Are they doomed?

[jrsuperfrog]

I have 55 eggs in on day 16 (candled) down from 72 on day 10 and I have been trying to get the humidity down... it's 67 and has been the whole time... they were fertile swimming around and looking on day 12... however the humidity will not come down even with only one water cell filled ,(our ambient humidity is probably 80° outside, where I live) ... am i too late? Are they all doomed? Probably $75 worth of eggs

 

[Erka97]

I don't think they're all doomed, however you'll probably have less actually make it out than you would otherwise.
When I used to run my humidity too high I would usually get a few survivors, there would just also be quite a few others that died at hatch. I don't really know how to help them with this.
As for lowering humidity, I've seen suggestions of adding trays of rice or desiccant packets from shoes to the incubator. That may help, although the amount will be limited since you're already pretty close to hatch time.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I have 55 eggs in on day 16 (candled) down from 72 on day 10 and I have been trying to get the humidity down... it's 67 and has been the whole time... they were fertile swimming around and looking on day 12... however the humidity will not come down even with only one water cell filled ,(our ambient humidity is probably 80° outside, where I live) ... am i too late? Are they all doomed? Probably $75 worth of eggs

When your humidity is that high, you should run dry. At this point I would pull the eggs out, dump the water and dry the incubator then put them back in. I would push lockdown back until the first pip to give them more time and if you have room I would put them in cut down cartons to hatch so that they are upright and gravity will help keep moisture to the bottom. That is really high humidity for the first 17 days if you are not in a high elevation. I would expect high occurances of malpositioned chicks because they've grown to big to turn and high occurances of chicks drowning at hatch time. If you run dry and can get decent growth of the air cells before hatch and incubate them upright, you have a better chance. I'm going to give you a humidity link to help for future hatches and you are welcome to join us on the hands on hatching and help thread if you find you need further assistance, help in assisting, etc.
http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

 

[jrsuperfrog]

When your humidity is that high, you should run dry. At this point I would pull the eggs out, dump the water and dry the incubator then put them back in. I would push lockdown back until the first pip to give them more time and if you have room I would put them in cut down cartons to hatch so that they are upright and gravity will help keep moisture to the bottom. That is really high humidity for the first 17 days if you are not in a high elevation. I would expect high occurances of malpositioned chicks because they've grown to big to turn and high occurances of chicks drowning at hatch time. If you run dry and can get decent growth of the air cells before hatch and incubate them upright, you have a better chance. I'm going to give you a humidity link to help for future hatches and you are welcome to join us on the hands on hatching and help thread if you find you need further assistance, help in assisting, etc.
http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

so you are saying go dry now and stay that way for the remainder of the hatch?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

so you are saying go dry now and stay that way for the remainder of the hatch?

Until the first pip, unless they grow significantly in the next 2-3 days. If they grow good between now and day 19 go into lockdown day 19. If not when you see that first pip raise the humidity. They need the higher humidity for hatching. It keeps the membranes from drying out during hatch and gluing them in.

 

[jrsuperfrog]

Until the first pip, unless they grow significantly in the next 2-3 days. If they grow good between now and day 19 go into lockdown day 19. If not when you see that first pip raise the humidity. They need the higher humidity for hatching. It keeps the membranes from drying out during hatch and gluing them in.

Ok... I got home emptied the water out and dried completely... forgot to candle (hockey playoff season, it is what it is) humidity dropped and all was well (forgot to change alarm settings) 3:00 am alarm is waking the dead! I put water in a small lil 2"x2" cell to try to get it up to about 40% so the **** alarm would shut up... got up this morning... 67%... smh... emptied water again, dried it all out,CHANGED THE **** ALARM SETTING and candled a couple... (didnt want to monkey with em too much since I've been in there so much the last couple days) the air cell size look pretty good to me on the ones I candles (about 1/5 the size of the egg) eggs are otherwise mostly black. I presume cuz there's a chicken in the way of the light... we'll see what happens...
Do you think I should unplug the Turner and hatch in there or take it out and put em in egg cartons to hatch? (in reference to that suggestion from the other post)

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Ok... I got home emptied the water out and dried completely... forgot to candle (hockey playoff season, it is what it is) humidity dropped and all was well (forgot to change alarm settings) 3:00 am alarm is waking the dead! I put water in a small lil 2"x2" cell to try to get it up to about 40% so the **** alarm would shut up... got up this morning... 67%... smh... emptied water again, dried it all out,CHANGED THE **** ALARM SETTING and candled a couple... (didnt want to monkey with em too much since I've been in there so much the last couple days) the air cell size look pretty good to me on the ones I candles (about 1/5 the size of the egg) eggs are otherwise mostly black. I presume cuz there's a chicken in the way of the light... we'll see what happens...
Do you think I should unplug the Turner and hatch in there or take it out and put em in egg cartons to hatch? (in reference to that suggestion from the other post)

I never recommend hatching in the turners. They increase the chance of injuries, especially leg injuries of new chicks. If you hatch upright I highly recommend using cut down cartons.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree to take the turner out for hatch, mainly for the potential injuries to legs, wings and necks in those sharp corners. A smaller matter is that it makes clean-up easier if you take the turner out.

You don’t have to hatch them upright. Many of us just lay them flat. I don’t know how much difference it might make in this hatch, but if you decide to use cartons, cut them out so there is just enough left to hold the eggs upright with the air cell side up top. That gives the chick more room to hatch and allows the porous egg shell to breathe. It’s not something you have to do.

And check that link in Amy’s signature about hatching help. Amy is one of the experts on that topic on the forum. Don’t do anything dramatic without chatting with people about it on that thread. Patience is usually your friend when hatching.

Good luck with the hatch and no, don’t give up hope.

 

[jrsuperfrog]

Thank you all... the clock will click to day 19 about mid day today so I'm pushing backlockdown to tonight (as advised due to high humidity) and a little prayer to boot... we'll see... I'm running dry and I still have 45% so if it goes up at all today I think I'm going to go into lockdown dry and keep an eye on it. If it don't continue to rise I'll add water through the vent hole...

II never told you guys what i have...(please pardon spelling) i have 10 blueblack white crested polish, 12 cream brebanters, 6 domineckers 3 EE/X experiments, 1 ameriflower and 23 RIR's... Lord I hope the polish and brebanters do well or my wife is going to come unhinged! Lol y'all pray for me!

 

[jrsuperfrog]

P.S. that link was very informitave and quite an easy read too... thank you amy!