Day 14 and of course I am getting nervous.....

[lockedhearts]

Today is Day 14 on my Ebay Red Cochins and mt couple of Bantam plus the Favorelles from Bantyman. I candled again last night and will one more time before I move them to the hatcher. I only have 4 of each that are questionable and those look like they may or may not be developing, the shells for some reason have been harder to see through.
I have my hatcher up and it's a still air staying steady about 101 humidity is holding at 76%
I feel the humidity is a bit high so keeping an eye on it and will tweak Sunday and Monday if necessary.

I know there are many different theorys/opinions on what hatching humidity should be, I have always tried to stay no more than 70% . So any opinions?

 

[klf73]

I prefer to start my hatch in the high 50's - low 60's simply because the humidity jumps so high once hatching starts. I have lost too many *wet* chicks and have had great results since I reduced it.
Krista

 

[lockedhearts]

I start around 68-70 on Day 18 and I haven't had to add water ever. In the interest of trying to keep the hatcher closed I theorized that by the time they hatch it is 60 - 63 and they seem to do well. Maybe I should reconsider and let some water evaporate and start lower.

 

[Fudgie]

If the humidity is too high, take a paper towel and sop up the water in the trays. That will reduce the humidity really quick. I lost about 6 guineas to this last week and did not think of sopping up the dern water! Blonde moment I guess.

 

[shelleyd2008]

The humidity is supposed to be around 50 or 55% til day 18, then up to about 65% (or more) till hatch. A good way to tell if they are okay is by the size of the air sac. Here is a link that shows what it should look like.
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/hatch.htm#cond

 

[klf73]

Quote:
I followed those guidelines and lost a lot of wet chicks. I now dry incubate with humidity usually in the 30's and my hatch rate has skyrocketed, now I don't know what to do with all the *extra* chicks that are hatching

. I don't do the 65%+ just because once the hatch would start humidity would go to the 80%'s
That is what works for me, where I live

Krista

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
I followed those guidelines and lost a lot of wet chicks. I now dry incubate with humidity usually in the 30's and my hatch rate has skyrocketed, now I don't know what to do with all the *extra* chicks that are hatching

. I don't do the 65%+ just because once the hatch would start humidity would go to the 80%'s
That is what works for me, where I live

Krista

My humidity is very hard to get to go up. It is usually about 40% at the most, and when they are hatching, I can get it up to about 60%, but only for a few hours, a day at the most. I do pretty well with the humidity like this, out of 2 sets, I have had one egg each that didn't hatch.

 

[lotzahenz]

Shelley,

Just spent over an hour searching for the air sac Website, thanks so much. I like the drawing best. TSK