HELP! how do I regulate the humidity in the incubator?

[chicks and hens2]

Hi ,This is my first time using an incubator and I have about 40 eggs in one now that are within a week or so of each other in development as my 2 other Turkey hens kept laying eggs in my broody turkey hens nest. She has abandoned the nest after about 31 days and she hatched out one poult. I candled all the eggs and all the ones that I put in the incubator had vein development. There were a few that were beyond that stage and looked dark 3/4 of the egg except where a huge air sack is.

My question is how can I regulate the humidity. It is pretty humid here in the pacific NW. The incubator is a Farm innovators with a circulating air fan and an auto. turner. The temp on the thermometers I have inside stays right about 99.5 and 100 but the humidity was around 40% inside so I added a little water to the water channel's but now its at about 60%. The eggs have been in the incubator about 48 hours now.
Did I kill them by doing that?
Since the poult's are at different stages I don't expect a good viable hatch rate, but would like to get some live ones.
So what should I do? Take out the eggs that were farther along so I can take out the turner when it gets close and just turn the ones that are closer together in their hatching stages, and not turn the eggs that position themselves?
Or just take out the eggs that looked fully formed that probably are not alive anyway because they didn't hatch when the other poult did 3 days ago (there were only a couple of those)?

ALSO , Do you all wash your eggs before you put them into the incubator? After I had the turkey eggs in the incubator I read some fine print inthe instructions that I hadn't seen before that said to wash the eggs with any egg wash product on the market.

 

[sumi]

Do you have any idea how far along these eggs are? Too high humidity at the wrong stage could potentially drown the poults, but I think with some careful management you could pull this off. I can not find a turkey egg candling guide, but here's a chicken one:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

Have a look through there to give you an idea of what they look like as they develop, hopefully that will give you an idea how far along these guys are. Though that will be a rough guess! I think what I'd do in this situation is candle them and mark the ones that look ready to hatch soon. Turn the other eggs at least twice a day and leave the humidity at around 55%. That's a bit low for lockdown, but you can hatch eggs at that if needed. Though I won't recommend it under normal circumstances. Just keep an eye on the poults as they hatch and make sure they don't dry out. If they do you can dampen the membrane with a wet Q-tip every now and then to keep it soft.

The unhatched ones that are overdue in your estimation I'd candle to check for internal pips and tap (hold the egg against your ear and tap it softly with your fingernail, listen for signs of live) and when you candle, mark the air sac. If there's no visible internal pip or peep from the poult you can either leave it a bit longer and check later or make a small pip hole right at the fat end of the egg, use a wet Q-tip to dampen the inner membrane and check for signs of life. If the poults are still alive put them back in the incubator and keep an eye on the membranes, so they don't dry out. If they don't make progress by themselves see here for how to help:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

As for washing eggs, I don't personally. Washing them removes the protective bloom from the shell which acts as a barrier to keep bacteria out. I've had no joy hatching washed eggs in the past, which may well have been due to a slip-up from me in the hygiene department But I prefer setting clean, undamaged eggs. It just gives me better hatch results.

Best of luck with your interesting hatch and keep us posted!

 

[chicks and hens2]

Do you have any idea how far along these eggs are? Too high humidity at the wrong stage could potentially drown the poults, but I think with some careful management you could pull this off. I can not find a turkey egg candling guide, but here's a chicken one:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

Have a look through there to give you an idea of what they look like as they develop, hopefully that will give you an idea how far along these guys are. Though that will be a rough guess! I think what I'd do in this situation is candle them and mark the ones that look ready to hatch soon. Turn the other eggs at least twice a day and leave the humidity at around 55%. That's a bit low for lockdown, but you can hatch eggs at that if needed. Though I won't recommend it under normal circumstances. Just keep an eye on the poults as they hatch and make sure they don't dry out. If they do you can dampen the membrane with a wet Q-tip every now and then to keep it soft.

The unhatched ones that are overdue in your estimation I'd candle to check for internal pips and tap (hold the egg against your ear and tap it softly with your fingernail, listen for signs of live) and when you candle, mark the air sac. If there's no visible internal pip or peep from the poult you can either leave it a bit longer and check later or make a small pip hole right at the fat end of the egg, use a wet Q-tip to dampen the inner membrane and check for signs of life. If the poults are still alive put them back in the incubator and keep an eye on the membranes, so they don't dry out. If they don't make progress by themselves see here for how to help:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

As for washing eggs, I don't personally. Washing them removes the protective bloom from the shell which acts as a barrier to keep bacteria out. I've had no joy hatching washed eggs in the past, which may well have been due to a slip-up from me in the hygiene department But I prefer setting clean, undamaged eggs. It just gives me better hatch results.

Best of luck with your interesting hatch and keep us posted!

Thanks so much. One egg is externally pipped and I hear peeping (chirping) I read the articles they helped but I'm not sure when the pip started because I have tried not to open the bator and this was in an egg that was by the ones that I thought were the least farthest along, I see movement in a lot of the eggs when candling.I took the auto turner out and added water to raise the humidity. How many days do they usually make chirping sounds before they zip?
If my humidity gets too high I guess I just remove some of the water??

 

[sumi]

That's great! I don't know how long guineas take to hatch, I've only hatched chickens and ducks so far, but I'm sure someone in the guinea section can help you there:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/45/guinea-fowl

If you feel the humidity is way too high you can lower it by opening the incubator, but don't let it drop too much while the little ones are hatching. Keep it in the 50's at a minimum.

 

[chicks and hens2]

That's great! I don't know how long guineas take to hatch, I've only hatched chickens and ducks so far, but I'm sure someone in the guinea section can help you there:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/45/guinea-fowl

If you feel the humidity is way too high you can lower it by opening the incubator, but don't let it drop too much while the little ones are hatching. Keep it in the 50's at a minimum.

I now have 2 peeping in the bator and those two eggs are moving around on their own, especially the second one. I think the majority of the other eggs are about 1- 2 weeks out before they hatch by the incubation pictures I saw especially since turkey's take a week longer than chickens.

 

[chicks and hens2]

The baby hatched! I had to help just a tiny bit it didn't Zip after 30 hours of pipping it had already totally absorbed the yolk and the shell was dry except for some poo in it.Also the Poult's wing tip that was sticking out looked dry and the nub on it's beak to pip with was all worn off so I figured if it went much longer I would have lost the poult. It seems to be doing well, walking ( rather stumbling) all over the other eggs.
QUESTIONS:
the other egg that I heard peeping from yesterday didn't pip, didn't see an internal pip either, BUT I still see a little movement in there do you think it's OK? The humidity was/is high 60's, now I'm worried about my incubating ones that aren't near ready to hatch yet. as long as no one else is peeping,pipping or zipping, when the new poult dries off and is fluffed up and I have it in the brooder, can I bring the humidity back down, or have I already killed off all the other developing embryo's and those a little closer to hatching?
Second how many hours does it usually take to be fully dry and ready for the brooder?

 

[sumi]

Congrats!

The one you heard peeping yesterday, if it hasn't progressed to external pip you can pip for it. Take a sharp object, like a tiny drill bit, and score an X on the shell, above the air sac line. Just keep scoring it until you can get through the shell and then take a clean pair of tweezers and carefully open the shell. Just make a little hole so the poult can get some fresh air.
Humidity in the 60's for a short period will not kill them so easily, don't worry. You can lower it again later to make up for this. Let's get those babies hatched first, then we can look at the others.
I don't know... it depends on the humidity in the incubator etc. I've never timed mine. I just remove them as/when they are dry enough.