First time incubating!

I'm on day 20 and getting nervous. I noticed this morning one moving egg and some chirping but nothing from the others as far as I can tell. This is also my first time incubating

I was super nervous but it's actually going really well best of luck nikchick13

Aww we had two hatch last night. It's very exciting

We just had number 15 make her (fingers crossed) entrance

teresami said:

This is my first time incubating eggs and I'm having a very hard time keeping my humidity where it should be. First off any suggestions?... and my eggs when candled seem to be on track but I read somewhere to be worried about there air sac development.; it's only day 7 can I fix this?

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I dont keep an eye on or monitor air sac size. I just keep temp within a few tenths of 99.5 and have humidity between 30% and 48% and let humidity naturaly rise the last two days. Dont play into the you must measure egg cells and candle every seven days crap. To many on here think their micro biologists and breed paranoia. I have 90% hatches and never candle, hatched hundreds of eggs without worry about a egg exploding. Just hatch and hatch again and enjoy. Youll be up all night if you play into the check this check that and check the otherthing.

Strader said:

I dont keep an eye on or monitor air sac size. I just keep temp within a few tenths of 99.5 and have humidity between 30% and 48% and let humidity naturaly rise the last two days. Dont play into the you must measure egg cells and candle every seven days crap. To many on here think their micro biologists and breed paranoia. I have 90% hatches and never candle, hatched hundreds of eggs without worry about a egg exploding. Just hatch and hatch again and enjoy. Youll be up all night if you play into the check this check that and check the otherthing.

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The thing is for newbies that have no idea what humidity range works for them, it gives them something to go by for the first couple of hatches. Some people hatch successflly at 50% others drown their eggs at 50% and 30% is their sweet spot. A new person who monitors their air cells not only get a better understanding of how humidity works, but it helps them find what works, because the same thing does not work for everyone or every egg. I've seen A LOT of people who were having bad hatches start monidtoring their air cells to figure out the humidity start having excellent hatches.

I too run about 30% for humidity-usually. Thank God I monitor my cells because these last eggs I got are tiny silkie eggs and if I didn't monitor my air cells at day 10 half the egg would be air cell and I'd run a higher risk of shrink wrap because of it. These guys I have to keep the humidity up for so that they aren't loosing too much moisture.

I agree paranoia is bred into new breeders, Many many ways, But learning what works for you isn't paranoia and can help a new person faster than going blind.

As for candling, some of us just enjoy the experience of experiencing the process in it's entirety and not just setting a clear egg and having a chick emerge 19-23 days later.

Strader said:

I dont keep an eye on or monitor air sac size. I just keep temp within a few tenths of 99.5 and have humidity between 30% and 48% and let humidity naturaly rise the last two days. Dont play into the you must measure egg cells and candle every seven days crap. To many on here think their micro biologists and breed paranoia. I have 90% hatches and never candle, hatched hundreds of eggs without worry about a egg exploding. Just hatch and hatch again and enjoy. Youll be up all night if you play into the check this check that and check the otherthing.

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Strader, you have probably hit on the perfect combination of temp and humidity that works well in your climate, with your incubators, and for your circumstances. If it's not broke, don't fix it!

When people are just starting out incubating, I think it's good to monitor air cells until you find the combination that works. Especially when incubator manuals are putting out info to incubate at 50-60% and to hatch at even higher levels, leading chicks to drown at the end.

Once people get the recipe that works for them, intensive monitoring becomes much less necessary - but it can still be a lot of fun for people that just like to see what's going on inside the egg!