First time hatcher! HELP!

[welly]

Hi Sally
I have read two different opions about the red vent plug some leave in until day 10 then pull out and some leave out the entire time what is your take thankyou

 

[rosemi78]

I have the same incubator. I did take out both red plugs after reading lots of posts, however, there are also 8 smaller holes (4 above and 4 below the viewing windows), plus the vent holes in the bottom, so I honestly don't know if it matters with this particular bator. What I struggled with the most was getting the humidity up during lockdown, but my house is really, REALLY dry (like 10%), so hopefully that's why. Watch out for temp swings. I had issues with those, too.

Best of luck!!!

 

[sterlingb]

I'm on day 18 of lockdown and have had a hard time keeping my humidity above 50%. I'm so freaked out I'm gonna mess something up and they aren't going to hatch!!! It's very stressful! My temp is staying about 99 and humidity is at 59%. So fingers crossed this is good.!!!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If you have both plugs out then put one back in. It will raise the humidity. Also remember that humidity is a function of surface area of water so if your using the smaller well in bottom change to larger well or your house may be low humidity so require both wells to have water. Also have you calibrated your hygrometer? It may simply be reading off so do a salt test on it. Put hygrometer and a bottle cap of salt with drips of water in it until it's a paste not a slurry into a sip lock sandwich bag. Wait 4 hours and it should be reading 75%. What ever it's off is how much your hygrometer is miss reading.

I run a humidifier in winter so set incubator in that room that's 45% RH so it only requires me to use a tumbler of water to get my humidity right. I don't use an auto turner so can put varying size small cups right on screen to find what size gives me the humidity I'm after. With the humidifier it only takes a double shot glass for me to maintain 40% and then tumbler to maintain 55-60% for day 18 on. You'll note I use a dryer hatch method and it works great for me, with each hatch you'll get better rates through trial and error to find what works best for you.

 

[dblred0728]

Also First timer here too

I have this same incubator. My question is are you using the temp gauge that came on it or the one that came with it to put inside??

Last Wednesday, during setup I was using 3 thermometers. The Incubators gauge and a stick mercury thermometer were dead on for the 6 hours I played with it getting the temps right and held until the next morning when I placed the eggs in. But the one on the plastic card was about 1.5 degrees lower. From then I trusted the one on the machine. Now......

I had ordered a
Digital Thermometer Hygrometer with Min/Max Memory

by Incubator Warehouse

It came in yesterday and I put it in there last night and this morning was only reading 95.5!!! The one on the machine dead on 99.5 and the one inside with the plastic was 98 maybe 98.5. I am so worried it's my temps I have been looking at are off?? I hate to adjust now, from what I've read I'd rather it be a little lower than cooking my chickens.....

I candle this Thursday I hope I see something.

I sure appreciate any thoughts.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have a homemade hatcher, and my temps got a little colder in the early mornings, but I just heated everyone back up when I got up. they are one week old now.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Also First timer here too

I have this same incubator. My question is are you using the temp gauge that came on it or the one that came with it to put inside??

Last Wednesday, during setup I was using 3 thermometers. The Incubators gauge and a stick mercury thermometer were dead on for the 6 hours I played with it getting the temps right and held until the next morning when I placed the eggs in. But the one on the plastic card was about 1.5 degrees lower. From then I trusted the one on the machine. Now......

I had ordered a
Digital Thermometer Hygrometer with Min/Max Memory

by Incubator Warehouse

It came in yesterday and I put it in there last night and this morning was only reading 95.5!!! The one on the machine dead on 99.5 and the one inside with the plastic was 98 maybe 98.5. I am so worried it's my temps I have been looking at are off?? I hate to adjust now, from what I've read I'd rather it be a little lower than cooking my chickens.....

I candle this Thursday I hope I see something.

I sure appreciate any thoughts.

With most of these thermometers it's hard to calibrate as they don't read to 32F or 212F so it's kind of a constant question. Something you can do to have a known temperature would be to run tap water cold then add some ice. This will give you 32F. Then boil some water to get 212F. Once the ice is almost melted pour one cup out and add cup boiling water to it. If your thermometer has a probe or is glass then check the reading- it should read exactly 122F. If it can't read that high then use 2 cups of 32F and 1 cup boiling- it should read 92F exactly.

 

[dblred0728]

Ok great advice! I will try that!

 

[Cinnylove]

good to hear..my homemade still air bator fluctuates temp between 98 in the mornings to 100 when i am home to watch..the other day i got home from work and it was 104!!!! i am trying to not worry...this is my very first time at this...i candled my eggs and today, day 4, 3 of them had a nice little mass with veins and the 4th had an air pocket in the middle and end with a black/grey blob in the middle?? any ideas?? sooo, as long as my temps stay between 98 and 101 i'm good?? any advice for me? my humidity stays bout 40

 

[gimmie birdies]

sounds good.