Help with 1st time hatching

[Corsicanz]

Hi, this is my first time incubating eggs and I only just came across your article on relative humidity and how to check air cells.... So, my chicken eggs are at day 13.... all 14 eggs show active signs of life..... But air cells appear to be closer to the day 7 illustration than day 14....... I have a Borotto sirio humidity controller (might have been a waste of money cause I can't seem to set it below 40%H) It has been set at 45% since day one and periodically RH goes higher (46% to 50%) Am I to assume since the air cells are too small that the humidity is too high and is it too late to help this hatch? I could pull the cords on that humidity controller ..... but my hygrometer won't fit in the incubator properly so I'll have to guess at humidity. My incubator is a borotto 16...If I remove the humidity controller... Mfg. recommends filling the front tub for the first 18 days (which should allow for 45% humidity according to them) and then filling the back tub in addition to the front tub for lockdown (to achieve 65%) IF I'm able to decrease humidity by pulling out all water source... how far down should I go? ANY assistance would be GREATLY appreciated

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Mfg. recommends filling the front tub for the first 18 days (which should allow for 45% humidity according to them) and then filling the back tub in addition to the front tub for lockdown (to achieve 65%)

Hi there and welcome to BYC!

At MY location my ambient humidity is often above 80% and close to 100%.. and when running an incubator completely dry with NO water my relative humidity inside the bator runs around 45%.. On very dry days it may go as low as 15-20%.,, which is okay when incubating very dark shelled eggs.

The main concern if air cells remain too small is drowning at pip OR not the embryo growing too large and not being able to turn to get into position for pip.

What color and/or type of chicken eggs are you incubating? Humidity can be fairly forgiving where as temperature need a little tighter control.

The air cells will still draw down quite a bit even after lock down.

I probably would not go any lower than but about 20-25% humidity over the next few days.. and you need you can keep it lower until your first internal pip.. often day 19-20 if your temps were accurate. Some folks even wait to raise humidity until seeing the first external pip.. But drop your humidity, and monitor cell progress.. There are upright hatching techniques that can be employed when air cell is of questionable viability.

Please feel free to post photos of your air cells.

My favorite incubation/hatching resource guide (found originally in this BYC thread/article Hatching Eggs 101 ) link..

Incubation guide

Happy hatching!

 

[Corsicanz]

Thank You for your help! Eggs are from our own chickens.... they range from light brown to dark (ISAs, Golden Comet, Black Copper Marans, Noir Marans) Can you elaborate on the "upright hatching techniques" and is it the same as positioning the eggs with the lowest end of the air cell upward? I have lowered the Humidity monitor to 40% (as low as the controller will go)...... I could remove it and try to tape a hygrometer into the egg turning tray and then just add minimal water to water tray? Otherwise humidity won't come down? Sorry pictures aren't better Eggs are little darker cause of the flash

 

[nuthatched]

Is your hygrometer calibrated? Sometimes they are so off.

 

[Corsicanz]

Oh and those were taken today on day 13

 

[Corsicanz]

Is your hygrometer calibrated? Sometimes they are so off.

yes I did a dry run before I began and used two other hygrometers.... the temp was off but not the humidity.

 

[Corsicanz]

Thank you for the help! I did reduce the humidity to 40% (it was the lowest I could go as I opted to continue to use the automatic humidity machine) from days 14 to 18. Candled the eggs again on day 18.... Of the 14 eggs.... The air cell size on maybe half of them had grown considerably and on the other half minimally, but all 14 eggs showed clear signs of life. The manufacturer recommends rotating the location of the eggs every 5 days during incubation and I did not do that. I believe the ones with the least amount of air cell growth may have been the ones closest to the heat source, so perhaps I should have heeded the recommendation to rotate them. On day 18, I increased humidity to 60% and began lockdown... By day 20 we had many pips and today, day 21 we've had five healthy hatches.... 1 Noir Marans(dark egg), 1 Black Copper Marans(the darkest and tiniest egg in the hatch), and 4 ISAs....