A Guide to Humidity, Weighing and Lockdown.

[Janie1968]

Nicolla if you have a staggered hatch (different hatch dates) then yes two incubators are a good idea. But if you have one hatch date and some are peeping and others are quiet, then one incubator is fine.

 

[Nicolla]

Thank you for your reply I really appreciate it! I am just referring to the same hatch dates. Do you wait for most of the chicks to be ready for the higher humidity then? What if some are ready and some aren't? I wouldn't want to up the humidity if some of them aren't ready for it yet.

Thank you again!

 

[Janie1968]

I only have one bator, so on day 18 I up the humidity for all the eggs and remove them from the turner. This time (my second hatch) I kept the humidity in the 60% range and whenever it would get above 75% I would remove the vent plugs until it dropped and then put them back in. I felt that my air cells weren't large enough. Next time I'll weigh and draw the air cells on my eggs every week. My first hatch had huge humidity spikes up to 90% and I wanted to avoid that this time. Someone gave good advice about adding water (after lockdown) through the vent plug so they wouldn't have to open the bator. Lots of luck to you on your hatch.

 

[Peke's Poultry]

Hi there, I am incubating chicken eggs for the first time. All my eggs are brown or blue so I have a hard time candling.

I have been weighing and am on day 14. Most of the eggs are right on target for about 10% weight loss at this stage.

2 eggs have no weight loss since the start - does that mean these were infertile? Should I chuck these now?

 

[Janie1968]

Do you see any veining on those two eggs? I had some green eggs that were extremely difficult to see in, but after awhile I was able to notice the veins on most of them. I would leave them in the incubator and see if they hatch with the rest of your eggs.

 

[tammyfarms]

This is great information. I have not tracked weight when incubating before, but I am going to start. I love the individual approach to incubating. It just makes sense! Thanks!!!!

Here's to happy hatches for all!

 

[Teacherchick18]

I love this idea! As a teacher, everything I do is based on differentiating for what each child needs. I completely understand how individuals develop at different rates so why not for chicks too? You're absolutely right Tammyfarms, makes perfect sense!

I just set 11 black australorp eggs last week and we are now on day 11. I weighed them all before setting and then drew the air sac when I candled them a couple days ago. I had a horrible hatch a month ago which I am convinced was due to too high humidity so I am trying this method and hoping I have a much better hatch with these!

I have 9 that were fertile so hoping in 10-12 more days I'll have 9 little chicks too!

Great Thread!!!!

 

[3Chicks4Metcalf]

I stopped turning 1 of my three eggs on day 18. The other two seemed under developed so I kept them in the turner. I made the mistake of increasing the humidity to 65 percent like other articles said to, before reading your article which makes the most sence of all the articles I've read., thank you for sharing your hatching knowledge. It helps a newbees like me so much. I have lowered the humidity backdown to 50 percent and will watch The two underdeveloped eggs for more water absorption I will give them a couple more days in the turner I will also watch for the more developed egg for pipping if the chick breaks through I will raise the humidity to 65-70 percent. I hope the two underdeveloped ones catch up. Thanks again, if this hatch fails I'll be ready next time with my scale's to monitor water loss accurately.

 

[3Chicks4Metcalf]

Help! I was trying to following your guide to humidity and delayed lockdown for my three eggs that were developing differently. two of my eggs were underdeveloped & have progressed great but my third eggs that was developing fine by day 18 which I stopped turning and kept humidity about 50% now it has a huge air cell and the chick is no longer moving is it possible it dried out I'm not sure what to do. I stopped turning the other two that were delayed & increased the humidity to 65% even though your guide says to do that only if you have external pipping. I don't see any internal shadowing in any of the eggs or movement in the egg with a huge air cell I have been candeling them everyday to watch airsac progression did I cause this huge airsac by candeling? I was trying to watch for internal pipping. I don't see any internal pipping please advise should I still watch for internal pipping by candeling? Should I increase or leave humidity at 50% even if there is no external pipping?

 

[Teacherchick18]

3Chicks- Whatever happened with your hatch? Did you end up with any chicks?