Eggs arriving!!!!

[Eggscaping]

Just got a message from the seller that my Swedish Flower hen eggs will ship this week and be here on Friday!! Am I eggs-cited? Oh my gosh YES! I am doing the happy dance all over the house!
I messaged the seller several days ago to confirm how they are packaged and she said "It's as much in my interest as yours to see that they get to you in an excellent condition - we've done this for years, we'll take good care of them!" So I'm hoping for the best. My incubator is set up and maintaining its temperature and....here is my one question: Lakeside is VERY humid, all the time but especially lately with all the rain. I have two thermometer/hygrometers set up in the house and the humidity runs from 47 to 53. Lately it's been consistently in the 50s. Will that affect the amount of water I put in the incubator? I do not want too much humidity, obviously. Thanks!

 

[asher]

It’s 47-53% without adding water? I normally do “dry incubation” until the final three days so if that % is without adding water, I likely wouldn’t add any at all. I don’t generally want it above 40% for the first 18 days and I want add water until it gets around 25%. It’s almost always worked well for me. Good luck with your incubation and hatch!

 

[Eggscaping]

It’s 47-53% without adding water? I normally do “dry incubation” until the final three days so if that % is without adding water, I likely wouldn’t add any at all. I don’t generally want it above 40% for the first 18 days and I want add water until it gets around 25%. It’s almost always worked well for me. Good luck with your incubation and hatch!

Thank you. I'm so confused on humidity. I've been keeping it at 50% - I thought I read that somewhere. Normally the house will run somewhere around 40%. I certainly don't want to drown them!!
Also, the article I read here says to keep the air cell UP, but the roller where you put the eggs that turns them has the eggs on their side. Is that wrong?

 

[Eggscaping]

I'm trying your advice. I let the humidity drop to 40% and below. Last night though, while we were asleep, it fell below that. I have a reptile cage tiny thermometer/humidity thermometer in the incubator and when I got up at 5am (couldn't sleep well, so went to check the eggs) it was flashing "low". I put in a bit of water and it started registering at 25%. When I'm up I can monitor it and keep it around 30-40 but when I go to sleep it's going to go lower.
How vital is this? I mean...I can't imagine that people sit up all night monitoring humidity. It's not seven days until Friday so I can't candle yet to see what an air cell is doing...right? The temperature is rock solid, it's the humidity that I'm worried about!

 

[aart]

Did you test your therms and hygros?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

Humidity is a bit less exacting than temps...trace your air cells when candling.

Good reading about hatching.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-beginners-guide-to-incubation.73350/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubation-humidity.73386/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...gs-no-problem.1046313/page-5385#post-16540512

 

[Eggscaping]

Hi, Aart! I did. My incubator thermometer is backed up by a tiny one that's designed for reptile cages. It's digital so I couldn't stick it in ice water, but I have 3 other thermometers that all say the same thing, and the incubator one says the same too, so that should be good, I hope. I can not find a way listed in any article as to how to calibrate digital ones without a probe.
Friday will be day 7, so I will candle the eggs and use a pencil to draw in the air cells, as the pictures show.
The reptile thermometer/hygrometer shows the humidity down to a certain number, then just flashes "LO" over and over. I add some water and it kicks in again with a number at about 25F so I'm trying to hold it at 40.
The chicken coop is nearly done...they were digging the trenches today to put the hardware cloth skirts and our first 4 chicks are due Friday too...Americanas and Speckled Sussex! Excitement reigns!!! Should I post more pictures or wait until it's done?

 

[aart]

Should I post more pictures or wait until it's done?

More pics are always good I love to watch a build.

 

[Eggscaping]

I posted all the "build" pics on the forum that Boots has been using, since it's technically "her" chicken coop.
Today was day 7 of the SFH incubation project. We just candled the eggs. As first time ever incubators I have no idea if any of these look good or not, but there's obviously an air space of some sort so....? They aren't white eggs and I see that the pictures don't show up an 'air call' as well as we could see it ourselves.