Hatchrite Product Questions

Hey Everyone, I know there is a lot of opinions and experience out there.

I have my FIRST clutch in the incubator, its set at 89.2. I have 11 eggs cooking on Hatchright. Im not covering 50% of the media. They went in on Sunday the 21st. I went to check on them this morning and noticed all of them are still plump and full .. Except for one has a wrinkle/dimple in it.

Should i be concerned at this point? do they dimple here and there. Am I being over cautious cause its my first? I dont have any dew droplets on the sides or top of the lid. AND I only have two small holes in the tub.

I used Hatchrite because of " easy factor ".

I want to hear from Hatchrite users please as i know the use of "other" substrates can start a chain of discussions all in itself.

Thanks, Scuba

Scuba, Ive used hatchrite for the last few years and have had no real issues, Did you candle the eggs? did you seperate the eggs, A picture is worth a thousand words...Post a pic and youll probably get a better answer...
Kevin

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Originally Posted by KMS

Scuba, Ive used hatchrite for the last few years and have had no real issues, Did you candle the eggs? did you seperate the eggs, A picture is worth a thousand words...Post a pic and youll probably get a better answer...
Kevin

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Hey Kevin,

Can you describe your egg tub? did you put holes in it? I have two small holes on the sides. Do you use a plastic wrap on top of your box then cover with the lid?

I can take a picture tonight when i get home and post it. If you go into my gallery there are a picture of the eggs. I didnt separate them. there are 11 of them, and since i am new I didnt want to risk a tear.

Thanks, Scuba

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Originally Posted by KMS

Scuba, Ive used hatchrite for the last few years and have had no real issues, Did you candle the eggs? did you seperate the eggs, A picture is worth a thousand words...Post a pic and youll probably get a better answer...
Kevin

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And no i havent candled them yet. :weirdface I guess i should.

It is my first year too and I am using hatchrite. I kept noticing one dimple here and there so I added a tiny bit more water. I ended up losing three eggs, I'm guessing because it was some how too wet. There really can't be any other reason. It's really frustrating and I'm really sad :(

If you want to do it the easy way, go substrateless. You don't have to worry about how dry or how wet the substrate is. Leave it and go. I switched to substrateless after I lost the 3rd egg on day 27ish. I'm on day 45 now and the eggs I have left are all perfect. I would have lost at least 1 or 2 more by now at the rate I was going. I didn't lose my first egg till day 18. IMO substrateless is the way to go. Hatchrite is supposed to be for first timers and infallible, but I didn't have luck with it.

Oh yeah, and no holes in the hatchbox. You will lose moisture. That' why you use glad wrap/plastic wrap under the lid, to help hold in the moisture. All you have to do is open the lid every now and again for air exchange.

Why do you have holes in the egg box? They don't need holes for ventilation or anything...

I used hatchrite my first year and lost 6 eggs from my first clutch. This year I'm using 100% vermiculite and water with a 1.1 ratio by weight. So far my first clutch is due on July 5th. I candled them two days ago and from what I can tell I have 3 spiders, 2 normals and the other two I can't tell. I'm using the same incubator and the same temps as last year, except I'm positive my eggs will hatch this year. Last year at day 50 I noticed black spots on a few of my eggs. I cut the eggs to find 5 dead babies in the eggs with only 1 living, and the 1 living didn't last long because he wasn't ready to come out of the egg. However, I'm glad he did end up dying also because he was very kinked up. I personally will never use hatchrite again due to my horrible first season experience. I'd strongly recommend vermiculite over hatchrite.

Side Note: I noticed massive amounts of dimpling in my eggs last year just after the 2 week mark. This year using the vermiculite they didn't start dimpling until about 5 days ago, which is common considering how close they are to hatch time.

I hope this helps you out. Good luck with those eggs.

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Originally Posted by SlitherinSisters

It is my first year too and I am using hatchrite. I kept noticing one dimple here and there so I added a tiny bit more water. I ended up losing three eggs, I'm guessing because it was some how too wet. There really can't be any other reason. It's really frustrating and I'm really sad :(

If you want to do it the easy way, go substrateless. You don't have to worry about how dry or how wet the substrate is. Leave it and go. I switched to substrateless after I lost the 3rd egg on day 27ish. I'm on day 45 now and the eggs I have left are all perfect. I would have lost at least 1 or 2 more by now at the rate I was going. I didn't lose my first egg till day 18. IMO substrateless is the way to go. Hatchrite is supposed to be for first timers and infallible, but I didn't have luck with it.

Oh yeah, and no holes in the hatchbox. You will lose moisture. That' why you use glad wrap/plastic wrap under the lid, to help hold in the moisture. All you have to do is open the lid every now and again for air exchange.

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Thanks for the feedback: Question what did you do to go substrateless? can you take a picture? for me? describe in more detail.

Thanks,

I use hatchrite and think its great. never had any problems. the dimple shouldnt be a big deal. I had a clutch hatch a couple weeks ago that some were dimpled from the start. And no holes-theyll get the air exchange during periodic check-ups.

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Originally Posted by ScubaDiver007

Im not covering 50% of the media.

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What does that mean? If you're talking about the eggs, you don't really need to cover them at all. Fill the egg box with a couple inches of hatchrite and place the eggs in.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...0/IMG_1357.jpg

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Originally Posted by ScubaDiver007

Thanks for the feedback: Question what did you do to go substrateless? can you take a picture? for me? describe in more detail.

Thanks,

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I live in a small town and didn't want to wait till the next trip to get the grate stuff, so I went to Dollar General and bought one of those plastic racks you put dishes in to dry and cut the bottom out so I could use it as a grate. I put that on top of the hatchrite, which I soaked. If you give me a minute I can get a picture. I still have the 3 dead eggs in there because they are attached...it won't be a pretty picture!

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Originally Posted by DesignerBP

I use hatchrite and think its great. never had any problems. the dimple shouldnt be a big deal. I had a clutch hatch a couple weeks ago that some were dimpled from the start. And no holes-theyll get the air exchange during periodic check-ups.

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I just covered up the two holes that I had in it. Did you use the press and seal on the top of the box?

Hatchrite dries out with holes in the tub, had that issue last year.
I'll never use it again, cost too much and dries out too easily.

Vermiculite and water and light diffuser , can't get any simpler than that :)

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Originally Posted by sho220

What does that mean? If you're talking about the eggs, you don't really need to cover them at all. Fill the egg box with a couple inches of hatchrite and place the eggs in.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...0/IMG_1357.jpg

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Thanks for the picture.. Did you use the press and seal to cover them up? or just the lid of the box?

I read someplace in a manual that you shouldn't cover over 50% of the media with your eggs? I will have to try and find it and dig it up. It looks to me your eggs are centered and are not covering 50% of the box. Thanks for the picture.. I have no dew forming on the sides of the box, I've covered the two holes that i had.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

I'll never use it again, cost too much and dries out too easily.

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I'll have to agree. It was expensive and definitely not as easy to deal with as some people find it. Substrateless is way easier. I wish I would have done it form the start :(


Here are my eggs and how I have the set up. The egg that went bad on day 18 just started to grow some mold. I haven't used any powder to keep the mold at bay. To be honest, I wanted to see what happened since I couldn't take them apart and they weren't covered with mold right away. I checked my calendar, they are at day 46 now, and all candled good. You can tell the order in which they went bad. Hopefully I won't lose any more, the grate seems to have fixed the problem. The one egg on the left detached from the middle egg, but not the top egg yet. I was not comfortable with pulling them apart or cutting the bad ones off. Plus I really don't want to cut open the bad ones and have that nasty goo all over the place. (they aren't touching the hatchrite at all anymore)
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...Isis/001-7.jpg

Thanks Stephanie!! Im sorry for the 3 you lost but thank you for your feed back on this. Being my first time Im trying not to open the door on the incubator that much. And I am probably being overly cautious.

Thanks again

The rest of the eggs look good now, hopefully no more issues.
Good luck with the remaining eggies!

I used Hatchrite my first year and followed the instructions on the bag - if eggs start to dimple early on - add a teaspoon of water to a corner of the tub.

Now I just use straight Perlite, mixed to the same slightly moist consistency as Hatchrite - I don't use light diffusers, the eggs go directly into the Perlite.

I hatched all my clutches last year on Perlite, and I'm using it again this year. I have 4 cubic feet of the stuff, it will last me for YEARS!

If you go that route, get it from a nursery and make sure it doesn't have Miracle Grow or some other type of fertilizer in it.

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Originally Posted by ScubaDiver007

Thanks Stephanie!! Im sorry for the 3 you lost but thank you for your feed back on this. Being my first time Im trying not to open the door on the incubator that much. And I am probably being overly cautious.

Thanks again

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No problem and thank you. It was a real bummer :( I was all worried about them too and was overly careful. I only added a pop bottle lid full of water to two corners when the eggs dimpled :( It didn't even feel wet to me. Oh well I guess. A friend of mine keeps reminding me it's my first year and it was a learning experience.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

The rest of the eggs look good now, hopefully no more issues.
Good luck with the remaining eggies!

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Thank you! It seems like it fixed the problem. I sure hope so! :please:

I've used hatchrite for 3 years and 100% hatch.No holes in the box and I use Press N Seal.I buy the 20lb. bag and I have a place local that carries it for $40.00.