HELP! Have they lost enough moisture?!?!? EDIT: pics added!!!

[raymondjames]

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1) chill.. i didnt control moisture that precisely and got two baby chicks (but the other 10 died of a heat surge whoops

)
2) i think youre supposed to keep eggs 40-50% moisture most of the time and drop it near day 17 and bring it up to 60-70% on lockdown. Correct me if im wrong (which i provably am)
3) as long as the embryo is developing and moving, its good. although if theres anything your doing wrong then you might wanna fix it before it matters

 

[ChickenPeep]

Thanks guys!

 

[Faerytalefarm]

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I think they are...

 

[ChickenPeep]

Sooo... Should i lockdown on day18 or wait until the frist external pip? Dont they need high humidity to pip?

 

[Faerytalefarm]

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Really should wait to up the humidity on the first external pip. Keep an eye on the others to know when to intervene. Here's the thread about that. I know more confusion! It was that way for me. I had to read his threads over and over and make notes and pm him with questions or post questions on his threads. This thread is about geese or ducks so that is where I was confused but his recent thread helped clear some of it up.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=491013

Another thread with great hatching advice and when to intervene or not

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=472294

There are more and they are all stickied if you go to pete55 BYC page

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=80310

I've never heard of waiting to up the humidity until you see the first pip... There seem to be so many different ways to hatch, I'm choosing to not over analyze every little detail. I'm not saying there's any right way or wrong way, just what I'm choosing to do.

 

[Faerytalefarm]

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I'm not waiting for the first pip to lockdown. I'm locking down on day 18 and raising the humidity. I followed the same process on my first hatch and all 12 hatched.

 

[reereechickens]

I'm on hatch #5 of shipped eggs and I weighed them this time. I will let you all know how this hatch goes.

Y'all can do whatever you want, after all they are your eggs, right?

 

[Faerytalefarm]

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Keep us posted on how the weighing etc goes. I have no clue what is actually the best way to hatch, just doing what seems to work for me. Best of luck !

 

[rarely bored]

My only experience is with dry incubation, and I'm concerned with your air cell size. Maybe other people who have had succesful "wet" incubations would be the ones to listen to for this hatch. With dry incubation I tend to have ~ 90% hatch rate with fertile eggs in my Brinsea.

If those eggs were in my house, I would remove all moisture from the inside of the incubator and allow the bator to run. I suspect there would be a 30% humidity level due to the moisture loss from the eggs alone. It isn't uncommon for my incubator to run in the low 20%, but if the hatch is precious, I will work hard to keep it above 25%.

Faerytalefarm - the only reason I suggested to not increase humidity for lockdown until the first pip, was because this is a special case where there is to much water in the eggs. In an ideal hatch the moisture would be lost over the course of 18 days, so there is no concern with the chick drowning when the humidity is increased.

I would suggest you get a postal scale and on your next hatch weigh them on day 1, day 10 and day 18. You will learn a lot and feel more confident when you go into lockdown.

 

[ChickenPeep]

the only reason i don't really want to increase humidity with the first pip, is because im convinced that i do, there will never be a pip and i'll be waiting and waiting and waiting. I've had this happen before. I need some incouragement.