decrease temperature for the hatch?

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

So I was perusing through the instructions for the Brinsea Ova Easy 'bators here: http://brinsea.com/pdffiles/OvaEasy%20190%20and%20380%20Advance%20US.pdf

and I came across this...

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I had never heard that before. The Genesis 1588 I'm borrowing can't even do that...well, not without a whole lot of fussing, anyway. I could put them in my old, old, old Hova-Bator and drop the temp.

Does anybody actually do this? Two degrees?!? hmmm...

Then again, by the time I take them out of the turning rack inside the 1588, that's probably a good degree of temp. drop right there, eh? If not more?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I had never done that and always get great hatches.

 

[Paganbird]

When I use the cabinet hatcher, it was set at 98 degrees when I got it. I put eggs in at lockdown & they did just fine. I have read in a couple of places to decrease temp for the hatch.
Right now, I'm using the bottom tray of my 'bator as a hatcher, so I leave the temp alone for the eggs incubating in the turners above the hatching tray.
I guess the answer would be: whatever is easiest for you. If you have a separate hatcher, go ahead. If you're using the same 'bator for hatching, just leave the temp alone for hatch.

 

[patandchickens]

I've kind of wondered about this too... and wondered whether it is maybe in part a way of indirectly upping the humidity for the hatching tray (only).

I mean, the cooler they are (and because the ready-to-hatch chicks have good metabolic activity by now, they do not rely on environmental temperature as much as developing eggs do), the more humid the air will be for a given moisture content, and the slower will be the drying of the egg membranes.

But I really dunno. Purely speculation. My own 3 hatches so far (in a homemade) have been mediocre to lousy, so, what do I know

Pat, *determined* that this fourth hatch, set yesterday, will succeed

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

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Pat, are you a science teacher?

I like the way you think.

This hypothesis sounds credible to me...and lately, I have had a heck of a time getting the humidity up to the 58-60 I want for the hatch. An eensy drop in temp. would help a bit....and it makes even more sense when considering the design and function of a cabinet-style 'bator.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

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Do you know what the temperature is in the hatching tray? Is it approx. 2 degrees cooler than the little fellas sitting in the turning racks?

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
Same here, but as my Senior Drill Instructor used to say, "Perfect practice makes perfect."

 

[Cowgirlgrace]

I was wondering about the cabinet incubators that you can hatch in simultaneous with incubating, what do you do with the humidity when the hatch requires more and the incubating egg require less?

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
Well, that's a wee bit complicated, but I'll try to 'splain it. The method I use, which is pretty much just like the Brinsea instructions recommend, is to weigh the eggs regularly on my gram scale and manipulate the humidity as necessary in order to achieve a 12-14% average weight loss amongst the eggs by Day 18. If the humidity has to be increased for a few days, I can see how their weight loss is progressing and then decrease the humidity for them after the hatch to compensate.

 

[gckiddhouse]

Well, I am so thankful for this thread. It is day 18 for me and upon raising humidity, temps dropped to 97.5 and I have had a heck of a time getting that to come up at all and the humidity is too high. I was panicking, but maybe it isn't too bad?