Right - I have taken the plunge and sent for some hatching eggs and an incubator. The only way to get me started was to hold my nose and go for it. Now I'm panicking 
been reading up and it says to rest eggs before setting them - can anyone explain (as if to an idiot) what that means? Should they remain in box, at room temperature, broad end up or down...... any tips to get a complete novice off the mark would be gratefully received thanks 
Rule 1 DON'T PANIC!
When you get your incubator (what make & model is it) Carefully read the instructions. Set it up in a spare room preferably a bedroom which is shaded and where it won't be disturbed with comings and goings. Have plenty of room round about it so it's not perched on the end of a dressing table. A kitchen table is good. Turn it on with the recommended water and leave it running with it's cradle rocking assuming it has one. Check it reaches the correct temperature recommended which should be around 37.5degC. Adjust only if necessary and allow at least an hour between any adjustment. Note your digital thermometer might only display every 0.2 deg C so don't worry if it's 37.4 or 37.6 it won't matter. Let it settle for around 24hrs before you introduce eggs. If it says to wash the egg tray do that in warm water with detergent or a santiser if you have any.
When the eggs arrive discard any which are cracked however slightly before storing them in the same room broad end up for about 24 hrs. Hopefully they are clean but if not you have the option to wash them using an egg sanitiser in bucket of water at 30degC, dry naturally. You can hatch slightly dirty eggs but I prefer any heavily soiled eggs to be washed. You can turn them once every 12 hours or so ideally when in storage. They should be fine for at least 8 days after laying and will only slowly reduce in fertility after that. Assuming your incubator is auto turning load up with the eggs in the morning and keep your eye on it during the first day to ensure it reaches set point temperature. DON'T be tempted to keep lifting the lid once you start the incubation process. Only do this if you need to top up the humidity or to candle. Don't fret with the humidity control set it as instructed. There must be some ventillation so make sure the inlet port is around half open or whatever the manufacturer suggests.
You are allowed to go in and admire your eggs for the first 5 - 7 days but don't lift the lid unless needed for topping up the water, and then you can candle them. Best done on a very dark evening. The purpose of candling is to weed out any non fertile eggs. Be realistic here don't continue to incubate eggs which don't show any signs of development as they can go off in the high temperature and contaminate the other eggs. When you candle rotate the egg slowly over the light source so you can see into it. If it's fertile you shouldn see a black fuzzy dot about 5mm or so within a bent tadpole type shape. Sometimes you can see radiating vein type structure through the egg. Sometimes you can see it moving about and the heart beating. If there's such a sign of development the egg is fertile and you can return it to the incubator. Any which appear uniformly lit up with maybe just a hint of a darker shaddow (the yolk) aren't fertile. If in doubt mark them and continue with them for another 7 days or so.
After about 14- 16days you can candle again and you should notice a big change the shaddow will have become a much darker region completely opague with a bright area which is the air sack which should be at one end. If there are any which haven't developed from the initial candling discard.
Return the eggs and after 18 days stop the turning and raise the humidity to 70%RH or set up the humidifier as instructed and leave until 21 days when they should start to pip and hatch.
DO NOT attempt to assist them out of the shell and don't raise the lid until at least half the eggs have hatched. You can transfer the first batch to the brooder at this stage and discard the egg shells as quickly as possible to avoid loss of humidity (you can mist the incubator when closing it don't wet the eggs though). All the eggs which are going to hatch should have done so by day 22 and any which show no signs of pipping at this stage probably aren't going to but you can leave until 23 days if you like.
Clean the incubator very well with sanitiser before storing it away.
Attached is a plan for a home made candler using a maglite torch.
The hole on the rubber gasket (cycle inner tube) is 20 - 25mm max and it has 2mm snips in it to form a flexible edging fringe so the light is sealed against the shell and doesn't illuminate the outside of the egg. The black tape is Duct Tape.
HF
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August 10, 2008, 19:03