Air sack size

[HPancho]

This is day 18. I took them off of the rotation thingy today.
As of day 15 all of them had movement. But I noticed the air sack was quite small. I read (on BYC somewhere before becoming a member) to dump out the water and run them without the humidity until lock down. I saw movement in most but hart to tell day 18.. so I'm ready to had water back? It did seem to help but they air sack still seems small to me. The incubator was super humid before.. I had no idea this was a thing.. until reading on BYC. I'm very thankful for the knowledge and willingness to come along side her on this group. Please tell me your thoughts as I more forward.

 

[Tex452]

If your air sacks are small it means they didn’t dehydrate enough, and too much water was added, if this is true the chicks will have a greater chance of drowning.
I dry hatch, and have a great hatch rate, I don’t add water at any time, I am in a high humidity area.
The chicks hatch really easy and are very healthy.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The eggs need to lose a certain amount of moisture to hatch. Nature was kind enough to give us a fairly wide window that will work but there are limits. You control how much moisture is lost during incubation by managing humidity.

When the egg hatches you want the humidity fairly high to prevent shrink wrap when the egg external pips. That's why most incubator manufacturers and experts recommend raising humidity during lockdown. Shrink wrap does not always happen if the humidity is low but it happens often enough that the manufacturers and professionals recommend raising the humidity and maintaining higher humidity.

Different humidities during incubation work for different people. That's due to differences in incubators, different eggs, and different background conditions like humidity and temperature. Some people do great at 50% humidity, some at 30%. Through trial and error I determined my best humidity is around 40%. My suggestion to find yours is to be consistent during incubation, analyze the results by opening the unhatched eggs, and adjust as necessary. It took me 3 or 4 hatches to decide what worked best for me.

Some people track moisture loss by weighing the eggs when they start and at intervals during incubation. The typical goal is 13% weight loss by lockdown. Others mark the air cell at different times and estimate it by that.

So where do you go from here with this hatch. You have determined you probably did not lose as much moisture as you would like. You could carry on with normal humidity during lockdown, usually a minimum of 65%, and see what happens.

The important part of raising humidity for lockdown is to have the higher humidity when they external pip. Some eggs can pip as much as two full days before the 21 days are up. That's why we typically start lockdown at Day 18. But a lot of eggs do not external pip until Day 21 or even after. If you are willing to risk it, you can delay raising humidity for a day or two or until an egg actually pips. Observe them closely and be ready to raise humidity when you see a pip.

Either way I think you are going to be highly stressed for this hatch, I would be. I don't know which way gives you a better chance of success. I've never been in your situation so I'm not sure what I would do.

Good luck with this hatch and your next.

 

[HPancho]

Do you think the air sack is small based on the pictures?
Do you think I should just put a damp paper towel in there, or put the bottle back on to put water in the chamber again for the lockdown?
I do now understand how we got here.. just looking for help moving forward with this batch. Any possible intervention that can help.
Thank you so much for your time.

 

[HPancho]

The eggs need to lose a certain amount of moisture to hatch. Nature was kind enough to give us a fairly wide window that will work but there are limits. You control how much moisture is lost during incubation by managing humidity.

When the egg hatches you want the humidity fairly high to prevent shrink wrap when the egg external pips. That's why most incubator manufacturers and experts recommend raising humidity during lockdown. Shrink wrap does not always happen if the humidity is low but it happens often enough that the manufacturers and professionals recommend raising the humidity and maintaining higher humidity.

Different humidities during incubation work for different people. That's due to differences in incubators, different eggs, and different background conditions like humidity and temperature. Some people do great at 50% humidity, some at 30%. Through trial and error I determined my best humidity is around 40%. My suggestion to find yours is to be consistent during incubation, analyze the results by opening the unhatched eggs, and adjust as necessary. It took me 3 or 4 hatches to decide what worked best for me.

Some people track moisture loss by weighing the eggs when they start and at intervals during incubation. The typical goal is 13% weight loss by lockdown. Others mark the air cell at different times and estimate it by that.

So where do you go from here with this hatch. You have determined you probably did not lose as much moisture as you would like. You could carry on with normal humidity during lockdown, usually a minimum of 65%, and see what happens.

The important part of raising humidity for lockdown is to have the higher humidity when they external pip. Some eggs can pip as much as two full days before the 21 days are up. That's why we typically start lockdown at Day 18. But a lot of eggs do not external pip until Day 21 or even after. If you are willing to risk it, you can delay raising humidity for a day or two or until an egg actually pips. Observe them closely and be ready to raise humidity when you see a pip.

Either way I think you are going to be highly stressed for this hatch, I would be. I don't know which way gives you a better chance of success. I've never been in your situation so I'm not sure what I would do.

Good luck with this hatch and your next.

Thank you, I will increase humidity tomorrow. The Lord knows, I will learn from this and hope to be a good steward moving forward. Yes, it's always stressful such a huge thing to have little lives in your hands. I cannot read the humidity with this incubator. It is wild because the first two times I have high hatch rates, but I never even considered the air sacks or humidity 8 of 12 the first time and 11 of 12 the second time. I'll let you know that outcome. I so apricate yall help!!

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC. I would probably not raise my humidity until I got an external pip.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you have had success doing it this way in the past then you have a good shot at further success. Treat this as a learning experience and let us know how it goes.

 

[Tex452]

The eggs need to lose a certain amount of moisture to hatch. Nature was kind enough to give us a fairly wide window that will work but there are limits. You control how much moisture is lost during incubation by managing humidity.

When the egg hatches you want the humidity fairly high to prevent shrink wrap when the egg external pips. That's why most incubator manufacturers and experts recommend raising humidity during lockdown. Shrink wrap does not always happen if the humidity is low but it happens often enough that the manufacturers and professionals recommend raising the humidity and maintaining higher humidity.

Different humidities during incubation work for different people. That's due to differences in incubators, different eggs, and different background conditions like humidity and temperature. Some people do great at 50% humidity, some at 30%. Through trial and error I determined my best humidity is around 40%. My suggestion to find yours is to be consistent during incubation, analyze the results by opening the unhatched eggs, and adjust as necessary. It took me 3 or 4 hatches to decide what worked best for me.

Some people track moisture loss by weighing the eggs when they start and at intervals during incubation. The typical goal is 13% weight loss by lockdown. Others mark the air cell at different times and estimate it by that.

So where do you go from here with this hatch. You have determined you probably did not lose as much moisture as you would like. You could carry on with normal humidity during lockdown, usually a minimum of 65%, and see what happens.

The important part of raising humidity for lockdown is to have the higher humidity when they external pip. Some eggs can pip as much as two full days before the 21 days are up. That's why we typically start lockdown at Day 18. But a lot of eggs do not external pip until Day 21 or even after. If you are willing to risk it, you can delay raising humidity for a day or two or until an egg actually pips. Observe them closely and be ready to raise humidity when you see a pip.

Either way I think you are going to be highly stressed for this hatch, I would be. I don't know which way gives you a better chance of success. I've never been in your situation so I'm not sure what I would do.

Good luck with this hatch and your next.

Good advice here.
When my eggs start hatching, humidity jumps way up from around 40-80’s%, the chicks hatch easy and are very healthy.
We have high humidity, especially this time of year, that’s why I don’t add any water, even during lockdown.

 

[HPancho]

Good advice here.
When my eggs start hatching, humidity jumps way up from around 40-80’s%, the chicks hatch easy and are very healthy.
We have high humidity, especially this time of year, that’s why I don’t add any water, even during lockdown.

TX I'm in WA now.. The green part makes sense that the humidity would go up. I have been watching somethings on dry hatching.. very interesting. Would like to try sometime.

 

[Tex452]

TX I'm in WA now.. The green part makes sense that the humidity would go up. I have been watching somethings on dry hatching.. very interesting. Would like to try sometime.

I’m a believer in dry hatching, and I would be afraid to try anything else.