Rural Gardening: 0 hatch!, 0 by kdhopkins

kdhopkins wrote:
I raise geese and have one Little Giant and two Hovabators. I replaced the Little Giant with a Hovabator this winter because the hatchaibility rate with the Little Giant (non-circulated air) was about 10% under the exact same conditions. My hatchability rate with the Hovabator is about 95-97%. I would suspect your incubator first, just because of my own experience. If you candle your eggs weekly, you can determine the from the stage of development that they die some of the other possible causes. There are vitamin and mineral deficiencies, as well as some illnesses that can cause death and at different stages of development. When you candle your eggs, don't handle them without gloves that are clean and disinfected and don't breathe on them any more that you have to. Mine did fine last year, but until you learn to recognize what you're looking at, you will probably over-handle them.

The temperature shouldn't have been an issue unless it was prolonged. You didn't say if this was first-time use of the incubator or a subsequent use. Bacteria can also be an issue. A thermometer/hygrometer will be very useful to you. I got a couple from Hovabator.com very reasonably, but I've forgotten the price. It was low enough for me to buy 3, though, when I bought that last incubator from them. You can also get replacement parts for the Hovabators directly from them. I liked that!

This was the 2nd use for both incubators with the same results. I only use the Little Giant for a warming basket for the goslings to hatch in once they've pipped. It's great for that and keeps all that really awful stuff from hatching eggs out of the actual incubators.