First Time Hatching - incubator edition

[cluckingheck]

So, this is my first incubator and first time hatching chicks in general ( other than the 3 my broody pullet hatched, she did all of the work ) and the chicks are going to a guy I went to high school with. He’s wanting to get into chicken keeping and asked if I was selling any laying hens. I’m not selling any of my girls, so I told him I could hatch eggs from them but the chicks would all be mutts. He was okay with that, so here begins the journey. 22 eggs set and hopefully most of them turn out to be pullets ( and most of them hatch! ).

I currently have the incubator set at 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity is at 53%. Temperature of the room is 69 and humidity is at 34%

 

[cluckingheck]

So, the humidity is up to 57% now. Which percentage is ideal?

 

[cluckingheck]

It’s only day 2 ( if I’m counting right ), but I decided to candle anyways to mostly check air cells. There’s some eggs I’m a little concerned about like #1’s air cell position and #12’s egg shape. However, in my fallible, inexperienced & optimistic opinion, I say they look to be all fertile.

 

[cluckingheck]

This is day 5 and all of them were fertile except for #19. I’ll give it a few more days and then candle it again to see if I missed something as it’s an egg with a dark shell. I doubt I’m wrong about it, but oh well. I’m a little worried about #8 because it’s air cell is more on the side than the bottom. Anyways, do I need to adjust humidity or anything based on the air cell growth? Does everything look to be growing good? Any concerns you can see?

 

[aart]

What is the humidity in the bator....and in the room the bator is in?
Did you test/calibrate your thermometers and hygrometers?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Looks good for day 5 to me!

 

[cluckingheck]

What is the humidity in the bator....and in the room the bator is in?
Did you test/calibrate your thermometers and hygrometers?

Humidity in the incubator is at 50% and the room is 36%. The humidity in the incubator dropped down to 26% sometime during the night because it ran out of water.
And, no, I didn’t calibrate the thermometer and hydrometer. I definitely should have

 

[cluckingheck]

Looks good for day 5 to me!

Well, that’s good. Just wish it was easier to see into the dark brown eggs. Also kind of disappointed with #19....surprised the boys missed one lol. Do you think #8 will be fine? It’s air cell was more on the side ( saddled? ). It doesn’t move but I didn’t know if it’s position was going to cause problems?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Humidity in the incubator is at 50% and the room is 36%. The humidity in the incubator dropped down to 26% sometime during the night because it ran out of water.
And, no, I didn’t calibrate the thermometer and hydrometer. I definitely should have

The humidity dropping for short periods of time shouldn't hurt anything. The only time you need to be careful about keeping it more consistent is at hatch.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Well, that’s good. Just wish it was easier to see into the dark brown eggs. Also kind of disappointed with #19....surprised the boys missed one lol. Do you think #8 will be fine? It’s air cell was more on the side ( saddled? ). It doesn’t move but I didn’t know if it’s position was going to cause problems?

It's hard to tell in the picture but it looks like the air cell is still towards the rounded end of the egg correct? Most of the time the air cell will right itself as the chick develops when it's mild like this appears to be. I have had a couple that were on the side of the egg, no where near the rounded end of the egg and I did have issues with those but otherwise no problems from slightly saddled or off center air cells.