Help with Lockdown/hatch date?

[aoxa]

This is my very first time hatching my own chicks. Out of 42 eggs set, 36 are alive and well at day 17 - see I'm not quite sure about the day thing..

I set the eggs in the warmed up incubator Friday the 13th @ 8 pm. I would have waited until midnight if I wasn't so tired from moving that day... Anyway.. What day should they hatch? Will it be Saturday - May 5th or Friday May 4th? What time should I go into lockdown?

Should I do it tonight or tomorrow? I want to do everything right.. Last time I tried to hatch with a broody, and we had a egg breaking accident which should have forced me to toss all eggs, but I didn't, and they all died before pipping @ 20 days.

I'm in the process of building them a brooder. It's coming along nicely, and I am taking Friday off to be there to see them hatch.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Many people get confused on this. It seems that the day you put them in the incubator shold be Day 1, but it is not.

An egg does not have a day's worth of development 2 seconds or 2 hours after you put it in the incubator. It takes 24 hours for it to have a day's worth of development. So day 1 is 24 hours after you start them.

Hatch date is easy. It is the day of the week you set them, in your case, a Friday. Lockdown is a bit harder, but it is after 18 days of development. So if you set them on Friday the 13th, Lockdown is tomorrow, May 1. Hatch will be three days later on Friday the 4th.

The hard thing is that this is only theory. A whole lot of eggs do not hatch after 21 days of development. There are a lot of things that affect when an egg will actually hatch, humidity, heredity, size of the egg, how and how long they were they were stored before you started. But the big one is average incubating temperature. If your incubator runs a little warm, they can be pipping when you go into lockdown. I've had that happen before. If your average incubating temperature is a little cool, they can be that much late.

Your main goal with lockdown is to get the humidity up before they pip. You need to stop turning and not open the incubator after you lock them down, but raising the humidity is the critical thing. If you notice any pipping before 18 full days of development, lock them down immediately. After you get some history with your incubator you can adjust as necessary, but for your first time, I suggest you plan on locking down after 18 full days of development. That works for practically all of us.

 

[kjt135]

Thanks ridgerunner I needed that info too.

 

[aoxa]

Many people get confused on this. It seems that the day you put them in the incubator shold be Day 1, but it is not.
An egg does not have a day's worth of development 2 seconds or 2 hours after you put it in the incubator. It takes 24 hours for it to have a day's worth of development. So day 1 is 24 hours after you start them.
Hatch date is easy. It is the day of the week you set them, in your case, a Friday. Lockdown is a bit harder, but it is after 18 days of development. So if you set them on Friday the 13th, Lockdown is tomorrow, May 1. Hatch will be three days later on Friday the 4th.
The hard thing is that this is only theory. A whole lot of eggs do not hatch after 21 days of development. There are a lot of things that affect when an egg will actually hatch, humidity, heredity, size of the egg, how and how long they were they were stored before you started. But the big one is average incubating temperature. If your incubator runs a little warm, they can be pipping when you go into lockdown. I've had that happen before. If your average incubating temperature is a little cool, they can be that much late.
Your main goal with lockdown is to get the humidity up before they pip. You need to stop turning and not open the incubator after you lock them down, but raising the humidity is the critical thing. If you notice any pipping before 18 full days of development, lock them down immediately. After you get some history with your incubator you can adjust as necessary, but for your first time, I suggest you plan on locking down after 18 full days of development. That works for practically all of us.

You are a lifesaver! Thank you so much! I will lock them down after work tomorrow. My incubator is the Genesis Hovabator 1588, I have been using the dry incubation method. I have only lost two at a very early date (by day 5 or so), and all 36 are moving when candled.

Hopefully the humidity won't be a problem, but I have not tried to hatch before. We will see. I am fully prepared not to touch the bator until they are all hatched, though it may be hard. If the room's humidity is high, would I be able to open it on day 22 if need be? Right now the humidity here is 80%, and it can get as high as 100% some days. Without air conditioner (which we don't have) it can be pretty gross inside in terms of humidity.

If this would risk them in any way, I definitely wouldn't touch the incubator. Just curious.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Everything we do in life has risks. If your humidity in your house is that high, you have my sympathy. I doubt it would hurt to open the incubator with that background humidity, but I cannot give you any guarantees. Don't have a fan running to blow air across them though.

 

[aoxa]

Everything we do in life has risks. If your humidity in your house is that high, you have my sympathy. I doubt it would hurt to open the incubator with that background humidity, but I cannot give you any guarantees. Don't have a fan running to blow air across them though.

Thank you. Our summers are hot and humid. The humidity sometimes doubles the temperature in the summers. We do have a lot of rain

Good to know. Thanks again. Someone has hatched my eggs and had 26/32 hatch. They opened the incubator every 12 hours to remove chicks. Luckily none were shrink wrapped.