Setting eggs 6-18 anyone with me

[caj1985]

That stinks!!! Do you have horses or livestock other than chickens? I only have the chickens and 2 pleasure horses. Well 2 dogs, kids, husband and grandkids but you know what I mean, lol....

The Dorkings are from a mixed colored flock, but pure Dorking. 2 silver gray hens, a red hen, a silver grey rooster and a white rooster. So it could be interesting.

We don't have any livestock right now. Have had horses and feeder calves.

Sounds like you will have a beautiful hatch of Dorkings from that color mix. Can't wait to see pictures.

 

[caj1985]

It's been really humid here too. Our house is running about 45-50%. It's a little much for me. I'll go in and take the eggs out and turner and get the water out of it. what should the humidity be for the eggs. The instructions that I got with my eggs from ebay, the lady told me 60% and then 80% during lock down. They're americauna eggs. not sure if that makes a difference. This is only my second try.

I am running with basically dry hatch and trying to maintain between 30 and 40% humidity. I would be afraid that 60% and 80% would be too high, but I am NOT an expert. Around here the humidity is normally high enough that we don't need any extra. That is the South for you.

 

[ChicksinPR]

hey guys... you think i am ok if my humidity is running 50-52. i live in puerto rico And it is just plain humid here. i cant get it lower...just higher.

the Reason i am asking is my last batch didnt hatch. i had 2 chicken chicks make it out of 24, to full term but no pips And died in shell. i had 70 quail eggs too And only 4 hatched. i had to help them out...they never got past pip. i didnt want them To die in-shell.

my temps were 99-100. the temps were 101-100 before i put the eggs in..

i had one day that the temp Was 109 for about 10 hours in week 1 <---i have no idea Why... it went back to normal on it's own...my guess is a power outage Again, but i was asleep..so not sure.

also the power went out for 24 hours..dropped to 90 degree in week 2

i would Like to think my last batch crashed from the temps and Not the humidity...

anyone who has an opinion.... i would love to hear it.

good luck on everyones hatch...i am hoping for the best here...


editing To add that when i peeled the shells off to eggtopsy... the air sac seemed large and dry. kinda like a balloon. not sure if the membrane is normally like That.

i have a forced air bators. with computer Fans running.

1 has a 15 watt bulb. in one bator and the other has a smaller computer fan that blows a bit stronger but not at the eggs... at the light bulb..this one has a 40 watt bulb.

 

[Kimbroe1981]

I am running with basically dry hatch and trying to maintain between 30 and 40% humidity. I would be afraid that 60% and 80% would be too high, but I am NOT an expert. Around here the humidity is normally high enough that we don't need any extra. That is the South for you.

I'm no expert either. So far this has been totally experimental here. My first batch of eggs none hatched. I didn't have a hygrometer, and just had the regular thermometer in it, now i have a digital thermometer/hygrometer. I also bought an egg turner for this batch. These eggs were bought online, so there's no telling if they made it though the mail. I did (very carefully) take the eggs & turner out last night and dumped the water out of the compartment at the bottom. Now we're reading 100.2 and 35% humidity. Guess I'll just add some water during lockdown (assuming we make it to that)

.

 

[caj1985]

ChicksinPR,

I would bet that your big problem was the 109 degrees in the first week. I have read that they are very vulnerable to spikes in temp the first week. Going low is much better than going high. The best way to see if humidity is too high is to check your air cell during candling. There is a very good diagram on here somewhere (don't have link) that shows what the cell should look like at various stages.

Hope this helps.

 

[Kimbroe1981]

yeah. i checked the air cell the day i put them in, but could only find (out of 12 eggs) 3 with air cells - one of them was loose. I'll candle them again at 7 days to see if i can see any better. I'm not a patient person. It's really hard to not candle them. I might candle a random one to see if I can see anything.

 

[ChicksinPR]

ChicksinPR,

I would bet that your big problem was the 109 degrees in the first week. I have read that they are very vulnerable to spikes in temp the first week. Going low is much better than going high. The best way to see if humidity is too high is to check your air cell during candling. There is a very good diagram on here somewhere (don't have link) that shows what the cell should look like at various stages.

Hope this helps.

good to know...i have seen a few diagrams. i will keep my eye on it. thanks for responding... well, here's to happy hatching everyone..

 

[Kimbroe1981]

are you supposed to be able to see a definite air cell the first day?

 

[MomsGoneMild]

I am on day 5 now. Candled late last night. 3 didn't make the cut; one was scrambled, one was infertile, the other had the red ring of death. I have a feeling it was that first day at 73% humidity. It was my first time candeling anything. It was fun and nerve racking at the same time. I definitely enjoyed seeing them, and was a little sad for the ones who didn't make it. Keeping fingers crossed that atleast 2 make it. Longest 21 days of my life.

 

[Phyrst]

ChicksinPR,

I would bet that your big problem was the 109 degrees in the first week. I have read that they are very vulnerable to spikes in temp the first week. Going low is much better than going high. The best way to see if humidity is too high is to check your air cell during candling. There is a very good diagram on here somewhere (don't have link) that shows what the cell should look like at various stages.

Hope this helps.

Here's the page about egg candling/development. Hope it helps
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation
I'm afraid to candle this early! My eggs are 5 days in now. Thanks for welcome. I keep learning even at my age!