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- #11
- Jan 4, 2012
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Thank you for this great information. Since this is my first time incubating I am relying on research to guide me rather than personal experience. It seems there is a difference of opinion on whether a little too much moisture is harmful. Some things I have read say you risk drowning the chicks with too much. I think the dry incubation method is a way to avoid this problem? My inexperience led me to go with the middle road of 40-45%, which is also what was recommended by the manufacturer of the incubator I purchased, NR360.actually the ideal tranpiration is 13% by day 21. So more like 11-12% by day 18.
7.1% sounds like 1.1% too much. That might not sounds like a lot but that is over 10% too much humidity loss so far imo.
I would make some adjustments. I have found the sweet spot in my incubator is 48%, lets assume it is for yours too, so you have been running 4% too low for 11 days (based on your measurements).
I would personally suggest you go for 55% (7% over 48%) to compensate for the final 7 days till lockdown.
On a final note, always aim for slightly too little rather than too much moisture loss. If they have some extra supplies when they are born that is fine, if they run out of moisture then they start feeding on muscle mass instead, weakening the chicks. The consequence of slightly too much moisture is the chicks taking half an hour longer to dry (born wet) but the risk of being born too dry are much more serious causing chicks to get stuck in the shell.
This group of shipped eggs had larger air cells than the photos I saw of many day 0 eggs probably because they spent 5 days in shipping. At this point I think the air cells look about on target with photos I have seen on line except for 2 being saddle. Those 2 seem larger because of the saddle shape. I am nervous about raising the humidity too much for fear of possibly losing chicks to drowning. This is the stressful part. I feel as if my decisions are life and death for these chicks....
I probably should have gained more experience with this before jumping into shipped eggs of a rare breed. I let excitement get the better of me. I have a group of eggs from my flock incubating that will hatch 2 days before the Pita’s. They also started with 16 and are now down to 10. They had 4 clears and 2 early quitters.