A few lockdown questions

[mamakelly]

Tomorrow is day 18 for us! I'm so excited! We had 18 eggs, we had 2 that weren't fertile and one quitter. So we're hoping that all 15 hatch on Friday or thereabouts.

Do I lockdown the incubator the beginning of day 18 or at the end of day 18?

Can humidity be too high? I'm using a still air Hovabator, and I know that I'm suppoed to fill both of the water troughs. Is that enough? Should I add sponges too?

Thanks!

 

[babsbag]

Lockdown is at the beginning of day 18, or there abouts. Mine started pipping on day 19.

I ran my humidity between 65-75 during lockdown. I don't know if you could go to high during lockdown. If your humidity has been ok the rest of the time then things should go as planned. If the chick pips into the air cell and your humidity has been too high the first 18 days then it may drown. Hopefully that will not happen. Once they pip you want to make sure the humidity does not go down, that is when they can get shrink wrapped.

Also, make sure you have ventilation in the incubator. Do not close all the vents. Ventilation is critical. Good luck.

 

[mamakelly]

Thank you, I would have forgotten about the vents! I have to pull the plugs tomorrow right?

 

[zoerat]

my eggs are also due on friday, this is the worst (but best) time the waiting waiting waiting

 

[babsbag]

My incubator was homemade so I had vents open the whole time, but I think you pull them both at lockdown. I have read that one reason that chicks pip and don't hatch is because of poor ventilation. I think that people close the vents to get their humidity to go up. I did a fairly dry hatch, around 35% and I started to raise the humidity about day 16 because I wanted to make sure I could keep the humidity up before day 18. It is a good think I did that as I had to change a few things to get it high enough. And by day 18 I was ready.