Anybody else here that DON'T use Lockdown Method??

[Habibs Hens]

i use the semi lockdown method and for me its fine


i stop turning on day 3 and marke the aircell so i know which is teh slant

and the slant is facing up

and raise humidity to 65%

then i will leave it as if it was lockdown

but if i need to go in i raise humidity to 70% and turn off fan to bator and then open bator candle and put back as i picked it up and even candling while keeping egg is same position on its side

by the time i put egg back humidity is back to 65% and egg has stayed in same position


usually i dont need to ever open bator during lockdown so that why i call it semi lockdown as its still lockdown in effect

 

[shardean]

The batch hatching now is the closest to lock down I have done. I have been removing the chicks when they are dry enough. I brought the humidity up for the last 3 days and stopped turning. I have the eggs on little rings but even with that the hatched chicks have knocked them around! With each hatch I learn more. Half of the chicks that have hatched so far, hatched on day 20...6 more so far today, and I hear peeping still. 2 eggs were set late so they shouldn't hatch until tomorrow. I don't candle so not sure of the 8 left how many have a viable chick in them! I do like hearing that people are having a good hatch rate even though they open the bator during the last 3 days!

 

[BayGoose]

I'm curious to see what other people do and see other techniques

I guess you can say I do semi lockdown then because once the chicks start hatching, I don't open the bator much till chicks dry. I'll remove them and let the rest of the eggs hatch. I don't sit and mess with them of course! I doubt my humidity is ever above 75%. Eggs need to lose moisture. I once had eggs in an incubator in my basement where the humidity is relatively higher. I added some water to the bator anyways (as I do add SOME water from time to time, I let it run dry before adding more though).The eggs didn't develop large enough air cells at hatching time and they never pipped. Fully developed, but died before even trying to hatch. I've seen people using multiple hydrometers and keeping their humidity during the majority of incubation at 60%. Then they don't hatch. I feel like I want to express to them that it's so much simpler than that! I like my eggs drying out during incubation lol. Nice big air cells! And I continue that till I see a pip. Then I raise the humidity, sometimes adding a little sponge and sit and watch (if I have time as its crazy here at my place).

On the other topic... I've watched hens, ducks, geese roll their own eggs even when they have externally pipped. Naturally, chicks that have hatched in their nests still knock around unhatched eggs, even Momma jostles them around. So chicks in my incubator bumping around unhatched eggs didn't seem to affect them much either in my experiences. There are always those that don't hatch too. With geese, unhatched eggs that were getting ready to zip actually hatched faster when being bumped around. Almost like they were encouraged to speed it up. They are sleepy when they are hatching or just hatched and it kind of jolts them awake and I'll watch them turn and pip faster. I really haven't seen much of this with chicks as I mostly hatch waterfowl. I'll do about 3 sets of chicken eggs a year. I like to see others debate (nicely of course

) and hopefully others who are having difficulty hatching eggs may try some of these different techniques and see what works best for them. Maybe be a little more careless and not worry so much about humidity so much. I have hardly ever seen shrink wrapping. I'm sure things are different though in different climates. I love to help people out as learning how to incubate can be frustrating. There can be lots of troubleshooting, but I believe most of the causes here are from too high of humidity. Having a failed hatch is a real bummer!

 

[BayGoose]

And I hope I don't appear like a know-it-all

. I'm still learning. I guess I'm just old school with some things lol. I just want to put my experiences out there and if someone is struggling, they may try some of these different styles of incubating that everyone has shared here. But I think what I'm mostly referring here, is dry incubation and not being so precise and worrying yourself so much.


ETA: I also mist and cool my waterfowl eggs daily after a week of incubation.This helps with moisture loss through evaporation. Sometimes I do this with chicken eggs. Here's a quote from a random website I just googled "When temperatures rise, some birds fly to the nearest water; soak their breast feathers, and return to the nest to wet their eggs or chicks. Belly-soaking also helps to cool the adult at the nest." http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Birds/climate-behavioral-adaptations.html I'm sure I could more articles about this.

I like to imitate nature as best as possible, as I've watched killdeers and ducks wet their eggs in my own backyard. Momma birds don't use hydrometers. Dampening eggs actually helps with evaporation/moisture loss and cooling, not raising the humidity. Too much humidity= bad. I highly recommend misting and cooling ducks and geese.

 

[NYREDS]

I've been hatching eggs for many, many years. From quails to geese. Every single spring. I'm new on here and I read a lot of posts of people using lockdown days prior to hatching. I never even heard of lockdown till I hopped onto this site. I only raise the humidity when I see my first external pip. I've had great success with high hatch rates, especially this season. When you think about it, the hen gets off the nest to eat and drink everyday. She isn't keeping that much humidity under her till that first chick hatches. I don't usually use my hydrometers either. When I do though, the majority of incubation is only at 30%. When I see my first pip, I raise it to about 60%. But I don't necessarily put them in lockdown either. Sometimes I do open the incubator and the humidity climbs right back up. Maybe it's just my incubators doing their job well? But they hatch just fine. I'm just afraid everyone is getting too technical and making themselves worry too much! Sometimes when I find myself getting a little careless of my clutch in the incubator, it's some of my best hatch rates LOL. Anybody else not abide the usual lockdown rules? Or am I the only nut here

I don't & never have. Sounds like you & I approach incubating in a similar manner. Like you I never heard of "lockdown" prior to this site. It's one of many BYC terms that aren't used elsewhere in the poultry world. I think many of the beginners here tend to over think & over complicate many things, hatching among them. Eggs have been hatching for millions of years, mostly w/o human interference.

 

[rosiethechicken]

Quoting Barbossa "And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner."

The lockdown rules are more like guidelines to keep drama and interference to minimum. Thats my take anyway.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

The BYC board has folks on it of every conceivable experience range and ability from those who were literally just given some eggs they decided to hatch on a whim to those who have been doing it since before I was born.

IF you're experienced and enjoying a high success rate then keep right on doing what you're doing. Why change? I don't do the "lockdown" thing as much as some seem to feel it needs to be done either. Indeed when I'm doing the hatching display for my county fair I end up having to "break" every rule in the book to keep those eggs alive, but then I'm also dealing with extreme conditions.

But for the folks who are new to hatching and don't yet know any better, especially if they have equipment that does not respond quickly to changes such as the box being opened and closed then the lockdown concept can be a good thing. They need a more precise set of instructions than more experienced hatchers do and most importantly need to know when to sit on their hands and leave well enough alone. As they gain more knowledge and experience they too will come to realize where they should and should not fiddle with things. But until they do they need a clear set of instructions to give them the confidence to go through with it.

We get folks fairly often who do not know what they are doing and just went and did whatever only to come running here looking for help and advice to save the day (and often enough when it's too late). These are the folks who need the "lockdown method."

If they are enjoying good hatch rates everyone else should keep on doing what they've always done.

 

[gabrielle1976]

The BYC board has folks on it of every conceivable experience range and ability from those who were literally just given some eggs they decided to hatch on a whim to those who have been doing it since before I was born.
IF you're experienced and enjoying a high success rate then keep right on doing what you're doing. Why change? I don't do the "lockdown" thing as much as some seem to feel it needs to be done either. Indeed when I'm doing the hatching display for my county fair I end up having to "break" every rule in the book to keep those eggs alive, but then I'm also dealing with extreme conditions.
But for the folks who are new to hatching and don't yet know any better, especially if they have equipment that does not respond quickly to changes such as the box being opened and closed then the lockdown concept can be a good thing. They need a more precise set of instructions than more experienced hatchers do and most importantly need to know when to sit on their hands and leave well enough alone. As they gain more knowledge and experience they too will come to realize where they should and should not fiddle with things. But until they do they need a clear set of instructions to give them the confidence to go through with it.
We get folks fairly often who do not know what they are doing and just went and did whatever only to come running here looking for help and advice to save the day (and often enough when it's too late). These are the folks who need the "lockdown method."
If they are enjoying good hatch rates everyone else should keep on doing what they've always done.

I have to agree thank you for putting it so well.

 

[quintinp]

The BYC board has folks on it of every conceivable experience range and ability from those who were literally just given some eggs they decided to hatch on a whim to those who have been doing it since before I was born.
IF you're experienced and enjoying a high success rate then keep right on doing what you're doing. Why change? I don't do the "lockdown" thing as much as some seem to feel it needs to be done either. Indeed when I'm doing the hatching display for my county fair I end up having to "break" every rule in the book to keep those eggs alive, but then I'm also dealing with extreme conditions.
But for the folks who are new to hatching and don't yet know any better, especially if they have equipment that does not respond quickly to changes such as the box being opened and closed then the lockdown concept can be a good thing. They need a more precise set of instructions than more experienced hatchers do and most importantly need to know when to sit on their hands and leave well enough alone. As they gain more knowledge and experience they too will come to realize where they should and should not fiddle with things. But until they do they need a clear set of instructions to give them the confidence to go through with it.
We get folks fairly often who do not know what they are doing and just went and did whatever only to come running here looking for help and advice to save the day (and often enough when it's too late). These are the folks who need the "lockdown method."
If they are enjoying good hatch rates everyone else should keep on doing what they've always done.

This is very true!

I completely agree.