first hatch went BAD,so sad

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
We're also concerned now. EVERYTHING we have read says to keep the humidity between 40% and 50% for the first 18 days, with the exception of a rare person on BYC who posts that they have had success with a hatch keeping the humidity at about 20%-30% or so (I believe I have read maybe 2 or 3 posts to that effect vs. more than I can count saying 40%-50% humidity). We have kept ours between 35% and 45% & it had been holding very, very steady so far this hatch very close to 40%. Now in spite of doing about 6 weeks of homework and reading thread after thread after thread and I dunno HOW many books and other websites saying 40%-50%, now we are finding out that's too high and could drown our chicks??

What SHOULD the actual humidity be? We candled on day 10 and have 100% viability in all our eggs right now (today is day 12; we candled the night before last). I would hate to think 100% of our eggs formed normally but all died at hatch because we had the humidity too high. I would be devastated.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but now I'm scared this will happen to us. We only have 12 eggs in the bator, but they're all doing so well & we're more than half way through now and very excited. I would just kick myself if these chicks all drowned at hatching because I did something wrong.

Thanks to all.

 

[steveyou]

I had 13 eggs in my still air incubator with egg turner. I had a lot of problems controlling the humidity in the incubator. The incubator was in a bedroom. The humidity in the incubator was pretty close to the humidity outside of my house. It ran pretty much from 35 to 50%. I pretty much maintained about 99 - 100 degree temperature. I quit turning eggs 3 days before hatch. I could not get the humidity to the recommended range for the last 3 days. It was about 45 - 50%. None of the eggs hatched. I let them stay in the incubator for about 3 days extra. Eight of the eggs were fertile. Any suggestions as to what I should do on the next hatch.

 

[Bare bottom farm]

Quote:
We're also concerned now. EVERYTHING we have read says to keep the humidity between 40% and 50% for the first 18 days, with the exception of a rare person on BYC who posts that they have had success with a hatch keeping the humidity at about 20%-30% or so (I believe I have read maybe 2 or 3 posts to that effect vs. more than I can count saying 40%-50% humidity). We have kept ours between 35% and 45% & it had been holding very, very steady so far this hatch very close to 40%. Now in spite of doing about 6 weeks of homework and reading thread after thread after thread and I dunno HOW many books and other websites saying 40%-50%, now we are finding out that's too high and could drown our chicks??

What SHOULD the actual humidity be? We candled on day 10 and have 100% viability in all our eggs right now (today is day 12; we candled the night before last). I would hate to think 100% of our eggs formed normally but all died at hatch because we had the humidity too high. I would be devastated.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but now I'm scared this will happen to us. We only have 12 eggs in the bator, but they're all doing so well & we're more than half way through now and very excited. I would just kick myself if these chicks all drowned at hatching because I did something wrong.

Thanks to all.

HI Iwas like you I readed and readed and thought I had it down, but I had the wrong infomation. and I 'am very devastated! but all you can do is hope all is well. Even if there was a black and white rule and you followed it to the T , it is still up to mother nature.

I hope and wish all gose well for you!!! keep us posted, please

 

[HHandbasket]

Well, a couple of things we have different here is that ours is an ExoTerra and is not a still-air incubator. We also manually turn our eggs, which means the door gets opened for a few brief seconds 3 to 4 times a day. (It's one of those incubators that looks like a little wine cooler.)

Will definitely keep y'all apprised of how our hatch turns out. We have roughly 9 to 10 days left & I'm sitting on pins and needles. So far, everything looks great. We got this dozen eggs from a friend, and we had 4 Trader Joe's eggs that were near the end of their expiration so we didn't expect much from them anyway. All 4 were chucked by the 5th day--completely clear on candling, whereas other eggs showed VERY obvious vascular formation. On day 10, we can see the shadow of the chick in all of the eggs, though it was quite a challenge to candle the EE eggs. We have 5 seabright eggs, 2 EE eggs, and 5 "mystery eggs" which are various shades of brown eggs from my friend's mixed-flock yard. We'll see what they are when they hatch. IF they hatch.

What should the humidity during lockdown be??

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
I both incubated and hatched in an egg carton. I think next time I will incubate in the carton but not hatch. I had two pip the wrong end and I couldn't even see that they had pipped because it was below the level of sight in the carton. Also, once hatched they had a hard time getting out of the bottom of the egg shell. The alternative is that the already hatched chicks play soccer with the eggs still trying to hatch so I think there are pros and cons either way, but at least if they're not in the egg carton, I'll have a better chance of seeing any that pip too low down. Just my .02c.

As for humidity, it is SO confusing. One person will say they *always* incubate with high humidity and have 100% hatches. The next person will say they *always* hatch dry and have 100% hatches. I found the following thread invaluable. It has a lot of information and points of view and is LONG - it took me most of a day to read it - but it helped me formulate a plan for what I thought would work for ME in MY climate and MY altitude.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=113681

 

[gryeyes]

Between 40 - 50 first 18 days, between 55-70 last 3 days.

I do 47 and 67. (I can dial up the humidity pump that exactly.)

Not all of mine hatch, but I have only hatched shipped eggs.

 

[Cavendish Chickens]

I had always been told 60-65% days 1-18 and 80-85% 19-21 to avoid shrink wrap. My humidity is at 60% right now, this is day 4... should I lower it? What about the shrink wrap affect?

 

[Attack Chicken]

I'll have to take a picture on the foam things I put my eggs in. Gives the chick enough room to hatch but kind of keeps them together almost like a nest would be. I've used for quail and it works great. I don't have eggs being kicked and bonked all over the incubator anymore.

AC

 

[midget_farms]

I have mine hatching as we speak - this was my first hatch & I used a home made incubator.

I kept the H around 40% until I saw a pip & then upped it to 50%. I couldn't / cant keep it higher than that. I need to add more water containers.

In any case - I incubated & hatched in the egg carton. Was great for incubating & since I have so many eggs in there the chicks are not able to kick the other eggs around (6 out so far today!)

I am expecting 15 to 20 not to hatch - that would put me at the 50% mark after the cull - but I've heard some dont' count cull eggs.

In any case - 50% for lock down & 40% before seems to work just fine.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Quote:
Shrink wrapped chicks happen from opening the incubator too much during the last 3 days and when chicks start to pip the eggs.

You have to find what works best for the climate in your part of the country. It's a big factor in deciding humidity levels inside and outside of your home.

Most people get good results from 40 to 50% humidity levels the first 18 days day 19 thru 21 60 to 70% range. It's just learning what works best for you to have a good hatch.