Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 Incubator is AMAZING!

[CluckNDoodle]

It’s all the eggs. Not porous. Legbars and ameraucana. The single Marans is on target. I have put water into B chamber early.

I’m just wondering if maybe my weights were off at setting…?

If it's all the eggs you can increase the humidity up to 55% to slow down the weight loss. I wouldn't go any higher than that until lockdown.

Were the eggs stored longer by any chance? Like they were already losing weight prior to setting? Do the air cells look like they're on track?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I’m just wondering if maybe my weights were off at setting…?

Either way, I wouldn't worry too terribly much. We monitor air cells or weight so we can adjust these things as necessary and you're doing just that!

 

[Pullety]

Either way, I wouldn't worry too terribly much. We monitor air cells or weight so we can adjust these things as necessary and you're doing just that!

Okeydokey. Thanks!

 

[DavidReaves]

I’m just wondering if maybe my weights were off at setting…?

If you have subsequent weights, calculate the percentage change starting from the second weight compared with the third weight. That will give you a feel for your initial weight possibly being in error, and it will tell you the current percentage change. I posted this earlier today on a different thread:

If you want to get the actual loss at any point, divide the current weight by original weight, then subtract that from 1. For example:
1-(78g/84g) =
1- 0.93=
0.07 x 100%=
7%

You would just use your second & third (or third & fourth) weights to figure the percentage change.

 

[Pullety]

If you have subsequent weights, calculate the percentage change starting from the second weight compared with the third weight. That will give you a feel for your initial weight possibly being in error, and it will tell you the current percentage change. I posted this earlier today on a different thread:

If you want to get the actual loss at any point, divide the current weight by original weight, then subtract that from 1. For example:
1-(78g/84g) =
1- 0.93=
0.07 x 100%=
7%

You would just use your second & third (or third & fourth) weights to figure the percentage change.

Oh good idea! Thanks!!

 

[Pullety]

If it's all the eggs you can increase the humidity up to 55% to slow down the weight loss. I wouldn't go any higher than that until lockdown.

Were the eggs stored longer by any chance? Like they were already losing weight prior to setting? Do the air cells look like they're on track?

Sorry, I missed this earlier.

The eggs were 3-5 days old at setting.

I’m not experienced enough to know if the air cells are on track but I’ll attach a picture.

So too-fast-weight-loss seems to be breed-specific. I’m running an Rcom max-suro at the same time and found that the same breeds have similar weight loss in both incubators. I went back to my original individual weights at setting (as opposed to the combined weight of all eggs in the same breed), so I’m certain my weights at setting were accurate. Three breeds are at 11-14% weight loss on day 15. I have grouped them all into the NR360 and increased the humidity.

Why not go beyond 55%? I’m fine with that, I just don’t know how to do that. I get either 45% RH with chamber A or 65% RH with chambers A and B. Should I drain A and only run B maybe?

At this point I’m not so concerned about whether I get chicks from the eggs I spent a lot of money on, but that the little guys don’t suffer because they had the misfortune of being artificially incubated. I’m thinking I need to revisit the massive article about hatching intervention/dealing with shrink wrap…?

The “I” eggs at the end are pullet eggs and I’m guessing that’s a factor in their faster weight loss…? They’re at 16-20% weight loss on day 15.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Sorry, I missed this earlier.

The eggs were 3-5 days old at setting.

I’m not experienced enough to know if the air cells are on track but I’ll attach a picture.

So too-fast-weight-loss seems to be breed-specific. I’m running an Rcom max-suro at the same time and found that the same breeds have similar weight loss in both incubators. I went back to my original individual weights at setting (as opposed to the combined weight of all eggs in the same breed), so I’m certain my weights at setting were accurate. Three breeds are at 11-14% weight loss on day 15. I have grouped them all into the NR360 and increased the humidity.

Why not go beyond 55%? I’m fine with that, I just don’t know how to do that. I get either 45% RH with chamber A or 65% RH with chambers A and B. Should I drain A and only run B maybe?

At this point I’m not so concerned about whether I get chicks from the eggs I spent a lot of money on, but that the little guys don’t suffer because they had the misfortune of being artificially incubated. I’m thinking I need to revisit the massive article about hatching intervention/dealing with shrink wrap…?

The “I” eggs at the end are pullet eggs and I’m guessing that’s a factor in their faster weight loss…? They’re at 16-20% weight loss on day 15.

I wouldn't go over 55% until day 18 personally because elevated humidity for extended periods of time can make for sticky chicks, which makes it difficult for the chicks to rotate in their eggs for hatch. You would probably be fine with higher since you're so close to lockdown but in my experience it's almost always easier to help chicks when the humidity has been a little low rather than too high.
Too low of humidity can make for underweight, weaker chicks, that are more likely to quit within a few days of hatching or dry membranes that a difficult for them to tear at hatch. I have only ever had issues with dry membranes in the NR360 when running it completely dry though and the humidity was like 25-30% the entire time so I don't expect you to have any issues with that.

Your air cells look good to me for day 15, which means that the chicks are still filling the egg but with a nice big air cell for hatching. You're only maybe 3 days off from what would be considered optimal and not every hatch is exactly the same. As you mentioned, it's one breed so I really do think you'll find that your hatch goes perfectly smoothly with no issues from their slightly higher weight loss.

Good luck on your hatch!! I'm about to hop on the computer and find the old graphics I saved of air cell sizes to share here too.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Sorry, I missed this earlier.

The eggs were 3-5 days old at setting.

I’m not experienced enough to know if the air cells are on track but I’ll attach a picture.

So too-fast-weight-loss seems to be breed-specific. I’m running an Rcom max-suro at the same time and found that the same breeds have similar weight loss in both incubators. I went back to my original individual weights at setting (as opposed to the combined weight of all eggs in the same breed), so I’m certain my weights at setting were accurate. Three breeds are at 11-14% weight loss on day 15. I have grouped them all into the NR360 and increased the humidity.

Why not go beyond 55%? I’m fine with that, I just don’t know how to do that. I get either 45% RH with chamber A or 65% RH with chambers A and B. Should I drain A and only run B maybe?

At this point I’m not so concerned about whether I get chicks from the eggs I spent a lot of money on, but that the little guys don’t suffer because they had the misfortune of being artificially incubated. I’m thinking I need to revisit the massive article about hatching intervention/dealing with shrink wrap…?

The “I” eggs at the end are pullet eggs and I’m guessing that’s a factor in their faster weight loss…? They’re at 16-20% weight loss on day 15.

As you can see each graphic shows a slightly different size. These are just examples to help give you peace of mind with what you're seeing. I'm also going to include some images from Silkie eggs that I hatched. It was a 100% hatch rate and one of them lost significantly more weight and I don't think I figured out why but the chick was just fine.

 

[DavidReaves]

As you can see each graphic shows a slightly different size. These are just examples to help give you peace of mind with what you're seeing. I'm also going to include some images from Silkie eggs that I hatched. It was a 100% hatch rate and one of them lost significantly more weight and I don't think I figured out why but the chick was just fine.

View attachment 3084398View attachment 3084399View attachment 3084400
View attachment 3084402View attachment 3084403

Seeing the different cell sizes, both the artists versions and the actual drawing on the shells makes me feel better about my eggs. There is some variability involved (of course) but seeing is believing!

 

[Pullety]

I wouldn't go over 55% until day 18 personally because elevated humidity for extended periods of time can make for sticky chicks, which makes it difficult for the chicks to rotate in their eggs for hatch. You would probably be fine with higher since you're so close to lockdown but in my experience it's almost always easier to help chicks when the humidity has been a little low rather than too high.
Too low of humidity can make for underweight, weaker chicks, that are more likely to quit within a few days of hatching or dry membranes that a difficult for them to tear at hatch. I have only ever had issues with dry membranes in the NR360 when running it completely dry though and the humidity was like 25-30% the entire time so I don't expect you to have any issues with that.

Your air cells look good to me for day 15, which means that the chicks are still filling the egg but with a nice big air cell for hatching. You're only maybe 3 days off from what would be considered optimal and not every hatch is exactly the same. As you mentioned, it's one breed so I really do think you'll find that your hatch goes perfectly smoothly with no issues from their slightly higher weight loss.

Good luck on your hatch!! I'm about to hop on the computer and find the old graphics I saved of air cell sizes to share here too.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help!!

I’ve had both A and B chambers filled for two days so 65%+ RH. Should I expect consequences from that?