First time incubating

[leliadax]

Hey guys! This is my first time trying to hatch eggs, I bought a little giant 9300 still air and have followed the instructions and watched some videos on how to do it and my question is...I changed the temp setting to 99.8 and it seems to flux between 98.9 and 99.5 with 45% humidity. Is this going to be ok for the chicks throughout the next 21 days?

 

[beetandsteet]

I have hatched several batches of chicks with the Little Giant incubator! For a still air, you are going to need to have 102 degrees in the incubator. 98.9 is DEFINITELY too low. The humidity is also rather low, but you'll be ok. Just be sure on the last few days to up the humidity to 60-75% I have noticed erring on the side of dry-ness when it comes to humidity has resulted in better hatches for me. This incubator is pretty inaccurate, and requires a lot of monitoring; and I'd recommend having an additional thermometer resting on top of the eggs to monitor temperature. The best hatch I got out of the Little Giant still air was an 80% hatch rate and the chicks were super healthy. Good luck hatching!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I have hatched several batches of chicks with the Little Giant incubator! For a still air, you are going to need to have 102 degrees in the incubator. 98.9 is DEFINITELY too low. The humidity is also rather low, but you'll be ok. Just be sure on the last few days to up the humidity to 60-75% I have noticed erring on the side of dry-ness when it comes to humidity has resulted in better hatches for me. This incubator is pretty inaccurate, and requires a lot of monitoring; and I'd recommend having an additional thermometer resting on top of the eggs to monitor temperature. The best hatch I got out of the Little Giant still air was an 80% hatch rate and the chicks were super healthy. Good luck hatching!

Hey guys! This is my first time trying to hatch eggs, I bought a little giant 9300 still air and have followed the instructions and watched some videos on how to do it and my question is...I changed the temp setting to 99.8 and it seems to flux between 98.9 and 99.5 with 45% humidity. Is this going to be ok for the chicks throughout the next 21 days?

I also use a little giant. Unfortunetly the 9300 is one of their worst models and I agree you need a CHECKED independent thermometer/hygrometer as the 9300 is notorious for being off in temp. And you need 101-102 in the still air bator as mentioned with the temps taken near the tops of the eggs. I also agree that the LGs are a bator that needs a lot of monitoring.

I disagree on humidity though as many of us that have used the styro bators have found that low humidity incubation methods yeild a higher hatch rate.(Excluding hatching at high elevations.) I myself run at 30-35% humidity the first 17 days and check my air cells for proper growth to know if I need to adjust. Humidity is one of those things that there aren't any magic numbers because there are too many factors. It's a matter of finding what works for you. At lockdown I use 75% because I am an extreme meddler and open my bator during hatch. This is the humidity method I use: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity