First off - Yes I changed my avatar to some of my babies from my first hatch.
Now: I have a question for all you chicken pros and for the Brinsea knowers:
I own a Brinsea Octo 20 with rocker. No I do not have the added humidity thing.
I had 7 eggs that did not hatch...I am fine with this as 18 did. For me to learn what it is I am doing I did a "necropsy" or eggcropsy on them.
2= no development. Little black spot and then nothing. They did not smell bad.
3= Not quite fully developed, maybe 14-15 days old (guessing by using a web site that a friend sent to me - it shows daily visuals of fetuses).
1= Very young maybe 12 day development
1= Fully developed, very large chick.
Opened day 8 for candeling. Opened to add water. DH opened after 8 chicks hatched to move eggs because it was getting crowded. I opened to take 8 chicks out.
Heat = constant 99.5-99.7
Humidity = constant 40-45% throughout incubation. (other than spikes when I added more to the channel).
Lockdown = Day 18. Humidity up to 65%. But, upon filling channels the humidity would spike to 80% or more and hang there unless I slightly lifted lid and "burped" the high humidity out. Do this a few times and the humidity would finally level off, be in the 70s.
My questions now:
1. So, 3 eggs were not fully developed. Upon doing necropsy....there did seem to be a lot of liquid. Did I have humiidity too high? Could they have drowned. The fully developed egg did not have a lot of liquid. Looked fine.
2. Can the hatched chicks jostling everything around cause damage?
3. Is it okay for the humidity to spike like this? Should I be adding cooler water? What is the max for the humidity for me not to worry?
4. If they drowned, is this because the eggs were more porous and more water got in?
I am just learning and would love any information, input, critisism, comments. All information is helpful. I may edit as I remember more questions.
Now: I have a question for all you chicken pros and for the Brinsea knowers:
I own a Brinsea Octo 20 with rocker. No I do not have the added humidity thing.
I had 7 eggs that did not hatch...I am fine with this as 18 did. For me to learn what it is I am doing I did a "necropsy" or eggcropsy on them.
2= no development. Little black spot and then nothing. They did not smell bad.
3= Not quite fully developed, maybe 14-15 days old (guessing by using a web site that a friend sent to me - it shows daily visuals of fetuses).
1= Very young maybe 12 day development
1= Fully developed, very large chick.
Opened day 8 for candeling. Opened to add water. DH opened after 8 chicks hatched to move eggs because it was getting crowded. I opened to take 8 chicks out.
Heat = constant 99.5-99.7
Humidity = constant 40-45% throughout incubation. (other than spikes when I added more to the channel).
Lockdown = Day 18. Humidity up to 65%. But, upon filling channels the humidity would spike to 80% or more and hang there unless I slightly lifted lid and "burped" the high humidity out. Do this a few times and the humidity would finally level off, be in the 70s.
My questions now:
1. So, 3 eggs were not fully developed. Upon doing necropsy....there did seem to be a lot of liquid. Did I have humiidity too high? Could they have drowned. The fully developed egg did not have a lot of liquid. Looked fine.
2. Can the hatched chicks jostling everything around cause damage?
3. Is it okay for the humidity to spike like this? Should I be adding cooler water? What is the max for the humidity for me not to worry?
4. If they drowned, is this because the eggs were more porous and more water got in?
I am just learning and would love any information, input, critisism, comments. All information is helpful. I may edit as I remember more questions.