that touches the styrofoam tends to stick or even embed itself. Better made, hard plastic incubators like the Brinseas or R-COM’s are a breeze to clean. To prevent a hard to clean mess, I line the bottom of the styrofoam incubator with a disposable puppy pad. You could try reusable cloth towel that are thoroughly washed between hatches, but I find the disposable pads save me a lot of time. Put the pad in first, then the plastic bottom that holds water. Some water might wick up the towels when you are filling the humidity channels, but it will dry safely.
I hate the metal grid that came with my incubator. Plastic grids work much better. If you only have the metal, buy some coarse needlepoint canvas from the craft store. take measurements with you when purchasing, you will need to cut to size.
On top of the grid, I used rubberized shelf liner, overlapping as needed. This stuff is reusable, but it gets quite dirty and will need soaking for a while after each use.
Finally, the unit is turned on and brought up to temperature. This is where the more powerful units really save time. The Genesis can come up to temp in an hour or less. When the temps are where you want them, meaning the interior of the incubator and the water in the bottom are warmed, you can move the eggs into the hatcher.
Separating chicks in the hatcher
What to do if you are hatching multiple breeds or pens and can’t be sure you can tell the chicks apart? You can use mesh bags to keep the chicks separate in the hatcher. I use these supplies:
These baskets have smooth bottoms, so always line them with the non-slip shelf liner. The bags zip closed. I put the eggs into a basket then put it basket and all, into a bag and zip it shut. I fold the extra part of the bag under the basket, then put it into the hatcher.
Thermometers
I want to explain the ones I use and why.
- cheap digital humidistat and thermometer combos with sensor on a wire that make it placeable anywhere. I put these in every incubator, sometimes several. Good to glance at often as they are precise enough to show issues like faulty thermostats or heating elements. Humidity is usually “close enough” to accurate.
- IR “gun” – these are so fun to use, esp if they have a laser pointer. I use these for checking floor temps in brooders. Did you know chicks will chase a red laser dot like a cat?
- Braun ThermoScan 5 Digital Ear Thermometer (IRT6500US) Just got this, but it will be my goto for spot checking the incubators and tuning their thermostats. This is what commercial hatcheries use and their incubator manufacturers recommend. It is a contact thermometer that takes about a second to register a temp of the egg shell. Take the temp around the widest part of the egg, and take several egg shell temps. The “ideal” is 100.2, but .5 either side is acceptable. I tested mine on the few eggs I have in my Brinsea cabinet and they were 100.2. I have been getting very high hatches in that incubator, so now I can tune all my others to be this same temp.
Price shop for the Braun, I have seen it for $29 and another place was over $100 for the same model. The 6 and 7 models are more expensive, but the extra features (remember more past temps, adjust the display color for different temps to indicate fever) are not useful for egg temps.
Last year I used a child’s digital thermometer to check my other thermometers. Not doing that anymore, now I intend to adjust each thermostat to keep the egg shell temp and note the readings of the other thermometers in each incubator, so I can pick up variances quickly, but always go to the Braun for the real check.
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