Day 16.5 Issues

[MyNameIs86]

Right now it is 1:19am on Monday aka Day 17 at 2pm. Eeek. I just decided to check on them and the humidity was 16%!
So I added A lot of water. I hope everything is good. I candled an egg (the smallest one) and the chick is still moving. But can this effect the out come? Help....

Tomorrow Tuesday is lock-down....

Also is the thing: the bigger the chick gets in the egg the lower the humidity? or higher the humidity.

 

[DanEP]

B6 One nite of 16% humidity shouldn't hurt your hatch. For lock down try to raise your humidity to 50- 60% and you should be fine.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

This will help you understand the humidity issues better..... https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101


paste from the article

HUMIDITY
The Air Bubble in the Egg
The average chicken egg has thousands of pores running through the shell allowing the embryo to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. Water is also lost through these pores. Soon after an egg is laid, a small air bubble or “air cell” forms in the large end of the egg from this water loss. Humidity levels in the incubator determine moisture evaporation during the 21 days of incubation and hatching. The air cell is crucial for the chick to break out of the egg shell at the end of the incubation period. The chick can drown if the air cell is too small or the chick may be retarded in growth if the air cell is too large. This is why maintaining the proper humidity is crucial.
Slightly lower humidity levels are more likely to be less disastrous than slightly higher humidity levels.

There are quite a few opinions on Humidity. After reading and researching for hours and hours,
I ALWAYS use DRY INCUBATION METHODS!

HOWEVER, if you are high altitude you will NOT use these methods!
Please continue with the 50-55% humidity and then 72% lockdown humidity.
The higher the Alt the more humidity needed.

What Dry Incubation implies.
Humidity is NOT A SET NUMBER, you need it YES!
However, you use it to "adjust" egg weight loss during incubation. We candle on days 7,10,14,18 To WATCH WEIGHT LOSS IN EVERY EGG! An EGG MUST lose approximately 13-14% of its weight during the incubation process. THIS IS YOUR GOAL!! You can monitor this by marking Air cells and also by weighing. Please refer to CANDLING section of this Article for more Air Cell info.

Size of air cell on day 7, 14, and 18 of incubation

I choose the easier method, keeping a close eye on air cell growth during incubation. You begin by ONLY adding a small amount of water and keep Humidity between 28%-45% and adjusting as you weigh or candle depending on moisture loss. So if your air cells look too large you must add humidity, too small lower it, and if your weighing you adjust as needed. UNTIL DAY 18 LOCKDOWN,
then stop turning and raise humidity to 65-70%

I have read and re-read this article numerous times!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method
And read this entire thread with over 300 posts of information
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/113681/humidity-in-bator-excellent-info-here-everyone-should-read-this

Humidity will naturally fluctuate in your incubator as it fluctuates widely with weather conditions.
If it is slightly lower or higher some days then don't worry about it. Do your best to keep the humidity level in the incubating room around 50%. You may actually need to dehumidify. By controlling the room humidity, you can be more accurate with humidity inside the incubator. Just remember high humidity is MUCH worse than low humidity as higher humidity hinders the evaporation inside of the egg. Each egg must lose approximately 13-14% of its weight
during the incubation process. You can monitor this by marking Air cells and also by weighing.
Please refer to CANDLING section of this Article for more Air Cell info.
​

NOTES: It’s a good idea to keep the incubator plugged into a surge protector. Use distilled water in your incubator to help prevent bacteria growth. Omphalitis, Mushy Chick Disease and Yolk Sack Infection may be caused by a bacterium that enters through the porous egg shell. Unfortunately, incubation conditions are ideal for breeding bacteria as well as incubating eggs. Brinsea sells a disinfectant, formulated to be used for cleaning eggs, incubators, safe and effective against yeasts, fungi, viruses and bacteria which can cause fatal damage to the growing embryo. Pennies can be added to water wells. Copper helps to destroy the cell walls of bacteria, thus keeping bacteria out of the incubator. Pennies before 1982 have more copper content and pure copper kills 99.9% of bacteria.​

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I have recieved your PM, and I accept your apology, I have thought it through and I have noticed that you have asked for help over the past few weeks and I was trying to help because I could tell you truly want a successful hatch. I don't make a profit off of writing articles and helping others so sure it put me "back" and I lost some sleep feeling bad, but I am also very forgiving! HOWEVER, I acknowledge the mistake and certainly embrace the fact that your sorry. I know how stressful incubating can be. So I am letting go of that in favor of a friendship. I will assume from all the PM's I had this morning that others I have helped had posted and "explained" things, I am glad the moderators cleaned the thread.

Again, I accept your apology, and I will also send an invite for you to join us on the incubating thread and ask that all others also forgive and help guide you as necessary. Its great to have support when you need it and know the people are good for giving it too! Link is always in my signature. I wish you THE very best of hatches.

 

[Baym]

I have recieved your PM, and I accept your apology, I have thought it through and I have noticed that you have asked for help over the past few weeks and I was trying to help because I could tell you truly want a successful hatch. I don't make a profit off of writing articles and helping others so sure it put me "back" and I lost some sleep feeling bad, but I am also very forgiving! HOWEVER, I acknowledge the mistake and certainly embrace the fact that your sorry. I know how stressful incubating can be. So I am letting go of that in favor of a friendship. I will assume from all the PM's I had this morning that others I have helped had posted and "explained" things, I am glad the moderators cleaned the thread.

Again, I accept your apology, and I will also send an invite for you to join us on the incubating thread and ask that all others also forgive and help guide you as necessary. Its great to have support when you need it and know the people are good for giving it too! Link is always in my signature. I wish you THE very best of hatches.

The world is a better place with wonderful people. OK GROUP HUG!

 

[Baym]

OK you have to be approaching day 21 about now? How is everything going?

 

[MyNameIs86]

It is Day 20....nothing. i thought i saw a few eggs rocking but I think it was either my imagination and hoping that they will hatch soon or perhaps i pushed on the table ever so slightly to make them rock alittle. No pips no sounds nothing. Day 20.... Getting anxious and aggitated. Perhaps they just are stubborn and don't want to hatch when i am watching such as a Watched Pot never boils... lol.

i wish i can candle them tonight to see what is going on.

 

[Baym]

It is Day 20....nothing. i thought i saw a few eggs rocking but I think it was either my imagination and hoping that they will hatch soon or perhaps i pushed on the table ever so slightly to make them rock alittle. No pips no sounds nothing. Day 20.... Getting anxious and aggitated. Perhaps they just are stubborn and don't want to hatch when i am watching such as a Watched Pot never boils... lol.

i wish i can candle them tonight to see what is going on.

Sounds silly but chirp at the eggs. They need a little encouragement. Once the first one PIPs and starts chirping, the others will start a knocking. Don't open that incubator to candle! CHIRP instead!

 

[MyNameIs86]

LOL... I have!!! Right now at 7:23pm i have 1 of the smaller eggs hatching. The inner part of the egg is showing and is white. Is that an issue? The humidity is in the 60's and the temp is going between 100 and 99 all the time. i have my flip camera on top of the incubator so i can catch some of the hatching while i am up here. I am excited

 

[Sally Sunshine]

LOL... I have!!! Right now at 7:23pm i have 1 of the smaller eggs hatching. The inner part of the egg is showing and is white. Is that an issue? The humidity is in the 60's and the temp is going between 100 and 99 all the time. i have my flip camera on top of the incubator so i can catch some of the hatching while i am up here. I am excited

We need pics! YAY!! Harmony has three pips so after resting stage I expect chicks by tomorrow night! YAY!!