Microclimates for staggered hatches-Whatcha think?

[just2rosey]

Hi everybody,

I am a newbie, just on my third hatch (all of them have been shipped eggs), so I don't have a lot of experience. I am about to set eggs for a staggered hatch (second time Ive done that) and I had a thought and I wondered if anyone else has tried this, and what you all think. I want to try to create a higher humidity micro-climate around the eggs that go into lock down first, so I don't mess them up when I turn the other eggs which will be 10 days behind. I have a home made incubator with a cpu fan in the bottom below my egg rack and a bowl beside it in the bottom for my water well. My plan is to put a clear glass baking dish over the eggs in lock down, with a clean sponge under the dish also. I am giving it a test run now with a separate thermometer and hygrometer under the dish. I will be able to see thru it, and it should create a more humid area without affecting the temps. I will let you know how the empty test run goes.

 

[nivtup]

I would be worried that you will get to high of a humidity, and not enough air circulation.

We have had chicks hatch several times, with good hatch rates without raising humidity to high. If it were me, I would run you normal cycle, raise humidity slightly like 5% or so during hatch of the first group, and get it back in line as soon as you can for the second group.


Good luck

 

[Gypsy07]

That was my immediate thought too. Oxygen is every bit as important as high humidity for eggs in lockdown. But the idea is a good one. Worth doing some experimenting with. Though most people doing staggered hatched just get a second incubator to use for lockdown and hatching. That's probably the easiest way to do staggered hatches...