ATTENTION NEWBIES TO INCUBATING

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

Researchers have found that lowering temperatures will prolong incubation,
HOWEVER it is favourable to do so at the end of incubation.
Day 19 & 20 Temp Min 98.0 Max 98.5
Day 21 Temp Min 97 Max 98.0
for more information please refer here:
http://www.hubbardbreeders.com/managementguides/Incubation guide (english).pdf
​

Quote: http://www.pasreform.com/academy/frequently-asked-questions/incubation/33-empty-shells-a-valuable-source-of-information.html

 

[sellison]

Thank you for the information, I thought I had been all through the hatching 101 articles but I must of missed this. I will try looking for it again. Again Thank you for being so patient.

 

[sellison]

So I took a little bit of what you did and had a great hatch. I had two incubators going at the same time with the same kind of eggs.

One I did not add any water until day 14 and then only added about 2 TBSP's and only once. On day 18 I added 4TBSPs and locked it down. The humidity only hit 50 percent but once they started hatching the humidity went to 70-80 percent. I set 42 eggs and had 12 quitters or infertile. (I am tring to get a couple last batches out of some older hens so that is why that number is low) Anyway out of 30 eggs, 20 hatched and the shells were beautiful and babies healthy.

The second incubator I added 2TBSPs water every other day and humidity stayed at about 30-40 percent. On day 18 I added 4 TBSPs and humidity went to 50 percent but again once they hatched the humidity went to 70-80 percent and stayed. I did turn down the temp to 98.0 They all hatched in the 24 hours. I have never had that. I had 28 out of the 32 eggs hatch. Yippe!! Hope I can do this again next year.

 

[Sylviaanne]

So I took a little bit of what you did and had a great hatch. I had two incubators going at the same time with the same kind of eggs.

One I did not add any water until day 14 and then only added about 2 TBSP's and only once. On day 18 I added 4TBSPs and locked it down. The humidity only hit 50 percent but once they started hatching the humidity went to 70-80 percent. I set 42 eggs and had 12 quitters or infertile. (I am tring to get a couple last batches out of some older hens so that is why that number is low) Anyway out of 30 eggs, 20 hatched and the shells were beautiful and babies healthy.

The second incubator I added 2TBSPs water every other day and humidity stayed at about 30-40 percent. On day 18 I added 4 TBSPs and humidity went to 50 percent but again once they hatched the humidity went to 70-80 percent and stayed. I did turn down the temp to 98.0 They all hatched in the 24 hours. I have never had that. I had 28 out of the 32 eggs hatch. Yippe!! Hope I can do this again next year.

I had 2 incubators going also. One has a fan and the other is still air, both have egg turners now. Neither of them did I put water in and the humidity was between 35 to 43% and off and on it would rise and come back down because of the rain. At lock down I added water to the one with a fan and removed the egg turner. The humidity rose to 79% but came down to about 55-60% until the eggs started to hatch, when it went up.

The 2nd incubator hasn't gotten to lock down yet but I don't have high hopes for the babies. One morning, early, early before light, I woke up and it was hot in the house so I went to check on the temps in the incubators, the 2nd one had only been set for about 2 days. It read 102 degrees so I turned it down. Unfortunately, I was groggy and didn't have my glasses on and I turned the knob the wrong way. When I woke up several hours later, it read 106 degrees. I tuned it down and opened the box to cool them down. I hope I didn't cook them all and I hope when I was cooling them down from 106 that I didn't chill them. Maybe I'll get a couple of them to hatch. Sylvia

 

[spotsplus]

I've found that here in the Northeast my incubator works best at 99 degrees and 50% humidity until lockdown at day 19 then up the humidity to 65%. This was after some hatches had sticky chicks and some had dried out chicks- hands on learning!

 

[Lizz9311]

REVISED CHART:

Totally printing this out for a reference!

 

[Down by the Bay]

I have a related question, any help would be appreciated. I am doing my first hatch, in a forced air Hovabator. I only put a little bit of water in when I started, and humidity steadily dropped from close to 60% to 20% this morning. We are only on day 2 so I was surprised it dropped so drastic. I added more water this morning, it's climbed back up to 51% but I think it will go back down again. I'm not sure why it's showing such a fluctuation. I have both vent plugs in right now, I started with them out but the humidity dropped quite significantly. Our weather is sometimes humid, but we live on an island on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Not sure if the air is really that dry? I thought I'd be able to leave the incubator for 7 days and not have to add water, hoping to do the dry hatch method but if it dropped to 20% in 2 days I'm worried there will be major fluctuations the whole hatch and it will mess things up. Any advice?

 

[blucoondawg]

Do you run an air conditioner or Dehumidifier in your home? That could account for a drop in moisture. You could go with the lower humidity and monitor the size of your air cells by candling and ad more water if the air cells grow to large too quickly. I honestly don't think 20 is all that low in my dry hatch experience, I have usually had readings in mid to upper 30s and still had eggs that could stand to lose a little more water. There really isn't a magic number as every egg will react differently due to shell thickness etc, better off monitoring with candling and adjusting accordingly then picking a number and seeing what happens, that can end up being a lot of trial and error

 

[Down by the Bay]

I don't run any air conditioners or dehumidifiers. I reread the article on Dry Incubation and he does say that every 3-4 days you will need to add 1/4 inch of water to the trough so I guess things aren't as bad as I thought. The humidity is running at around 50-55% now. Although all THREE of my hygrometers are reading different. One says 65%, but is a cheapy so I don't trust it because it's also reading a higher temperature than the others. One reads 55% and one reads 50%. These two have different temp readings as well by about 3 degrees, but I am trusting the one that is reading the same as the thermometer that came with the incubator. SO frustrating! But thanks very much for your reply!

 

[blucoondawg]

What the author of that article experienced really has no bearing on your results. That is what is so difficult about incubating, my results or methods won't necessarily work for you and vice versa. There is too much fluctuation from environment and climate. For me 50% is far too high my air cells wouldn't grow well. I do my hatches in April when it is still winter like weather here so air is quite dry. A full load of eggs gives off enough moisture to usually keep it in the upper 20s to mid 30s and I still have air cells which don't grow as much as I like. Humidity is all about the air cell. As you get more experienced you will learn what a good sized air cell is and how to monitor that way. It is my experience also that a little drier is better than to wet.
You can check your hygrometer by placing it in a sealed bag or container with some table salt soaked with water. Leave it set over night and your hygrometer should read 75 percent if not then just remember how far off it is. I use a really cheap small round type from a pet store and it is accurate