Hi all!
My daughters and I are trying to hatch our chicken's eggs in an incubator for the first time. After sad results with a broody hen last fall (only 1 chick from a dozen eggs), we thought it might be better (or at least more fun) to give hatching a go ourselves.
But ... now I'm wondering if I just set us up for disaster? You see, we only wanted to hatch a few chicks at a time ... so I ordered this "mini dome" incubator from McMurray hatchery, that holds 3 eggs. Looked good in the catalog ... nice clear dome with good viewing was what sold me on that one, LOL ... but when it came, I was surprised at how small it was!! And it's heat source is only a night light bulb! We're giving it a try anyway, and wondered if anyone here has experience with something similar?
Anyway ... we set only 2 eggs in there last night, because 3 eggs would have been touching each other. (but would that matter if the eggs touched sides?) The temp is holding nicely at a hair over 100 degrees. Put a little water in one leg of the base too, but have no way of measuring humidity level. I haven't turned the eggs yet, but plan to around 3-5 times a day starting tomorrow. Does this sound OK so far? I plan on candling the eggs in a few days too, so we can be sure if something's happening then ... but I would appreciate any guidance, in case I'm doing something wrong? If all works out well ... we could have a chick or two on Easter!!!!! That would be so fun!!! :o) Well, thanks in advance for any replies!

Oops ... one more question here ...
just how 'tipped' should the eggs be in there? Kindof hard to balance them at much of an angle, especially with big end up.
Thanks again. :o)

Hi,
I got the same incubator...actually two of them to hatch six eggs. I was scepticle when I got them also. It's day 17 for mine and I have three eggs left of the six (the others died in development) and they are dong fine. It's fine if the eggs are touching each other...they do when they are under the hen, and the eggs only need to be turned about three times a day, at least I think. I have my eggs slanted slightly against the wire barrier in the incubator. I was wondering about the humidity also since there is no hygrometer in the incubator. Well, good luck...I'm hoping the best for your hatch and mine!
Daniel

Hi Daniel!
Good to meet someone who has the same incubator ... maybe I can learn from your experiences too, since you started your hatch sooner? (BTW, did you laugh when you first opened that little box it was shipped in, ha ha, I did ... you should have heard my husband too!)
Thanks for the encouragement. Also appreciate the tip on leaning eggs against the wire divider. Now I wish I had put 3 eggs in to start tho, hmmm, wonder if I could sneak another in today? (one day late?) Might try, the more the merrier! :o) What temp do you have yours at, and does it stay pretty steady? (I must have checked my thermometer every time I walked thru the kitchen today, ha ha, the worried mama I am) Also, have you had to add water very often? Just curious, hope you don't mind comparing notes?
Well, thanks again ... and I'm happy to hear you have eggs doing well! Gonna be a long three weeks of waiting for me ... my girls and I are very excited! Hey, let us know when your chicks arrive! ;o)

You have to keep those incubators in a room that maintains a constant temperature. The incubator temp will vary with the room temperature. You should set it up with some practice eggs and see how it maintains the temperature. You have to adjust the temperature by cutting different sized pieces of foil and sticking them to the top of the incubator. The incubator thermometers that come with the incubator are about worthless. You should calibrate them with a more expensive thermometer to figure out what the temperature really is in the little incubator. They might have improved the units since I had mine, but it doesn't look like it.

A broody hen is much better, separate her in her own little pen and set all the eggs under her at the same time. She can be sitting on some "seed" eggs until you collect the eggs that you really want her to sit on. The hatch should be near 100% of fertile eggs. It is usually a lot better than any incubator that I've ever used.

What kind of problems did you have with your broody?

Hi,
Yes, I was a little surprised to see how small it was in reality (they have four eggs in it in the picture on their website, not three) About adding a third egg...I think it might be alright, just as long as it isn't later than a day or two. I try to keep mine at 100 degrees...TRY is the keyword. It's very hard to keep a steady temprature with these incubators since they don't have circulated air or a thermostat. When it gets to cold I put a strip of foil on one side of the dome until it gets to the right temp. and then I take it off. When it gets to hot, I move the dome cover off a tad to release some of the heat. You'll get the hang of it from doing it a couple times. I do check the temp. as often as I can to make sure they don't roast or cool down. Good Luck!
Daniel

P.S. I keep my incubator in the room that maintains as much of a constant temp. as possible. The other rooms are worse.

I had 1 of these about 4o years ago and it came from GQF with 5 quail eggs at the time for like 5 bucks. It hatched the eggs but the chicks only made about two days. I set mine inside of a cardboard box to help hold the heat and keep off any drafts.

Thanks for the messages everyone!

Daniel ... I snuck that 3rd egg in tonight, there was just enough room, and it's only 20 hours behind the others. Messed the temp up a bit tho, and had to do the creative foil technique to get it to rise quicker. Looks OK now tho ... good advice.

Robbpa ... I like your idea of the box. I'll try that. Sad that your chicks hatched, but died so soon ... do you believe they were weak from poor hatching conditions?

and Rokimoto ... last fall my Buff Orpinton hen went broody, first time any of our hens did actually, so we let her set on 12 eggs. She broke 5 within the first few days (don't know why?) but cared for the remaining 7 until hatch. The first to hatch survived just fine. The next 2 to hatch I found dead, still wet, and they were bleeding and looked as though they were pecked? The last that may have hatched, I think got stepped on, I found it squished still with a lot of shell on. The last 3 eggs, I discarded, because they turned out not fertile ... dumb me, I didn't know to candle them ahead of time. So what it came down to, was 1 healthy chick from 4 good eggs ... not a great success, and I was afraid to let her try again (that is if she goes broody again soon?) What do you think?

A lot of things can go wrong with broody hens. I liked to use bantams because I never had a bantam crush a chick by stepping on it by mistake. The large fowl can smash a chick even if they don't want to. It could be better instinct because I had standard sized Ameraucanas and crosses crush chicks and they weren't that big.

I always had enough broodies along with my incubator so that if a hen messed up the first time I might continue to use her as a breeder, but I didn't give her a second chance. Some people say that they get better with age. I liked to use hens that were around a year old.

I've had hens kill their own chicks because they left the nest before she wanted to and then tried to come back and get warm. They go right for the little heads and it doesn't take much to kill a chick. They treat them like strangers. An experienced mom goes through a certain ritual when she gets back on the nest so that she will not break any eggs, but some of them don't seem to have this instinct and just walk in like normal. We've messed up the broody instinct quite a bit in domestic chickens and you will find birds that are perfect moms and others that seem to be missing a few things. I've had birds that seemed to panic when the eggs hatched and they smashed a few chicks that they probably thought were intruders into her eggs. You know what the hen will do to you if you try and reach into the nest so you can figure what a hen that doesn't have a clue as to what a chick is will do to it.

It is a wonder to me how all this can be instinct. You can hatch a chick in an incubator by itself and it will have the ability to set on eggs, move around the eggs without breaking them, turn them every 15 to 20 minutes, stop turning around day 18, hold tight to the nest until the chicks hatch, and then go into mom mode and raise the babies. If you watch enough hens you get the feeling that there is a switch between setting and parenting chicks. It takes about a day for the switch to be flipped and the bird to realize that it doesn't have to set on eggs anymore. This is a dangerous time for the chicks because if they leave the nest before that switch has been flipped those chicks aren't really hers. You can try putting them back under the mother at night, but I'd just raise them myself if I found them before the mother killed them. It could be line dependent because I used bantam Rocks as broodies, but Cjeanr hasn't mentioned this problem and uses other bantams.

Hi
I was wondering what you feed chicks? I have six eggs and I'm trying to hatch them without an incubator. I'm using a hot water bottle and lamp. How long will it take for them to hatch?

Hi my chicken had eggs that are fertile but she abandoned them. They were stone cold when I found them do you reckon they'll be ok? Plz help, how long will it take for them to hatch, 28 days?