BackyardBantams79
Chirping
- Mar 30, 2018
- 33
- 50
- 89
That's good to know. I'm going to run the first 10 days of incubation around 55%, then slowly drop while keeping an eye on the air cells. I wish I'd have known about the weight thing before I started or set the eggs under the hen initially. I would have preferred that method... more precise. I feel like during this crucial development stage (my eggs are a variety of ages between 5-9 days), it won't harm them to have the humidity higher at 55-60% as I get a handle on this incubator (she booted/abandoned her eggs the day after I got the incubator set up). It likes to stay at 60% if I have more than one section of the tray with water in it, I've only done 1 section (45-50% results) and 2 sections (55-60%). There are a few corner sections that are a fraction of the surface area so I can use them if I want to go lower without going completely dry. I'm working hard now to get a handle on it so I can lower it as needed as I go.
I like the idea of misting too, but about half my eggs were rolled through wet bedding a few days after the hen was setting on them (when she decided to boot some of them) and I worry were potentially contaminated. From what I read, any moisture on the surface of the shell that's cooler than the egg itself will cause a cooling and be sucked in through the pore of the cell potentially bringing in any microorganisms on the surface of shell. I worry since mist would inadvertently be cooler that could happen. I think I'll save the misting for the next batch that's collected clean just to prevent any potential complications. I plan on watching the clutch like a hawk come hatching time. I'd rather have to assist a chick that's stuck in a slightly under-hydrated film than to have one drown before I knew it was in trouble. Neither are ideal, but we pick our battles, lol. And yes, I realize the humidity is relative to the duckling weight and ability to turn as well and also about the dangers of 'shrink wrapping'. It's just all so much to make choices on before I've been able to experience my first incubation hatch so we'll just have to see and I'll just have to keep an eye on new info I can scrounge from knowledgeable folks like y'all! Thanks for sharing!!!
