humidity and hatching

[wskline]

Ok, here's my question...Does higher humidity in incubator help the keets hatch? Checked keets this morning, had cracks in eggs so I added little more water to get humidity up. Hubby just called to say 4 have hatched which blows my mind they hatched that quick. Only thing I can figure is adding water to get humidity up helped them hatch quicker.

 

[FrogRaku]

I tried to keep my humidity at 80% for the hatch. (Different sites have different levels, but I went with extension.org's.) All of mine go out of their shells.

The shells are super hard/thick, so it helps the keets be able to break through.

Also, try to be careful not to open the lid too much. The membrane inside those eggs dries to be almost like a thick plastic. They say if it gets too dry, the membrane will shrink wrap around the Keet.

Good luck!

 

[wskline]

humidity was down to 43 this morning and I thought i had read needs to be 65-80 to hatch. I made quick open of lid to get water in there. Thank you floodc. 4 more should be hatching soon so hopefully it's good hatch.

 

[FrogRaku]

43% - ouch! Good call on adding water quickly! Sounds like you got to it quickly enough if the first 4 hatched. So, I bet the others are fine. (Mine hatched over a 2 day period, so don't freak if they're not out tonight. I panicked when my last 2 eggs didn't hatch and did a "water candle" - fill a bowl of warm water. Let it settle. Note which side of the egg is up in the incubator (it has to be out back the same way). Slide the egg, pointy side down, into the water. Wait for the water to settle again. And look to see if the egg wiggles from the Keet moving inside. Don't leave it in the water more than 30 seconds. I'm sure it's not reccomended to do this, but it beats throwing out an egg that's alive!) You're going to have a fun little flock! Good luck!

 

[kryz43zig]

i dont have a Gage for the humility. how do i know i am putting enough water inside