First Time hatching eggs, egg sacks too small

[luvmychickenz]

It is our first time incubating eggs and today we are supposed to be on lockdown and I am beside myself.
We did lots of research, but there is so much conflicting information about how high to keep humidity and even if to incubate them at 99.5 or up to 101.5 that I was not sure. i just realized that "LG" abbrev used, is the type of incubator we have. My husband checked the thermometer against 3 others. But, we just went with the humidity reading on the incubator. We have been adding water because it kept reading 40s-50.
Well now it is day 18 and although all the same size at day 14 the air sacks all seemed like that of what should be 7 day according to drawings, although they are bigger than they were on day 7. Now it's day 18 and there doesn't seem to be much change on a couple I looked at by lockdown. ( As of Day 14 we did see embryonic movement). So we found a small hydrometer and when put in LG it read almost 80% even though LG reading 40s. So his has probably been humidity the entire time.
Does this mean our baby chicks will not live because they do not have enough of air sack and they will drown in own fluid? I am broken hearted that we have come this far and may be the cause of their deaths. Is there anything we can do in these last days to help fix the situation? If so, we need your advice as soon as possible. Thank you so much for your insight and wisdom.

 

[chicapee]

It is our first time incubating eggs and today we are supposed to be on lockdown and I am beside myself.
We did lots of research, but there is so much conflicting information about how high to keep humidity and even if to incubate them at 99.5 or up to 101.5 that I was not sure. i just realized that "LG" abbrev used, is the type of incubator we have. My husband checked the thermometer against 3 others. But, we just went with the humidity reading on the incubator. We have been adding water because it kept reading 40s-50.
Well now it is day 18 and although all the same size at day 14 the air sacks all seemed like that of what should be 7 day according to drawings, although they are bigger than they were on day 7. Now it's day 18 and there doesn't seem to be much change on a couple I looked at by lockdown. ( As of Day 14 we did see embryonic movement). So we found a small hydrometer and when put in LG it read almost 80% even though LG reading 40s. So his has probably been humidity the entire time.
Does this mean our baby chicks will not live because they do not have enough of air sack and they will drown in own fluid? I am broken hearted that we have come this far and may be the cause of their deaths. Is there anything we can do in these last days to help fix the situation? If so, we need your advice as soon as possible. Thank you so much for your insight and wisdom.

The humidity and temp sensors that come with the LG incubators are quite often inaccurate. You may want to run dry until you see the first external pip, then increase your humidity at that time. Your aircells will grow during the last 3 days.I will try and tag @AmyLynn2374for assistance. She is the resident lg guru.

 

[luvmychickenz]

The humidity and temp sensors that come with the LG incubators are quite often inaccurate. You may want to run dry until you see the first external pip, then increase your humidity at that time. Your aircells will grow during the last 3 days.I will try and tag @AmyLynn2374for assistance. She is the resident lg guru.

Thank you so much for easing my concerns. I'm learning my way around site, as we are new. I don't know how to tag, but very much appreciate your doing that.

 

[luvmychickenz]

We removed all water and are running at 48-50% now. Is this where we should be? Thanks for your help.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

It is our first time incubating eggs and today we are supposed to be on lockdown and I am beside myself.
We did lots of research, but there is so much conflicting information about how high to keep humidity and even if to incubate them at 99.5 or up to 101.5 that I was not sure. i just realized that "LG" abbrev used, is the type of incubator we have. My husband checked the thermometer against 3 others. But, we just went with the humidity reading on the incubator. We have been adding water because it kept reading 40s-50.
Well now it is day 18 and although all the same size at day 14 the air sacks all seemed like that of what should be 7 day according to drawings, although they are bigger than they were on day 7. Now it's day 18 and there doesn't seem to be much change on a couple I looked at by lockdown. ( As of Day 14 we did see embryonic movement). So we found a small hydrometer and when put in LG it read almost 80% even though LG reading 40s. So his has probably been humidity the entire time.
Does this mean our baby chicks will not live because they do not have enough of air sack and they will drown in own fluid? I am broken hearted that we have come this far and may be the cause of their deaths. Is there anything we can do in these last days to help fix the situation? If so, we need your advice as soon as possible. Thank you so much for your insight and wisdom.

The humidity and temp sensors that come with the LG incubators are quite often inaccurate. You may want to run dry until you see the first external pip, then increase your humidity at that time. Your aircells will grow during the last 3 days.I will try and tag @AmyLynn2374 for assistance. She is the resident lg guru.

Thanks Chicapee.

Sorry to hear you are having problems. It's very hard to sort things out this late in the game, but not impossible. Yes, I would dry it out and run it dry for at least the next 24 hours. If you are going to be home where you can monitor it, I would wait until you either hear the chicks chirping from inside or see a pip and then up the humidity to hatch ranges (65-75% depending on wether you are hands off or a meddler like me...lol)

I would also hatch upright in cut down cartons instead of placing them on their sides. This will help, hopefully to keep excess moisture from entering the air cell when they do pip and lower the chance of them drowning after the pip. Realistically, high humidity for the duration of the incubation does result in lower hatch rates and many that don't make it, but don't give up cause one thing you learn in the hatching game is nothing is certain.

Now for further reference and help on future hatches I suggest a low humidity method. It's the method I use. I run an LG 9200. Sounds like you have the 9300. Never trust the gages on them. They are notorious for being wrong. Always check them against a known accurate thermometer/hygrometer. I myself won't run with less than two thermometers in my incubator. (Brinsea spot check is a well recommended instrument to check temps with as well. This may help for later: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I hope you keep us updated on how it goes.

 

[luvmychickenz]

Yes, we have a 9300. We cut down some paper cartons and placed them upright, as you suggested. This is our first time, so bear with my novice understanding, but (being optimistic) if the chicks do hatch and are confined in each little cup of the carton, won't it be more difficult for them to zip out and then get out of the egg? Also, do you just leave the newly hatched chicks running around with the cartons in the incubator?

Should we run the temperature higher than 99.5?

I will definitely keep you posted. I appreciate your advice and help.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yes, we have a 9300. We cut down some paper cartons and placed them upright, as you suggested. This is our first time, so bear with my novice understanding, but (being optimistic) if the chicks do hatch and are confined in each little cup of the carton, won't it be more difficult for them to zip out and then get out of the egg? Also, do you just leave the newly hatched chicks running around with the cartons in the incubator?

Should we run the temperature higher than 99.5?

I will definitely keep you posted. I appreciate your advice and help.

You would think it'd be harder wouldn't you? Many people incubate and hatch in cutdown cartons regularly. The chicks do just fine. But, keep an eye on the the bottoms of the eggs as well as it's harder to spot a malepositioned pipper when hatching out in cartons. Personally I prefer to hatch eggs laying down, but this is one instance where upright is the better precaution in my opinion. As for temps, if it's forced air (has the fan kit installed) 99.5 is the recommended temp. If it's a still air (no fan) 101-102F is the recommended temp with the temp being taken near the tops of the eggs.

When to take the chicks out of the bator??? In my opinion that's a personal decision. Many people don't remove chicks until the end of the hatch stating that chicks can go up to three days w/o food and water. (I have problems with this theory that we'll save for later.

) Some people leave the chicks in until they dry and fluff up. A few of us remove them as they hatch and become active. I remove them and get them in the brooder where food and water (with sav a chick electrolyte) is accessible. As long as your humidity is up there (I use 75% at hatch) opening the bator to remove chicks shouldn't pose a problem.

 

[luvmychickenz]

I apologize for my persistence and appreciate your patience. We had gotten the humidity down to about 50%. Now that we placed the egg cartons in the bator, the humidity went up to 70%. We live in Louisiana and natural humidity is high. We run the a/c and the cartons have been sitting in the room with the eggs, but we think they must be raising the humidity. So, should we take them back out of the cartons to reduce the humidity, or keep them upright to reduce chance of them drowning in fluid? I am praying we are going to hatch some little babies.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I apologize for my persistence and appreciate your patience. We had gotten the humidity down to about 50%. Now that we placed the egg cartons in the bator, the humidity went up to 70%. We live in Louisiana and natural humidity is high. We run the a/c and the cartons have been sitting in the room with the eggs, but we think they must be raising the humidity. So, should we take them back out of the cartons to reduce the humidity, or keep them upright to reduce chance of them drowning in fluid? I am praying we are going to hatch some little babies.

Don't apologize. I' pretty sure helping people and answering questions is what this forum was made for and if we didn't want to help (well, at least some of us...lol) we woudn't be here...lol

That's a hard one. You said you had a small hygrometer right? Has it ever been checked for accuracy?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I just find it hard to believe the cartons would raise it a whole 20% unless the cartons were damp. Your vent plugs are out right?