Checked way overdue eggs, all didn't absorb yolk, all dead:humidity?

[DFCottage]

I used a Brinsea for my hatch.. so temp stayed right about 99.5. I had 2 different hygrometers in there (both calibrated) and were always within about 1-3% of eachother.

Can anyone recommend a GOOD hygrometer or digital temp/hygrometer combo? I've had horrible luck with the accu-rite ones from wally world, and honestly, the thermometer that came with my hovabator actually seems to be quite accurate.. I'm getting close to just tossing the hovabator and sticking with the Brinseas.. the temps are so steady and the humidity hardly budges.. the only problem I've had is that to get the humidity up for lockdown I had to put in 2 paper towels partially submerged in the wells that covered almost the entire bottom of the bator in order to reach the 70%.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

where do you find that you need the humidity at 70%, why? I'm getting very frustrated with it, low humidity doesn't cause so called 'shrink wrap' most of the time its the membrane pull away from the shell and high humidity or shipping causes that, moisture gets between the shell and membrane, then sticks to the chick, i'm not yelling at you its this miss info that is getting to me.

 

[DFCottage]

70% for lockdown, not day 1-18. There is so much information out there on humidity, some people do a dry hatch, a lot of articles said to keep it at 50-55%... I'm confused too, and very frustrated... I think there is just such a massive range that chicks CAN develop in, but with different incubators, different areas of the country and times of year, etc, there are just so many factors. I think from what I'm finding is that you just have to do hatch after hatch and see what works best for what equipment that you have. I'm sure it'll be a while before I find the humidity that works well for me.. but right now there is a second group in the Brinsea, and I'm keeping that at around 40%. The hovabator has another group, and that seems to be settling around 35%. So will just have to see what this next hatch brings. My chicks that didn't make it didn't look shrink wrapped at all.. I have a feeling they drowned.. which I believe is humidity too high.. that group was at around 45-50% for the first 18 days, then 60% the first day of lockdown, then I finally got it up to 70% for the remaining days. It's hard for me to understand how that could cause drowned chicks, but most of those that didn't make it also didn't have the yolks absorbed.

Crossing fingers for a good next hatch.

 

[ItsAZOO32]

Agreed!! Too much conflicting information. It's freaking me out

 

[dsqard]

Just learning about all this incubating stuff and I am thinking there is going to be some trial and error until you know what works for your local climate and altitude. I live at about 4500' and the humidity swings quite a bit. Best thing you can do is watch the size of the air cells. If the eggs are not losing enough moisture, the air cells will be too small so decrease your humidity and vice versa. I do recommend getting the Brinsea Spot Check or the thermometer Buck Creek Chickens recommended (they are actually the same thermometer, just sold under different names) They are very accurate and not very expensive. Just my two cents.

 

[zekii]

I'm into my 1st hatch with my old 1602N hovabator (Day 7), the humidity is definitely tough to maintain, mine fluctuates between
23 - 55%, did get the temps around 99.5F.

Also I'm confused with all the conflicting info about humidity, so I'll see how this 1st hatch goes, then I'm considering a better incubator if I intend to do more hatches.

I bought a Extech 445815 and am very happy with the way it has performed, seems to be right on with temp/humidity, might be a little expensive for some, but in the long run I think it's a good thermo/hygrometer.

http://www.amazon.com/Extech-445815-Humidity-Meter-Remote/dp/B000GFCN1I


Clint

 

[scbatz33]

Quote:
Eggs during incubation have to lose a certain percentage of fluid/water in order for the chick to grow. Some of that water/fluid is absorbed by the chick as it grows. However, the remaining liquid must evaporate out of the egg. When your humidity is too high, the egg does not lose the correct amount of liquid. Thus the egg has too much water in it and when the chick internally pips into the air cell, it gets a lung full of fluid and drowns.

 

[scbatz33]

There was a really good video on the stages of egg development...I will find it and post it.

I have been hatching for several years and it does take time to get your particular incubator in hand as well as understanding where you live and how that effects the process.

Last summer I had my incubator set up in a barn. All spring I had good hatches. Then i late june I had a hatch of drown eggs. I did absolutely nothing different in the incubation process - dry hatch all the way. Same incubator, etc. However, the outside humidity had increased so dramatically that I couldn't get the incubator's level down 1-18. I moved the incubator indoors around day 15 but it was too late. I lost about 1/2 the chicks to drowning.

 

[scbatz33]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IAP8OfiuPE

It's on Youtube - Chicken egg defies evolution.

Watch and listen to the whole thing. It helps soooooo much to understand what is going on during the incubation process. It also helps give you the basic information that will help to wade through all the info you get bombarded with on here. Good and bad, you still have to decide what's what, and there is a ton of stuff on this site!

 

[scbatz33]

If you are squeamish, don't watch this video.

This video shows eggs throughout development. It does only show 19 pic so I don't know if they cut out at the beginning or the end or both.