Air Cells- Are they the correct size for Day 14?

[Schell1226]

30 or a little lower are great numbers. I wouldn’t put lockdown humidity more than 15-20% of your 1-18 humidity. I locked down at 50 sometimes it went to 54. When they hatch your humidity will jump. If you have two hatching at a time it will get into the 70’s. High humidity = trouble in my opinion. My dry hatch eggs were brittle and very easy for the chicks to zip and pop out. Dry hatch zip took 15-25 mins. Wet hatch zip took mine 30 mins to an hour.
View attachment 1773801

Since you really do not have the normal big dip I personally would let them hatch in the egg carton. Do you have the bottom rings cut out of your egg carton?

So does this sound about right?....I'm beginning day 16 in a couple hours (2pm EST) and the hum is at 31 right now. Would you recommend not adding water and just letting it drop from here on out until it gets down to 25 or so, or maybe even lower? (without water added it gets down to 10) Then keeping it at a lower hum until the end of 18. Then on day 19 bring it up to 50-55 or so?

 

[Rose Quartz]

So does this sound about right?....I'm beginning day 16 in a couple hours (2pm EST) and the hum is at 31 right now. Would you recommend not adding water and just letting it drop from here on out until it gets down to 25 or so, or maybe even lower? (without water added it gets down to 10) Then keeping it at a lower hum until the end of 18. Then on day 19 bring it up to 50-55 or so?

55 is the absolute lowest i let my hatching humidity get. Over 70 can cause problems though.

 

[Schell1226]

30 or a little lower are great numbers. I wouldn’t put lockdown humidity more than 15-20% of your 1-18 humidity. I locked down at 50 sometimes it went to 54. When they hatch your humidity will jump. If you have two hatching at a time it will get into the 70’s. High humidity = trouble in my opinion. My dry hatch eggs were brittle and very easy for the chicks to zip and pop out. Dry hatch zip took 15-25 mins. Wet hatch zip took mine 30 mins to an hour.
View attachment 1773801

Since you really do not have the normal big dip I personally would let them hatch in the egg carton. Do you have the bottom rings cut out of your egg carton?

55 is the absolute lowest i let my hatching humidity get. Over 70 can cause problems though.

So would you recommend me running my hum lower than what I have it now? At least until day 19 and then boost it up to 55-65? Or, what are some suggestions for me to do according to my air cells at this point?

If you think I should, what is the absolute lowest I shouldn't let it go? Or should I just continue running it like I have been and keep hum between 30-35 until day 19?

I'm just worried that I'm going to do to much, or not enough at all....I want to give them the best chance possible chance of hatching correctly. I have 3 days to do whatever I can. If any corrections need to made then I still have a little time. I just don't want to be one of those ppl on day 19 saying...."oh shoot, I messed up, look at the size of my air cells, I should've done this, or I should've done that", etc....

 

[Rose Quartz]

So would you recommend me running my hum lower than what I have it now? At least until day 19 and then boost it up to 55-65? Or, what are some suggestions for me to do according to my air cells at this point?

If you think I should, what is the absolute lowest I shouldn't let it go? Or should I just continue running it like I have been and keep hum between 30-35 until day 19?

I'm just worried that I'm going to do to much, or not enough at all....I want to give them the best chance possible chance of hatching correctly. I have 3 days to do whatever I can. If any corrections need to made then I still have a little time. I just don't want to be one of those ppl on day 19 saying...."oh shoot, I messed up, look at the size of my air cells, I should've done this, or I should've done that", etc....

I think you should keep going how you have it. It seems to be working.

 

[katiek77]

So would you recommend me running my hum lower than what I have it now? At least until day 19 and then boost it up to 55-65? Or, what are some suggestions for me to do according to my air cells at this point?

If you think I should, what is the absolute lowest I shouldn't let it go? Or should I just continue running it like I have been and keep hum between 30-35 until day 19?

I'm just worried that I'm going to do to much, or not enough at all....I want to give them the best chance possible chance of hatching correctly. I have 3 days to do whatever I can. If any corrections need to made then I still have a little time. I just don't want to be one of those ppl on day 19 saying...."oh shoot, I messed up, look at the size of my air cells, I should've done this, or I should've done that", etc....

Everyone has their own way on doing hatches and what works for them. My very first hatch I did the humidity as others recommended and the results weren’t that great. I live in a humid area in the south so it didn’t work for me. I love the dry hatch method. Since I’m in the south it works perfectly for me. If you have been running it in the 30’s and have had good development and good loss in your eggs I’d keep on doing that. At lockdown I wouldn’t increase the humidity more than 20%. Keep good notes on what worked for you and your next hatch you can rework the numbers to see if it betters it. I cannot wait to see baby pics.

 

[Schell1226]

Everyone has their own way on doing hatches and what works for them. My very first hatch I did the humidity as others recommended and the results weren’t that great. I live in a humid area in the south so it didn’t work for me. I love the dry hatch method. Since I’m in the south it works perfectly for me. If you have been running it in the 30’s and have had good development and good loss in your eggs I’d keep on doing that. At lockdown I wouldn’t increase the humidity more than 20%. Keep good notes on what worked for you and your next hatch you can rework the numbers to see if it betters it. I cannot wait to see baby pics.

I can completely agree with that. I've read so many different forums where ppl started their hum at 40+ and had disasterous results. I decided to try more of the dry method seeming how I'm using a styro bator and whatnot. I'm just having a hard time determining where the air cells should be at this point because of the positioning of where they're at on the egg. It's hard for me to tell when all pics show a very slanted air cell that proceeds half way down the egg on one side and mine are pretty much fixed at the top.

I plan on leaving them upright in the egg carton during hatch. I cut the egg carton down quite a bit and also cut along the bottom of it so they'd get air on all sides.

I tend to over think things sometimes, well....a lot of times, and when I candled on day 14 and seen my air cells more or less straight across I panicked and wondered why they haven't slanted downwards so that's why I posted pics and wanted to get a better idea of what I'm dealing with as far as my hum being where I've had it. I didn't know if I should make any adjustments since I still have a little time before locking down. Seeing air cells that don't look like most pics was frightening, especially this being my first time trying to hatch.

With these being Silkie eggs, I heard they tend to lose moisture more quicker than standard eggs and also hatch a little sooner. So, as far as that goes, I was concerned they were/weren't losing enough or possibly too much.

I consider all you guys pros and veterans at this! Any type of suggestions/recommendations are always helpful. I absolutely appreciate you taking the time to ease my mind a little.

 

[Rose Quartz]

I can completely agree with that. I've read so many different forums where ppl started their hum at 40+ and had disasterous results. I decided to try more of the dry method seeming how I'm using a styro bator and whatnot. I'm just having a hard time determining where the air cells should be at this point because of the positioning of where they're at on the egg. It's hard for me to tell when all pics show a very slanted air cell that proceeds half way down the egg on one side and mine are pretty much fixed at the top.

I plan on leaving them upright in the egg carton during hatch. I cut the egg carton down quite a bit and also cut along the bottom of it so they'd get air on all sides.

I tend to over think things sometimes, well....a lot of times, and when I candled on day 14 and seen my air cells more or less straight across I panicked and wondered why they haven't slanted downwards so that's why I posted pics and wanted to get a better idea of what I'm dealing with as far as my hum being where I've had it. I didn't know if I should make any adjustments since I still have a little time before locking down. Seeing air cells that don't look like most pics was frightening, especially this being my first time trying to hatch.

With these being Silkie eggs, I heard they tend to lose moisture more quicker than standard eggs and also hatch a little sooner. So, as far as that goes, I was concerned they were/weren't losing enough or possibly too much.

I consider all you guys pros and veterans at this! Any type of suggestions/recommendations are always helpful. I absolutely appreciate you taking the time to ease my mind a little.

oh, heh, Well I've only been hatching for, 4 years. I've never set silkies but I have set thicker shelled eggs that didn't loose enough, and thinner shelled ones that lost too much. I now have some Bantam eggs in an incu.
My very first hatch I basically didn't sleep for 3 weeks. :3 I know where you're coming from. It's stressful when you're unsure. They're a lot more tolerant than you expect, ball park is what you're really looking for, I've found, on average close enough. It'll never be perfect.