Newbie question about incubating

[celestecakes78]

I'm a second time incubator. I started my eggs in the incubator Saturday morning. I plan on candling on Wed night which will be day 4. I was going to try and do a dry incubation but realize its way out of my knowledge. My question, is it too late to add water to my incubator? and when I candle what should I look for to make sure that my eggs are still ok without the humidity, aircells in particular. Thanks for any help you can offer this newbie

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm a second time incubator. I started my eggs in the incubator Saturday morning. I plan on candling on Wed night which will be day 4. I was going to try and do a dry incubation but realize its way out of my knowledge. My question, is it too late to add water to my incubator? and when I candle what should I look for to make sure that my eggs are still ok without the humidity, aircells in particular. Thanks for any help you can offer this newbie

HI

This is the method I use and if you are not in a high altitude I highly recommend it. It's almost foolproof if you can compare air cells to the graph and it gives a better understanding of humidity. http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

 

[kuchchicks]

Totally have to agree here. Dry incubation is very simple. I have been using it for a year now and my hatch rate has soared. You will want a hygrometer to give you a general idea of where your humidity is at but then all you really have to do is watch your air cells.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Totally have to agree here. Dry incubation is very simple. I have been using it for a year now and my hatch rate has soared. You will want a hygrometer to give you a general idea of where your humidity is at but then all you really have to do is watch your air cells.

I would think there was something wrong if you didn't agree.

 

[celestecakes78]

Do you find it helpful to mark and compare your aircells on the egg when you candle? I have 24eggs in the incubator and im candling tomorrow but nervous to candle and then mark each one might take too long and cause a drop in my incubator temp

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Do you find it helpful to mark and compare your aircells on the egg when you candle? I have 24eggs in the incubator and im candling tomorrow but nervous to candle and then mark each one might take too long and cause a drop in my incubator temp

I take out my eggs one at a time and close my incubator in between while I candle and mark my air cells. I find it VERY helpful to mark air cells. I don't usually loose more than 2-3 degrees during the proceess. When I am done, I close the bator up and close my vents for about 15 minutes or so, (I run with the vents open from day 1) and once my temps are back up I open my vents and they are all good.

The air temp may drop, but it takes quite a bit longer for the inside of the egg to actually loose temp.

 

[celestecakes78]

Ok I get it. Im super concerned about losing that temp in the incubator and the egg and possibly messing up the development. The first time I incubated I started with 15 eggs. I only had 2 hatches and 2 others died in their shell when I cracked them open they appeared to be gone maybe day 18 they looked fully formed,soo dissapointing. The others looked like they were not fertile,all clear when I cracked them but I couldn't tell thru candling because they were soo dark. Want to learn from any possible mistakes I made last time so I appreciate the advice.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Ok I get it. Im super concerned about losing that temp in the incubator and the egg and possibly messing up the development. The first time I incubated I started with 15 eggs. I only had 2 hatches and 2 others died in their shell when I cracked them open they appeared to be gone maybe day 18 they looked fully formed,soo dissapointing. The others looked like they were not fertile,all clear when I cracked them but I couldn't tell thru candling because they were soo dark. Want to learn from any possible mistakes I made last time so I appreciate the advice.

At day 18 the chicks are actually producing their own small amount of body heat, and momma hen gets off her eggs daily. I had a momma hen last October who was brooding, Night of Day 19 I tried to move her to a pen to hatch out, next morning I went out early to check on them, she was not happy and was pacing the pen because she wanted the nest back. The eggs were cold. I candled and no movement. I thought for sure they were gone. I let her back to the nest, gave them back and waited 4 hours to check. When I checked again they were moving and internally pipped! They both hatched out fine.

I find that on the majority of people that I help, when the chick makes it to lockdown and dies signs usually point to humidity being high days 1-17 keeping the egg from loosing the moisture it needs to and drowning the chick come time to hatch.