Hatching out 5 chicks

[winglesschicken]

I put in 6 and 5 of them are hatching!

They should be hatching in about 2-5 days.

I have a Janoel 12 incubator and I add 100 milligrams of water every other day. The humidity is about 37.5°C. Janoel Incubators are supposed to automatically turn the eggs.

Is there anything I should do to help them hatch?

I read on some sites that raising the humidity could help, which I don't entirely know how to do. I heard adding a sponge can help raise humidity. Should I do that? I could also take out the turning tray so they won't be turned if they are trying to peck out.

This isn't my first time hatching chicks out of the incubator. I had one other chick hatch out before this batch. Who I had put in with one other egg. Though something happened and the other egg didn't hatch. I think it was because of how many times I opened the incubator before. So I'm very aware not to do that now (other than for watering).

Is there anything I should know?

Thanks!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

37.5° C is the temperature, the equivalent of 99.5° F which is the perfect temperature. Is there another number on the readout displaying the humidity percentage? Or better yet, do you have a secondary thermometer/hygrometer in the incubator?

Once you're on day 18, that's considered "lockdown", where you remove the eggs from the turner and lay them flat in the incubator so they can get in position for hatching and you don't open the incubator again until all of the chicks have hatched. If the bottom of your incubator is slick I highly recommend putting something in the bottom to give the chicks traction once they hatch, the thin rubbery no-skid shelf liner works perfectly for this. You do normally increase the humidity slightly by adding some water or a small wet sponge but you don't want to increase the humidity too much, which is why it's important to know where the humidity percentage is before trying to adjust it for hatch. In my experience, not enough water is better than too much water.

Here is a helpful article you can read about hatching as well.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-beginners-guide-to-incubation.73350/

 

[winglesschicken]

37.5° C is the temperature, the equivalent of 99.5° F which is the perfect temperature. Is there another number on the readout displaying the humidity percentage? Or better yet, do you have a secondary thermometer/hygrometer in the incubator?

Once you're on day 18, that's considered "lockdown", where you remove the eggs from the turner and lay them flat in the incubator so they can get in position for hatching and you don't open the incubator again until all of the chicks have hatched. If the bottom of your incubator is slick I highly recommend putting something in the bottom to give the chicks traction once they hatch, the thin rubbery no-skid shelf liner works perfectly for this. You do normally increase the humidity slightly by adding some water or a small wet sponge but you don't want to increase the humidity too much, which is why it's important to know where the humidity percentage is before trying to adjust it for hatch. In my experience, not enough water is better than too much water.

Here is a helpful article you can read about hatching as well.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-beginners-guide-to-incubation.73350/

Two chicks hatched last night!

Do you think I could set the eggs on a washcloth instead? I don't think I have a no-skid shelf liner.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Two chicks hatched last night!

Do you think I could set the eggs on a washcloth instead? I don't think I have a no-skid shelf liner.

Congrats on the first two chicks hatching! A washcloth should work if that's all you have, it's to help prevent splay leg, just be prepared to have to throw the cloth away afterwards, hatching is a messy business, lol.

 

[winglesschicken]

Congrats on the first two chicks hatching! A washcloth should work if that's all you have, it's to help prevent splay leg, just be prepared to have to throw the cloth away afterwards, hatching is a messy business, lol.

Alright thank you I'll go ahead and put one in!