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bethann33

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I just bought three hens from my breeder to replace the 2 two I lost last week from a fox. She said they had each been in with a rooster and would be laying fertile eggs for a little while- so I just bought myself a still air incubator and will set the fertile eggs they will be laying for next couple of weeks. But I have no idea how to do it. Is there any thread on here that explains chicken hatching 101 using a basic incubator? Do I have to change any temperatures? I know I have to turn the eggs myself, but how often?
 
Here it is as I understand it.Eggs have to be turned an odd number each day.3-5-7 U should place a mark on each side o and x- 1 and 2. something like this. The temp in an incubator with a fan should stay at 99-5. First 18 days humidity 45 to 50%. Last three days NO TURNING and humidity up at 75%. 21 days till baby chicks!
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Thanks! I've got a Little Giant incubator. There is no fan or any way to measure humidity, but I did put a wet paper towel in a dish inside the incubator. Do I need to have something to measure the humidity, or should it be fine with just some wet paper towels in there? I've got the temp about as set as I can get it with the LG- it's pretty fickle.

We'll hope for the best!! :)
 
For a still air incubator, you'll want to keep the temps a little higher, 102 is actually recommended for the still airs. You want to make sure you are measuring the temperature at the top of the eggs (I used the thermometer that came with the LG and just laid it on top of the eggs) because without a fan to circulate the air you will get layers of heat, it may be up to several degrees cooler on the bottom of the incubator than up higher where the top of the eggs are. Three times a day is adequate for turning the eggs, and there have been studies that show after day 14 turning isn't really necessary at all (although I still turn mine right up until lock down, which is the last three days before hatch).

You probably should invest in a hygrometer. Many people have had luck finding them for really cheap at Wal-Mart, although the ones by me didn't carry them. I got an indoor/outdoor combination thermometer and hygrometer from Menards for mine. You will probably also want to get another thermometer in there as well, the ones that come with the incubator are notorious for being inaccurate (though I used the one that came with mine and my hatches have been decent, I may have just gotten lucky to have a close-enough-to-accurate thermometer get packaged in my box).

There are several schools of thought on humidity, and it's tricky to know which one will work best for you and your individual incubator without doing a few hatches yourself. For me, keeping the humidity around 35-40% for the first 18 days and then bumping it up to 60-65% for the last three days worked well. Out of 18 eggs that made it to lock down (from 19 that were fertile) only one didn't hatch for my first hatch. My second hatch was slightly less successful, but I attribute that largely to it being an experiment in staggered hatching...the temps for 4 days mid-incubation was 65-75% while the first set hatched, then I ran it very dry (20-30%) for a few days after that to try to make up for the few days of higher humidity. I had 4 eggs hatch on their own and one that I had to assist because it was shrink wrapped. Three more eggs never pipped and when I opened them they all appeared to be shrink wrapped in the membrane Shrink wrapping happens when the humidity is too low and too much liquid evaporates from the egg...if the humidity is too high during incubation then there is a risk that not enough liquid will evaporate and the chicks will drown when they make the first internal pip.
 
I have found with my styrofoam bator (an off brand similar to LG or Havabator) that only a few drops of water will raise my humidity VERY high. So far I have been doing a dry hatch (not adding water) until it gets closer to hatch day and have been running consistently between 40-50%. I'm doing a VERY staggered hatch with 83 eggs all in 1 bator (plus 4 under my tiny broody banty) set for a few to hatch every couple days from May 30th to June 14th with 13 ducks also in the mix. The day each set is due to hatch I will add a bit of water to get humidity to around 70% just long enuf for hatch & drop it immediately back down.

Just a bit of FYI on humidity for a styrofoam bator
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