This is my first year breeding, and I ended up losing 3 eggs from my first clutch of 6. I had them in a Hovabator hooked up to a Helix with an ACU-RITE thermometer as a secondary temperature monitor. I used HatchRite substrate and plastic boxes with ventilation holes. After watching the first 3 turn green and disgusting and the other 3 start looking questionable, I realized I needed to change how they were being incubated. They had all candled with good veins and weighed 100-102g each, so I boiled it down to something being wrong inside the Hovabator setup.



I built an incubator out of a mini-fridge I bought from someone for $30 (gutted it and put heat cable inside), set the Helix and ACU-RITE up to monitor two different areas of the fridge (Helix probe at the top where it gets the warmest), and replaced the lids on the egg boxes with new ones that had no ventilation holes. Since then, the remaining 3 eggs are doing well (didn't fully rebound but did somewhat, and are still white and holding steady), and the 2 clutches I got after that are doing fantastic, not a single issue with any of them.



I know others have done well with Hovabators, but I went against the advice I was given by people on different forums NOT to get one, and got one anyway -- and ended up losing 3 eggs. You may want to consider building a better incubator and going with no air holes in your egg boxes. I open mine every few days to let in fresh air and check on them, and it works well.



Good luck!
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~* Jen *~

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