The 10th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!!!!!

[LynnaePB]

I have a question for you all.

Do raise humidity at lockdown or do you wait until you see pips and raise it then?

For me it depends on how the air cell looks. If they look good (big enough) I'll raise the humidity part way through day 18. If they are on the small side I'll wait until I see an internal pip and raise it then (usually I see internal pips starting on day 19).

It's looking like I might have to hold off on raising the humidity this hatch, I have two eggs that the air cells definitely look too small to me, 3 that look just slightly small and 2 that look pretty good.

I took some pictures about an hour and a half ago (just before the start of day 16). Does it look like I'm right and they are looking small or am I getting worried over nothing? Humidity has been around 35% through most of the incubation (a couple times it's dipped into the high 20's and when it's rained it went into the low 40's a few times). I calibrated my hygrometer and it was only one percent off so should be fairly accurate.

Here is what the two eggs with the smallest air cells look like (sorry for the blurry pics)

And here is what the 3 with the intermediate sized air cells look like.

 

[igorsMistress]

For me it depends on how the air cell looks. If they look good (big enough) I'll raise the humidity part way through day 18. If they are on the small side I'll wait until I see an internal pip and raise it then (usually I see internal pips starting on day 19).

It's looking like I might have to hold off on raising the humidity this hatch, I have two eggs that the air cells definitely look too small to me, 3 that look just slightly small and 2 that look pretty good.

I took some pictures about an hour and a half ago (just before the start of day 16). Does it look like I'm right and they are looking small or am I getting worried over nothing? Humidity has been around 35% through most of the incubation (a couple times it's dipped into the high 20's and when it's rained it went into the low 40's a few times). I calibrated my hygrometer and it was only one percent off so should be fairly accurate.

Here is what the two eggs with the smallest air cells look like (sorry for the blurry pics)

View attachment 1739167

And here is what the 3 with the intermediate sized air cells look like.

View attachment 1739169

I can see the difference in the size of the cells so it's not your imagination.

Our a/c is on already and our house is terribly dry, plus I live in the valley of the sun The air cells on our eggs got too big at 40% humidity so I had to up it to 50% after the first week.

I've seen minor differences like that in quail eggs and they all hatched, I bet they'll be fine. I dunno if chickens are more delicate.

 

[ronott1]

I can see the difference in the size of the cells so it's not your imagination.

Our a/c is on already and our house is terribly dry, plus I live in the valley of the sun The air cells on our eggs got too big at 40% humidity so I had to up it to 50% after the first week.

I've seen minor differences like that in quail eggs and they all hatched, I bet they'll be fine. I dunno if chickens are more delicate.

Conditions where the eggs are incubated makes a big difference in humidity!

 

[LynnaePB]

I can see the difference in the size of the cells so it's not your imagination.

Our a/c is on already and our house is terribly dry, plus I live in the valley of the sun The air cells on our eggs got too big at 40% humidity so I had to up it to 50% after the first week.

I've seen minor differences like that in quail eggs and they all hatched, I bet they'll be fine. I dunno if chickens are more delicate.

Thanks, I'm hoping they'll be ok, at least only 2 out of 7 are really on the small side, it's funny how they all developed differently. It's kind of amazing how much the location where you are incubating affects what humidity you need. I guess 35% in humid Tennessee might have been slightly high (plus these eggs had really tiny air cells when I started incubation since the seller sent eggs that were laid the day before shipping).

 

[igorsMistress]

Thanks, I'm hoping they'll be ok, at least only 2 out of 7 are really on the small side, it's funny how they all developed differently. It's kind of amazing how much the location where you are incubating affects what humidity you need. I guess 35% in humid Tennessee might have been slightly high (plus these eggs had really tiny air cells when I started incubation since the seller sent eggs that were laid the day before shipping).

I hatched quail a couple of times. Those hatches were in cooler, wetter weather and it was easier to keep the humidity stable then. I added a humidikit to my incubator this year because it's usually really dry. So not only location but time of year seems to impact things quite a bit.

 

[Spartan22]

I keep humidity @46% for 18 days and raise it to 65% @lockdown but I use an incubator that has a fan on top, so maybe different ‘bator Works different and I only open them once or twice thru the process. So far works in my favor with good hatches.

 

[ronott1]

I keep humidity @46% for 18 days and raise it to 65% @lockdown but I use an incubator that has a fan on top, so maybe different ‘bator Works different and I only open them once or twice thru the process. So far works in my favor with good hatches.

The humidity you are using is in the safe range!

 

[Jules929]

Fortunately, my incubator humidity has been very consistent (35% +/- 1%) this time, even with fluctuations in the ambient humidity in the room.

 

[lomine]

Candled last night and I noticed something odd about my leghorn eggs. They are all alive and moving but they seem much, much smaller than the others. I noticed it in the last hatches this year, too. So far this year none of her eggs have hatched but last year they were some of the best to develop and hatch. The hen seems happy and healthy and she's only about 1.5 years old. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I'm down to 44 out of 60 chicken and 5 out of 19 duck eggs. A few quitters but mostly infertile. I'm not surprised on the duck eggs since my drakes are young. There are a lot of infertile blue eggs so I'm wondering if that's due to the age of two of my Ams hens and my Am rooster, they'll be 3 years old pretty soon.

I decided I didn't want to risk the duck eggs I set later with high humidity during lockdown so I decided to get another incubator for hatching. I figured I'd wait and see how many were going into lockdown but it's too many to fit into one bator. Oh what a terrible problem to have. I decided on the Hova Bator 2370. I wanted to get a plastic one for easier cleaning but they were all much more expensive. It's plugged in and warming up.

 

[ronott1]

Candled last night and I noticed something odd about my leghorn eggs. They are all alive and moving but they seem much, much smaller than the others. I noticed it in the last hatches this year, too. So far this year none of her eggs have hatched but last year they were some of the best to develop and hatch. The hen seems happy and healthy and she's only about 1.5 years old. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I'm down to 44 out of 60 chicken and 5 out of 19 duck eggs. A few quitters but mostly infertile. I'm not surprised on the duck eggs since my drakes are young. There are a lot of infertile blue eggs so I'm wondering if that's due to the age of two of my Ams hens and my Am rooster, they'll be 3 years old pretty soon.

I decided I didn't want to risk the duck eggs I set later with high humidity during lockdown so I decided to get another incubator for hatching. I figured I'd wait and see how many were going into lockdown but it's too many to fit into one bator. Oh what a terrible problem to have. I decided on the Hova Bator 2370. I wanted to get a plastic one for easier cleaning but they were all much more expensive. It's plugged in and warming up.

The age of the roosters is a factor