1st Incubation questions....

[ValerieLovesChickens]

I feel silly asking, but I am nervous. I have 25 eggs that were gifted to me, to hatch out. Most are Easter Egger, EE/cross and a few mystery eggs. We bought the Little Giant 9300 still air incubator.

The eggs are on the floor of incubator in a "U" shape around but not touching a damp clean cloth under heat element, water in the wells, temp is at 102 and humidity is at 50%. This is right, right?

Have had a rough few weeks with life, just want to be sure I am doing this right. Thanks in advance for feedback.

 

[MGG]

I feel silly asking, but I am nervous. I have 25 eggs that were gifted to me, to hatch out. Most are Easter Egger, EE/cross and a few mystery eggs. We bought the Little Giant 9300 still air incubator.

The eggs are on the floor of incubator in a "U" shape around but not touching a damp clean cloth under heat element, water in the wells, temp is at 102 and humidity is at 50%. This is right, right?

Have had a rough few weeks with life, just want to be sure I am doing this right. Thanks in advance for feedback.

Looks good! Sounds great. What day are they on? Have you candled any?
Oh, do you have a calibrated thermometer inside to double check temp? That's an important thing.

 

[Kiraeh]

Make sure you're measuring temperature at the eggs. If your sensor's on the floor then you'll be after a lower temperature(for some reason there's no guideline on what an appropriate temperature might be at the bottom of the eggs even though it seems like it would be much easier to measure that.)
Plan to rotate the eggs between the edges and center regularly(I usually move a couple every time I turn them) to make sure none get stuck in cold/hot spots.

50% is pretty high for humidity, though a lot of people do have success at that range. If you got that number from your incubator manual, I'd recommend lowering it to 30-40%, but if you got that number from a friend who gets good hatch rates with it in your local climate, then keep it. Humidity can vary a lot and what will work best depends on where you are.

 

[ValerieLovesChickens]

Looks good! Sounds great. What day are they on? Have you candled any?
Oh, do you have a calibrated thermometer inside to double check temp? That's an important thing.

The eggs have been in the incubator for 49 hours now. The incubator guide said to candle on day 7, so no I haven't done that yet. Do I need to? We have searched high and low for a hydrometer and there are none to be found near us or in surrounding towns that are affordable. Ordering one, wouldn't be here until August 3rd. Ugghhh Would an oral glass thermometer work?

 

[ValerieLovesChickens]

Make sure you're measuring temperature at the eggs. If your sensor's on the floor then you'll be after a lower temperature(for some reason there's no guideline on what an appropriate temperature might be at the bottom of the eggs even though it seems like it would be much easier to measure that.)
Plan to rotate the eggs between the edges and center regularly(I usually move a couple every time I turn them) to make sure none get stuck in cold/hot spots.

50% is pretty high for humidity, though a lot of people do have success at that range. If you got that number from your incubator manual, I'd recommend lowering it to 30-40%, but if you got that number from a friend who gets good hatch rates with it in your local climate, then keep it. Humidity can vary a lot and what will work best depends on where you are.

The little temp/humidity thing hangs down in the incubator just above the top of the eggs. Like they knew where an egg would sit at on the floor, when it was made. The manual said it only works correctly if humidity is 60 to 80 % which worries me. It also says to set temp to 103.5 which I felt was way too high. I live in Texas, we've had high humidity and temps this year. I sure hope I'm doing this right. I remember as a child, my uncle incubating eggs in a wood box with light bulbs and a bowl of water. He only turned them twice a day. LOL Seemed so much easier in my memory, hope I get the hang of this thing.

 

[Kiraeh]

Haha ok that's just my overthinking things from having a DIY incubator.
Ooff, that's a good humidity for the last three days, way too high for the rest of incubation.
So what you need out of your humidity is for the eggs to lose a specific amount of moisture over the course of incubation. It doesn't matter too much if it goes up and down, as long as your eggs lose at least 11% and no more than about 15% of their weight by hatch time. But it's better to start humidity low and raise it later than start high and try to get your air cells to catch up in the last week. Early moisture loss is out of the albumen, late moisture loss can dehydrate the chick itself. As long as you candle at day 7 and check your air cells, you'll be able to see if you need to lower it for the second week. I've had great success in the 30-40% range. Look up dry incubation, there's a bunch of good resources explaining it.

There's a lot to get right... But also, when you get that right, there's a surprising amount of wiggle room too. Temperature drops are often not an issue at all. I just hatched an egg with a big crack in it, happened on day one and I patched it with beeswax.

 

[ValerieLovesChickens]

Haha ok that's just my overthinking things from having a DIY incubator.
Ooff, that's a good humidity for the last three days, way too high for the rest of incubation.
So what you need out of your humidity is for the eggs to lose a specific amount of moisture over the course of incubation. It doesn't matter too much if it goes up and down, as long as your eggs lose at least 11% and no more than about 15% of their weight by hatch time. But it's better to start humidity low and raise it later than start high and try to get your air cells to catch up in the last week. Early moisture loss is out of the albumen, late moisture loss can dehydrate the chick itself. As long as you candle at day 7 and check your air cells, you'll be able to see if you need to lower it for the second week. I've had great success in the 30-40% range. Look up dry incubation, there's a bunch of good resources explaining it.

There's a lot to get right... But also, when you get that right, there's a surprising amount of wiggle room too. Temperature drops are often not an issue at all. I just hatched an egg with a big crack in it, happened on day one and I patched it with beeswax.

Thank you for explaining this to me, now I'm anxious to candle and see where we are at. It's time to turn them, so I will remove them and the grate, so I can blot up some water from the wells,put them back in and get this humidity down.

 

[Kiraeh]

You can give a few eggs a quick candle earlier than day 7 if you are confident your hands are steady. I like to candle on day three, if you have light eggs there's a window when you can see the heartbeat, it's super cool! But it's not useful for determining what eggs are developing as you can't always see much, especially in any dark or thick shelled egg.

 

[cmom]

I have both still air and circulated air. I did eventually put fans in the still air incubators because there are hot spots and cooler spots. I hope when you're turning the eggs you move them around. I keep my humidity around 40%. That is where I have had my best hatches. At day 7 you won't see much development. You might see some veining. I have a few eggs in an homemade incubator due to hatch next Friday. So far the development looks good. I have been keeping it at 99.5 but I also have a turner in it and a fan. I wouldn't have the temperature any higher than close to 101 with a still air. Above 102 can kill the embryo's. If the temperature runs high the chicks can hatch a day or two early and if it runs low they can take an extra day or two to hatch. Also if the humidity is too high the chicks can have issues and when they pip the air cell they can drown from condensation that can build up in the air cell. Good luck and have fun...

 

[ValerieLovesChickens]

I have both still air and circulated air. I did eventually put fans in the still air incubators because there are hot spots and cooler spots. I hope when you're turning the eggs you move them around. I keep my humidity around 40%. That is where I have had my best hatches. At day 7 you won't see much development. You might see some veining. I have a few eggs in an homemade incubator due to hatch next Friday. So far the development looks good. I have been keeping it at 99.5 but I also have a turner in it and a fan. I wouldn't have the temperature any higher than close to 101 with a still air. Above 102 can kill the embryo's. If the temperature runs high the chicks can hatch a day or two early and if it runs low they can take an extra day or two to hatch. Also if the humidity is too high the chicks can have issues and when they pip the air cell they can drown from condensation that can build up in the air cell. Good luck and have fun...

Thank you, yes I have been moving them around in rows, so by the end of the day, everyone has been "around the block" so to speak. I remembered my uncle doing that, so I figured there was a reason. LoL I'm working on dropping the humidity, this is going to be tricky. Outdoor humidity here today is 86% already. Have no idea here in the house. Is it safe to remove all the water from the wells and keep slowly putting water back in until I hit the right percent? Check every 15 minutes, which is about how long it takes for my incubator to settle back into place, after putting the lid back on.