1st time incubating

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hblocker11

hblocker11

Hatching
5 Years
Jun 15, 2014
2
0
7
Hey everyone!

Okay so I'm incubating for the first time and I'm not sure that I understand quite everything there is too know. I have 2 1/2 dozen eggs that I'm incubating. I just put them on tonight. I know you are supposed to wait 21 days for hatching and stop turning 3 days prior to hatching. My questions are do I need to keep water in the trough? And when I stop turning them do I need to take the turner out and just lay them on the screening for them to hatch?
 
I have always had better luck when I take them out of the turner and lay them flat on their sides on day 18. Normally you would put water in the tray for the entire incubation process and on day 18-21 you would put even more water so the humidity goes up. If you live in a very humid area like I do then you leave the tray dry and only add water on day 18-21.
 
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Welcome to BYC!

You need to monitor your humidity all throughout the process. So if your incubator doesn't have a hydrometer, get a small one to put in the incubator. You want to keep the humidity around 45% to 50% during the days before lock down. So yes, keep water in the trough. Come lock down day, 3 days before hatch, you will want to stop turning the eggs. You can leave them in the incubator, but you will need to lay something down over the turners or remove them, but something like that rubber shelf liner. The rubber stuff with the little holes in it. You want the chicks to have good firm footing at hatch as if they are on slippery plastic, they are going to get splay leg.

So, at this time, lay something down or if you do have a hatcher, move the eggs there. Open all your vents wide open. This is very important for the chicks to get oxygen. Get your humidity up to about 65% to 70% You can use damp sponges or even a wet cotton sock to get the humidity up. When you see the first pip, you can no longer open the lid of the incubator as you will dry out the pipping chicks. They can sit in this pipped position for 24+ hours. So don't panic thinking they are stuck. Just let them be and they will zip out when they are ready.

Here is an article from our learning center on hatching eggs for more info...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

You can also ask questions in our Incubating Eggs forums too....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/5/incubating-hatching-eggs

Good luck with the hatch and keep us posted!
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Good luck with the hatch! TwoCrows gave you some good advice/links above.
 
Thank you guys! Will def be looking into the links! I will keep you updated on the process. I am very excited :)
 
You really need a good thermometer or 2 and a hygrometer with registers the degree of humidity both readings are important - you want equipment as accurate as possible.
 

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