Hatch-Along - Setting eggs this weekend (Jan5/6) WHOS WITH ME!

[lori stetson]

The humidity in my foam surrounded with hard plastic incubator stays right around 70%. Most of you are talking about levels around 40. Is the difference due to incubator type? I've had hatch rates of 31/33 and 23/24 out of my first two hatches. Also, I may need to move my button quail to a little giant with no air circulator for hatching. How much ventilation should they have?

 

[SarahJaneB]

The humidity in my foam surrounded with hard plastic incubator stays right around 70%. Most of you are talking about levels around 40. Is the difference due to incubator type? I've had hatch rates of 31/33 and 23/24 out of my first two hatches. Also, I may need to move my button quail to a little giant with no air circulator for hatching. How much ventilation should they have?

I'm confused to, everyones talking about preferring their humidity to stay below 40 ish. I was going with this https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-just-21-days-from-egg-to-chicken and keeping the humidity around 50%ish. I know dry hatches are low but is everybody that is controlling their humidity keeping it below that?

 

[SarahJaneB]

Oooooh And i candled today which is officially day 3 for me and it looks like every single egg of the 18 is fertile

As long as the big moving lump things floating at the top of the egg is growth and not the eggs cooking in the bator or something... no worries temps are stable though.

 

[chicken pickin]

Im new to incubating this is only my second time. just my opinion but I feel like 50% humidity is too high. My last batch was 42-46% days 1-18 then 65% during lockdown. This batch is roughly 38-42% days 1-18 and will still do 65% during lockdown.

I dont think it the variation of humidity is due to incubator type I think it is people personal preference.

 

[LuvMyRoo]

Oooooh And i candled today which is officially day 3 for me and it looks like every single egg of the 18 is fertile

As long as the big moving lump things floating at the top of the egg is growth and not the eggs cooking in the bator or something... no worries temps are stable though.

Yay, so excited for you!!!!

Now I am confused about RH too??? I am trying to keep it between 30-40% up til Day 18 then jack it up to 80%. Is this too high? I have a still air incubator, if that makes any difference

 

[SarahJaneB]

Also yesterday, I discovered that one of my hens has started collecting eggs in a far corner of the coop far away from the nesting boxes. Yesterday she had 9 collected but today it's up to about 13 and I cant figure out what hen it is. Does she know she's about to be broody and is collecting eggs to hatch? I left them last night to try and catch her in the act but I don't want her to gather many more than she can hatch if that is what she is doing. If this is what she is doing, how long until she will start laying on them so i can move her? Anyone know?

 

[SilkieSensation]

I dry hatch, so mine stays around 30% until lockdown when I sit a bowl of hot water in the bator to raise it to 40%. When I ran with higher humidity of 40-50% during incubation & 60-70% during lockdown I had chicks that never dried & many drowned after pipping. Humidity naturally rises when the 1st egg externally pips so my humidity was spiking to 80-95%. Now I try to keep hatch humidity between 40-60% for chicks & 55-70% for ducks. I never raise it over 40% for quail or Serama. My hatches are running much better these days (except for losing a bunch to low temps this last hatch from bator being in the barn & then moving it an hour & a half away on a nice snowy day with no heat in the house for 3 days after).

That being said: Everyone's bators & ambient conditions run differently. You have to find what works for your particular set-up. NEVER run your very 1st hatch with expensive eggs. The 1st couple of hatches are an EXPERIMENT to see what works for your set-up. Once you get to know your bator & know what it does under certain conditions then you can start the real hatching. Every time I move 1 of my bators I do a test run with a few of my own eggs to make sure everything still works the same. Ambient temps & humidity can have drastic impacts on the conditions inside your bator. You have to check to make sure what that impact will be.

 

[SarahJaneB]

Yay, so excited for you!!!!

Now I am confused about RH too??? I am trying to keep it between 30-40% up til Day 18 then jack it up to 80%. Is this too high? I have a still air incubator, if that makes any difference

You know I was thinking 80% was ok because of the page in the learning center and I was going to do 75%ish.

This being my first hatch, it's all one big learning experience...

 

[SilkieSensation]

Yay, so excited for you!!!!

Now I am confused about RH too??? I am trying to keep it between 30-40% up til Day 18 then jack it up to 80%. Is this too high? I have a still air incubator, if that makes any difference

With still air you tend to need lower humidity. With circulated air you need higher humidity because the fan will dry out the hatching babies & shrink wrap them. All of the levels I have given are for still air since that's what all of my bators are.

 

[SarahJaneB]

With still air you tend to need lower humidity. With circulated air you need higher humidity because the fan will dry out the hatching babies & shrink wrap them. All of the levels I have given are for still air since that's what all of my bators are.

yikes ok, so since I am still air the most I should only bump it up to is 60% in lockdown. Now i'm worried about my babies drowning