Lay eggs flat to hatch or keep upright in cartons?

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danajo84

danajo84

In the Brooder
Apr 2, 2016
47
1
34
Springtown Texas
I'm pretty new to hatching. It seems all my eggs devolope great right up till switching to hatcher where I lay them flat. The first time I only got 6 out of 18 chicks and 5 out of 24 ducks. I though that was bad the. I incubated more eggs and This time I only got 3 out of 18! Anyway I was just wondering if going from egg turner to laying flat could have anything to do with it??? I want to know if it would be OK to transfer them to cartons in the hatcher so they stay up right??? Maybe tilt them slightly i dont know. Any advise???
 
Do you candle periodically during incubation, to mark air cells and adjust the humidity accordingly? How high do you get the humidity for hatching? I don't think it's an issue with how your eggs are positioned. I think it's more of an experience issue.
 
junebuggena said:
Do you candle periodically during incubation, to mark air cells and adjust the humidity accordingly? How high do you get the humidity for hatching? I don't think it's an issue with how your eggs are positioned. I think it's more of an experience issue.
Click to expand...


I did 50% for the duck eggs during incubation and then during hatch I did I think 70. Chickens I did 45% during incubation and 60-70 humidity. I have since been told that since I'm in Texas and we have such high humidity that I should hatch them at much lower humidity. For the chicks that is, i dont know about ducks.

If I was to try leaving them upright would do any harm?
 
Last edited:
But did you candle and mark the air cells? Humidity isn't a fixed number. It's something that you need to play by ear. You use the general recommendation as a base-line for the first week. After that, if your air cells aren't growing enough, you lower the humidity level. If they are growing too much, you raise the humidity up. It's not a constant. It's something you need to keep track of and adjust for. Nobody can tell you with absolute certainty what your humidity should be. It's different for each climate, and each incubator. And it's the most difficult aspect of incubating. You use the air cell growth to guide your humidity levels.
I do suspect that your incubation humidity was a bit high, but I also think your lockdown humidity was a bit too low.
 
junebuggena said:
But did you candle and mark the air cells? Humidity isn't a fixed number. It's something that you need to play by ear. You use the general recommendation as a base-line for the first week. After that, if your air cells aren't growing enough, you lower the humidity level. If they are growing too much, you raise the humidity up. It's not a constant. It's something you need to keep track of and adjust for. Nobody can tell you with absolute certainty what your humidity should be. It's different for each climate, and each incubator. And it's the most difficult aspect of incubating. You use the air cell growth to guide your humidity levels. 
I do suspect that your incubation humidity was a bit high, but I also think your lockdown humidity was a bit too low.
Click to expand...


Oh wow Iv read a lot and never heard anyone say to do it that way. It makes sense. And yes I did candle the eggs every few days. They were all growing great up till hatch day and then like I said this last hatch I only got three and the rest never even pipped. How high do u think humidity should be during hatch?
 
For ducks, shoot for at least 80. For chickens, at least 65, or higher.
For incubation humidity, you know you've done it right when, at lockdown, the lowest part of the air cell is just about at the middle of the egg. If it's higher, there is a real risk of the chick not being able to get into the air cell during pip, and the chick will drown. If the air cell is too far down the egg, the chick might get shrink wrapped and stuck in a position that it can't hatch from.
 

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