Hatching at high altitude

[ReptileMom]

Hi! I am now trying the soda lime idea too. I just started an incubator full of orpingtons and marans. I will candle in a few days to see how it is going. The soda lime is already turning purple.

I have been playing with humidity the last several hatches. I have found that I need to keep it in the 30-40% humidity for the entire time and then up it just a little for the hatching. Those that mature early and pop out in the incubator seem to be a lot better than when I purposely increase the humidity in the hatcher. I just keep experimenting. Hoping to figure out the way to get the best hatch at our higher elevation.

I have a lot of trouble trying to keep the humidity down in the Janoel I have. When I put in water it jumps to 50-60%. I wait until it gets down to 25% and add more again. Hard to try to find the way to keep it around 35%.

 

[ReptileMom]

I know this is a crazy question, but what about using air plants to try to keep the CO2 down. If I put a bunch in the bottom of the incubator? Just wondering if they would absorb enough....

 

[lgc1970]

Plants are not such a crazy idea. They give us oxygen during the day. That being said... the problem is that most off-gas CO2 at night! The only ones that are readily available that do not off-gas CO2 at night are the Snake plant (a.k.a. Moter-in-Law's Tongue, not kidding!) and the Areca palm. But they still off-gas small amounts of CO2 throughout the whole day; just not in the quantities that would ever be toxic to an egg like most other plants, grasses and trees do at night.

I noticed that the soda lime is being used up very quickly at the start of a run, but then will slow down for the next week. This last run I put some soda lime in 24hrs before the eggs to see if that would help and it was just about used up with nothing else in the bator. After that first week of incubation the amount has to be increased almost daily. I have 23 now of 30 eggs still going; all shipped from sea level. I lost my first of the original 10 Orpington eggs (Red Eng Roo / Buff Amer Hens) candling today, Day 18. It looks like it stopped a couple of days ago. But 23 of 30 eggs still going on Day 18 is really good. I am not going to raise the humidity for my hatch this time, but it has been in the 50 - 65% the whole run, plus I have increased the bator temp to 100.5.

Good Luck ReptileMom! And I wish you a successful hatch!

 

[bumpercarr]

Plants are not such a crazy idea. They give us oxygen during the day. That being said... the problem is that most off-gas CO2 at night! The only ones that are readily available that do not off-gas CO2 at night are the Snake plant (a.k.a. Moter-in-Law's Tongue, not kidding!) and the Areca palm. But they still off-gas small amounts of CO2 throughout the whole day; just not in the quantities that would ever be toxic to an egg like most other plants, grasses and trees do at night.

I noticed that the soda lime is being used up very quickly at the start of a run, but then will slow down for the next week. This last run I put some soda lime in 24hrs before the eggs to see if that would help and it was just about used up with nothing else in the bator. After that first week of incubation the amount has to be increased almost daily. I have 23 now of 30 eggs still going; all shipped from sea level. I lost my first of the original 10 Orpington eggs (Red Eng Roo / Buff Amer Hens) candling today, Day 18. It looks like it stopped a couple of days ago. But 23 of 30 eggs still going on Day 18 is really good. I am not going to raise the humidity for my hatch this time, but it has been in the 50 - 65% the whole run, plus I have increased the bator temp to 100.5.

Good Luck ReptileMom! And I wish you a successful hatch!

lgc1970, are you locking down today? I'm locking down today, trying to decide whether I should increase humidity any more. Right now at 65%, which has always been pretty good for me during lockdown. It will usually stay up there, as the chicks start to pip and hatch they release more humidity into the bator. I kept my temp at 99.7 average. Still having problems with it holding temperature steady even though I've replaced the controller. Glad this is my last hatch until fall.....hoping for a new bator for Christmas. Let me know what your thoughts are.

 

[lgc1970]

lgc1970, are you locking down today?  I'm locking down today, trying to decide whether I should increase humidity any more.  Right now at 65%, which has always been pretty good for me during lockdown.  It will usually stay up there, as the chicks start to pip and hatch they release more humidity into the bator.  I kept my temp at 99.7 average.  Still having problems with it holding temperature steady even though I've replaced the controller.  Glad this is my last hatch until fall.....hoping for a new bator for Christmas.  Let me know what your thoughts are.

Yes, lock down started this morning for me.
I will be letting my humidity levels stay between 55 - 65%. That seems like a range, but I think that my hygrometer is a touch too sensitive. My bator steadies out 5 - 10 minutes after it has been closed up anyway. The temps have been a little up and down-ish, but never more than +/-0.4^ in a day. I don't think, but I have an instant read electronic one in the bator too that shows highs and lows, so I think so ...

Good Luck bumpercarr! May the chicks be with you (by the weekend)!

 

[bumpercarr]

I am totally bummed out. Went to lock down at 5:00, found auto turner unplugged....WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN? No idea, no one is fessing up. So, if I don't get a decent hatch out of these 6 viable eggs, I don't know if it is altitude or because the auto turner was turned off on day 8, day 11, day 15....arghhhh! I had movement 2 days ago in 4 of the 6, but who knows now.

 

[lgc1970]

I am totally bummed out. 

Ditto...

I just had the worst customer service in the world... Ever hear of Cedar Creek Hatchery in Twin Lake, MI?
If you think you might look them up or are wondering I posted my email back-and-forth on a few of the threads about them.

Here's one:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/871546/cedar-creek-hatchery-keep-away

How frustrating and unprofessional to have some owner typing in swear words to me...

 

[lgc1970]

I had ordered eggs from them, but 7 of the eggs were not even fertile.

 

[bumpercarr]

I had ordered eggs from them, but 7 of the eggs were not even fertile.

All I can say is wow. Fortunately, I rarely order anything from hatcheries, mostly either breed myself or order from individuals.

Fingers crossed on both of our hatches......I'm hoping that the turner was turned off later rather than sooner in the hatch and that I will still have some make it.

 

[Pozees]

How funny, I took eggs off the turner last night as well Last hatch I just moved them to the hatching tray at the bottom of the Sportsman with a saturated towel in a bowl, which dried out quickly, humidity stayed right around 30%, and had 9/12 Silkies hatch, and 2/2 RIR x SS, so no different than plugging in the 1588 and cranking up the humidity to 60% (these were eggs laid here). This hatch has some shipped eggs from NC and some from CA. VERY few actually developed, so not sure whether they were fertile - 6/6 Barnevelders were clear, for example. Doing the same as last week except with a bigger bowl with double towels and wetter. Time will tell