Lockdown advice please

[chalis]

I have five duck eggs going into lockdown on tuesday. I have read that i need raise the humidity to 70 percent and lower my temp from 99.5 to 98.5. My question is do the vents need to be opened or closed during this time? I am using a little giant still air incubator that has to red vent plugs and little air holes. Common sence tells me not to plug the air holes. Thanks

 

[XxMingirlxX]

This is the best article on hatching and should answer all your questions, just scroll down to the section on lock down:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

From my own knowledge, you do drop the temperature a tad in lockdown however since you are using a fairly low temperature for a still air incubator I would not change the temperature.

I think 65-70% is accurate for the humidity during lockdown.

I am not sure about the air holes, I would keep them open.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I have five duck eggs going into lockdown on tuesday. I have read that i need raise the humidity to 70 percent and lower my temp from 99.5 to 98.5. My question is do the vents need to be opened or closed during this time? I am using a little giant still air incubator that has to red vent plugs and little air holes. Common sence tells me not to plug the air holes. Thanks

70% humidity is good, especially if you have to open the bator for anything. I generally use 75% at hatch because I am a meddler.

Some people drop the temp a degree, others do not. It's not a neccessity, but it won't hurt either. I don't, but my temp drops a degree naturally from opening the bator during hatch. Yes, the plugs need to be out at hatch time in order to keep fresh air circulating for the babies. Good luck. (I also use an LG, and have wonderful hatches, so hopefully you will too.)

 

[JetCat]

some people lower the temp because it makes it easier to increase humidity, if you don't have a humidity issue there's no need to lower the temp during hatch.

 

[chalis]

Thanks everyone. Its going to be a long couple days. I keep wanting to check to see if their ok lol. But im being good.

 

[chalis]

One more quick question. How can you tell when they are actually starting to hatch? Do they make noise, does the egg wiggle, etc? Thanks

 

[JetCat]

One more quick question. How can you tell when they are actually starting to hatch? Do they make noise, does the egg wiggle, etc? Thanks

Sometimes they wiggle, but you will see pips and hear chirps.