Humidity Help

[littledear]

Can anyone tell me if the amount of humidity affects the ability of the gosling to absorb the yoke sac? My first bunch of hatchlings didn't absorb all of the yoke sac and only one lived. I have changed feeds to a conditioning feed for ducks, geese, etc and feed greens daily. Thanks.

 

[pete55]

Its sounds like your humidity was too high, can you tell us more about the incubation conditions?

Pete

 

[littledear]

That was what I thought too. I kept the humidity at around 60* during most of the period and upped it at the end to 70*. I also misted tow times a day. The temp was 99.5 in a forced air incubator.

 

[littledear]

Pete, I also should note that the air sack never got as big as you have shown on your posts. This first bunch of eggs also didn't get weighed. I started some new eggs yesterday and I let them sit for 24 hours as they were shipped eggs. I then weighed and candled them before placing them in the incubator. Three of the nine eggs had detached air cells so they are at the recomended 45* angle with the blunt side up. I can already see that I have too much water in the incubator as my humidity is sitting at 70*. I am assuming that after the eggs have been in for 24 to 36 hours I can get some of the excess water out of the tray and go from there if anyone can tell me what the humidity should be. I have six Sebbie eggs and three chinese/troulouse eggs. Interestingly enough the three eggs that were shipped from OK. to AR didn't have detached air sacks. The three eggs shipped from TN to AR did have detached air sacks. Both states are neighbors to my state and all of the eggs shipped on the same day and arrived on the same day. I am determined to get this right as I hate loosing babies.

 

[Oregon Blues]

The humidity is controlled by the surface area of the water, not by how much water is in the tray. To reduce humidity, replace your current water container with a smaller container. Smaller surface area, not smaller volume.

 

[littledear]

Thank you very much Oregon Blue. I will just fill one of the small trays in the bottom and go from there. I have three trays under the wire. One is large and the other two are both small.

 

[pete55]

Hi - firstly make sure your temperature is accurate it wants to be no higher than 99F which converts to 37.2C. This slightly lower temperature is very important.

Next make sure you've weighed your eggs and recorded this. I would run with a minimal amount of water (if any) and work out your humidity then. You should aim to lose 3-4% weight after the first week. If you get a higher rate of weight loss then simply increase the humidity the following week.

No need to mist and cool yet as the embryos should first be growing well so start that in the second week for 10 minutes each day.

Dont worry as you're almost there but dont delay with dropping the temperature and lowering that humidity.

 

[littledear]

Thank you very much Pete. I have weighed, recorded and marked all of my most recent eggs. I also dropped my temperature this morning. I have nine eggs that I strated 36 hours ago and I will wait until this evening to empty the water trays as I don't want to disturb them until 48 hours have gone by as three have detached air cells. I have another 12 eggs that I started on the 22nd that I will empty the water trays on today and I won't mist them until the second week.

 

[pete55]

Good luck with them and lets keep our fingers crossed. Like I said they'll do much better at 99F.