End of day 22?

[Ruby Rogue]

50% is too high in the beginning. Others aim for 30% during the first 18 days, as I said, I hardly monitor humidity until lockdown, and my humidity never gets too high during days 0-18 because I don't add any water until lockdown.

 

[Chuckkeeper]

50% is too high in the beginning. Others aim for 30% during the first 18 days, as I said, I hardly monitor humidity until lockdown, and my humidity never gets too high during days 0-18 because I don't add any water until lockdown.

Very helpful. I'll keep it nice and low until lockdown.

 

[Rachnicko]

That's reassuring. I got her some friends - they can see each other but not yet contact. The friends are a bit bigger. Shall I just put them all together now? I need a more efficient food and drink system. They are making such a mess.

View attachment 2393781View attachment 2393782View attachment 2393783

I remember the food and drink thing being a never ending battle too!
I used a nipple drinker most recently and that worked well... I just had to show the chickies how to use it but they soon caught on. Other than that, I raised the feeder and drinker off the floor of the brooder with some wood or a brick... something they can’t knock over but will raise it out of the bedding just enough so they can still reach.

I would try integrating. Hopefully at such a young age they should take to each other.

 

[Chuckkeeper]

I remember the food and drink thing being a never ending battle too!
I used a nipple drinker most recently and that worked well... I just had to show the chickies how to use it but they soon caught on. Other than that, I raised the feeder and drinker off the floor of the brooder with some wood or a brick... something they can’t knock over but will raise it out of the bedding just enough so they can still reach.

I would try integrating. Hopefully at such a young age they should take to each other.

I've just raised both and integrated. Does the brooder need to be in a warm room or is an unheated garage (wintery cold) OK as long as I keep the heat plates on?

 

[Rachnicko]

I think you could try the garage and see how they are - if they stay under the heat plates then it may be too cold. I would say they kind of let you know if you observe them a while.

I had our brooder set up over summer, and indoors, so it’s hard to say exactly the best ambient temperatures. I’m sure someone would know with some more accuracy....

 

[Trisseh]

So sorry she didn’t make it! You did nothing wrong with investigating. I highly doubt she would ever have been able to pip positioned like that. And with that much unabsorbed yolk, there was definitely something gone wrong for her to be at that stage at day 22/23. I’ve never had one survive that hadn’t internally pipped on their own. (except that sebright, it was ready otherwise, just couldn’t reach.)

my last chicken hatch that I just completed a little over a week ago, I ran it dry and only increased the humidity once I had an internal pip. Duck eggs like higher humidity throughout incubation but I rarely run my chicken eggs over 30% (it’s usually close unless they’re losing too much moisture/weight too fast. Lots of ways to track moisture loss; some go by the size of the air cell, some weigh them on a scale to measure weight lost. Then you can adjust your humidity from there based on their progress.

Here is a link that details weighing for tracking moisture loss. It’s especially helpful for eggs you can’t see well into or if you have saddled or irregular air cells that are harder to judge by.

I weighed all my eggs when I first started and after a few batches you tend to be able to eyeball it better.

Loving the new siblings for your singleton! The little ones tend to integrate fine with no issues. Have fun with them!!

 

[Chuckkeeper]

So sorry she didn’t make it! You did nothing wrong with investigating. I highly doubt she would ever have been able to pip positioned like that. And with that much unabsorbed yolk, there was definitely something gone wrong for her to be at that stage at day 22/23. I’ve never had one survive that hadn’t internally pipped on their own. (except that sebright, it was ready otherwise, just couldn’t reach.)

my last chicken hatch that I just completed a little over a week ago, I ran it dry and only increased the humidity once I had an internal pip. Duck eggs like higher humidity throughout incubation but I rarely run my chicken eggs over 30% (it’s usually close unless they’re losing too much moisture/weight too fast. Lots of ways to track moisture loss; some go by the size of the air cell, some weigh them on a scale to measure weight lost. Then you can adjust your humidity from there based on their progress.

Here is a link that details weighing for tracking moisture loss. It’s especially helpful for eggs you can’t see well into or if you have saddled or irregular air cells that are harder to judge by.

I weighed all my eggs when I first started and after a few batches you tend to be able to eyeball it better.

Loving the new siblings for your singleton! The little ones tend to integrate fine with no issues. Have fun with them!!

Thank you so much. I have another incubator with two weeks to go. Shall I leave it as it is, or remove the water to bring humidity right down?

 

[Trisseh]

Thank you so much. I have another incubator with two weeks to go. Shall I leave it as it is, or remove the water to bring humidity right down?

It will depend on where your air cells are at. But it certainly would be possible and easily corrected at this early stage. What’s it running at now? I would shoot for 30-35% at this point and you can adjust it from there based on what the air cells look like in a few days, day 10 or 14. There’s not a magic % either, because every time you incubate eggs there will be different variables, with the eggs themselves, and the conditions surrounding the incubator.

below is an illustration I pulled off of google to show the general size guidelines for different stages of incubation. Your eggs should be around the 7th day mark. Decreasing humidity will increase air cell size, and vice versa.

 

[Chuckkeeper]

It will depend on where your air cells are at. But it certainly would be possible and easily corrected at this early stage. What’s it running at now? I would shoot for 30-35% at this point and you can adjust it from there based on what the air cells look like in a few days, day 10 or 14. There’s not a magic % either, because every time you incubate eggs there will be different variables, with the eggs themselves, and the conditions surrounding the incubator.

below is an illustration I pulled off of google to show the general size guidelines for different stages of incubation. Your eggs should be around the 7th day mark. Decreasing humidity will increase air cell size, and vice versa.

View attachment 2393904

It's running at about 45, so I'll lower it slightly. That picture is really helpful, though I don't understand the science!

 

[Trisseh]

It's running at about 45, so I'll lower it slightly. That picture is really helpful, though I don't understand the science!

There’s some good explanations in the weight loss guide and plenty in other threads on here.
I like to know the mechanics and cause and effect behind things where possible. Lol. Too high humidity means too big a chick and too small an air cell, and possibly too much fluid still in the egg, which translates into less eggs hatching.

you might have to play around with a few hatches until you find optimal settings for your location and incubator.