Well, Buster, thank you for your input! I must say that I find the info quite interesting and will be extremely anxious to find out how many of your eggs hatch. First, I would like to know how many eggs you have in the bator now? Then, I would like to know how many of those eggs hatch! Tell us please, what day are they due to hatch, for we are going to be expecting an update on or around that date!
I agree that you will have deformities if the humidity is to low. The deformities are not due to a low humidity level, but a high temperature. Spraddle leg is not counted as a deformity. It is a result of a chick with a large abdomen. They have absorbed a healthy full yolk and have so full a belly that their little legs spraddle. You can fix it by taking pipe cleaners and tieing the chicks legs in the correct position and leave them for an hour. I have had this happen to chicks hatched under a broody. It is usually the big robust breeds that these chicks will come from. Just a sign of a big healthy chick!
Now back to the deformities and the high temperature that causes it. You see, as the humidity drops, the dry heat rises and will cause the temperature to rise in the bator. If this dry heat in the bator is allowed to remain for a long time (for more than 3 to 4 hours periods or repetitive throughout the incubation) it will cause the deformities in the chicks feet. Let the humidity drop to 20%, leave it for around 2 hours, make sure the temp stays at 99.5 and then add your water to bring the humidity back up and leveled off at around 42%. All the while making sure the temp stays at a consistant 99.5. There must be a consistant temperature to avoid the deformity while maintaining the lower humidity at the same time.
I am not trying to be argumentative, I just feel that your info from the oldtimer is not complete. My question for he and you would be, Are we counting the number of chicks that hatched at a 75% humidity or the number that hatched without deformities? When you say "literally hundreds" in reference to chicks, are we talking 500 hundred eggs set with 200 of them hatching? Who would miss 300 hundred chicks if 200 hatched? I would, for that is 300 hundred that probably drown in their egg before they could make it out!
Please do keep us updated on your hatch at a 75% humidity level, but first tell us the exact number of eggs you have set and then tell us the exact number that hatches later. Again, not being argumentative, we just want to compare your hatch to ours. We will be happy to tell how many deformed chicks we have too!
By the way, for those of you that do experience chicks with mildly deformed feet, this is an easy fix if addressed at hatch! Put these chicks on a mesh wire, This traction will correct their feet within a day. I usually do not have many of these, but there will be some. A chick with this easy addressed problem is better than no chick because it drown in an egg shell!
I agree that you will have deformities if the humidity is to low. The deformities are not due to a low humidity level, but a high temperature. Spraddle leg is not counted as a deformity. It is a result of a chick with a large abdomen. They have absorbed a healthy full yolk and have so full a belly that their little legs spraddle. You can fix it by taking pipe cleaners and tieing the chicks legs in the correct position and leave them for an hour. I have had this happen to chicks hatched under a broody. It is usually the big robust breeds that these chicks will come from. Just a sign of a big healthy chick!
Now back to the deformities and the high temperature that causes it. You see, as the humidity drops, the dry heat rises and will cause the temperature to rise in the bator. If this dry heat in the bator is allowed to remain for a long time (for more than 3 to 4 hours periods or repetitive throughout the incubation) it will cause the deformities in the chicks feet. Let the humidity drop to 20%, leave it for around 2 hours, make sure the temp stays at 99.5 and then add your water to bring the humidity back up and leveled off at around 42%. All the while making sure the temp stays at a consistant 99.5. There must be a consistant temperature to avoid the deformity while maintaining the lower humidity at the same time.
I am not trying to be argumentative, I just feel that your info from the oldtimer is not complete. My question for he and you would be, Are we counting the number of chicks that hatched at a 75% humidity or the number that hatched without deformities? When you say "literally hundreds" in reference to chicks, are we talking 500 hundred eggs set with 200 of them hatching? Who would miss 300 hundred chicks if 200 hatched? I would, for that is 300 hundred that probably drown in their egg before they could make it out!
Please do keep us updated on your hatch at a 75% humidity level, but first tell us the exact number of eggs you have set and then tell us the exact number that hatches later. Again, not being argumentative, we just want to compare your hatch to ours. We will be happy to tell how many deformed chicks we have too!
By the way, for those of you that do experience chicks with mildly deformed feet, this is an easy fix if addressed at hatch! Put these chicks on a mesh wire, This traction will correct their feet within a day. I usually do not have many of these, but there will be some. A chick with this easy addressed problem is better than no chick because it drown in an egg shell!
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