1st Time hatch

[Fordchickenmama11]

I have 7 more days until time to hatch and this is my first time! Humidity stays at about 64% and temp 99.5-99.9•F I tried candling the eggs today but some of them still look pretty small and the brown eggs were still hard for me to see through. They seem very thick, Is this normal? Is humidity ok or how do I get it up? I’ve been keeping water in it.

 

[mdees88]

Congrats on your soon to be first hatch...

What are you hatching..... chickens?

Actually it appears your humidity may be too high (according to everything I have read). You want 40-50% humidity for the first 18 days, then you would raise the humidity to 65-75% for the final few days. Your current humidity is acceptable for lockdown. (If you wanted to get more you could put a sponge in the water... for when they are in lockdown)

What do you mean the eggs look small when candling? Are you referring to the air sacs in the eggs? A small air sac indicates too high of humidity during the first 18 days. If the air sac is undersized I would run the incubator dry (with no water) until day 18 then bring the humidity back up to 65%.

here's a pretty good article about incubating chicken eggs... it shows what size the air sac should be at different days...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-eggs-just-21-days-from-egg-to-chicken.47696/

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[Fordchickenmama11]

Chickens. My incubator instructions is what said humidity needed to be 60-80 and to take the vent plug out around day 18. The babies look small inside the egg like some look big and some look pretty small still like not formed as much as others but like I said most the eggs are hard to see in.

Congrats on your soon to be first hatch...

What are you hatching..... chickens?

Actually it appears your humidity may be too high (according to everything I have read). You want 40-50% humidity for the first 18 days, then you would raise the humidity to 65-75% for the final few days. Your current humidity is acceptable for lockdown. (If you wanted to get more you could put a sponge in the water... for when they are in lockdown)

What do you mean the eggs look small when candling? Are you referring to the air sacs in the eggs? A small air sac indicates too high of humidity during the first 18 days. If the air sac is undersized I would run the incubator dry (with no water) until day 18 then bring the humidity back up to 65%.

here's a pretty good article about incubating chicken eggs... it shows what size the air sac should be at different days...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-eggs-just-21-days-from-egg-to-chicken.47696/

.

 

[mdees88]

Okay well you can do yourself a favor and trash those instructions. If you do a google search, pretty much every single website lists the same settings. 99.5-100.5, 45-55% humidity day 1-18, 65-75% humidity day 18-21. The vent plug does need to come out because the chicks need fresh air.

 

[Fordchickenmama11]

It needs to come out now??? Ok thank you I hope they all come out alright! I only have like two white eggs and I could see what looked like a baby swimming all
Around!!! So EXCITED!!!

 

[mdees88]

It needs to come out now??? Ok thank you I hope they all come out alright! I only have like two white eggs and I could see what looked like a baby swimming all
Around!!! So EXCITED!!!

The vent plug needs to come out at day 18, when you put them on lockdown.

I've never hatched chickens but I have hatched quail. Quail eggs are rather dark with spots all over. It's pretty hard to candle them too.

If I were you I would candle the eggs and measure the air sacs with a pencil. Then compare them to the picture in the link I posted earlier. If the air sacs look smaller than they should be I would run the incubator without water until day 18. Then fill it full with water and pull the plug out.

Hopefully you have a good hatch...

 

[Fordchickenmama11]

Ok so the air sack should be as large as day 19 when it’s time to lock down??? If the air sacks aren’t that big turn humidity up? My embryos are not near as big as the day 14 pics in that link????