humidity issues

[HenchantedAcres]

Hi,
I am incubating eggs for the first time. I'm on day 18 and ready for locked down for 6 orpington eggs. They all are actively moving around. I weighed my eggs prior to incubating them and last night the average weight loss was 9.5%. My question is, should I keep the humidity down because they did not lose enough weight?

 

[HEChicken]

In my experience, the first 7 days of incubation are the most critical for weight loss. If they are not "on target" at the end of the 7th day, it is hard to get them back where they should be. Certainly in the last couple of days it is too late. The weight loss indicates whether the chick has grown to the right size (and the air cell is sufficient to provide the needed oxygen for hatching), so at this point, either it has or it hasn't.

If it were me, I would just proceed as you would have if you hadn't weighed the eggs. Good luck!

 

[HenchantedAcres]

What would you suggest I run the humidity at for lock down?

 

[HEChicken]

I keep it at 45% during incubation and bump it up to 65% for hatch.

 

[HenchantedAcres]

Thanks for your help. I probably played around too much with the humidity. A friend told me she runs her humidity at 70% day 1-18, and increases to 80% during lock down. I have gone up and down a lot with the humidity, I never ran it as high as 70% like my friend does. I started out at 50%, and increased to 60%, then back down to 38-40%. A few days ago, my eggs were at 15.5% weight loss, so I increased the humidity for 2 days, and now they are probably too dry. Too much information out there. I guessed I have joined the obsessed chicken addicts club as well!

 

[HEChicken]

I don't really pay a lot of attention to humidity, to be honest. Mother hens hatch in a variety of conditions and don't have the ability to control the humidity that much - in a rainy, wet climate the humidity will be higher than in a dry, desert climate. Temperature and ventilation are more important, in my opinion.

 

[HenchantedAcres]

Thanks for all of your advice. I will post how my hatch goes on Tuesday!

 

[HenchantedAcres]

One chick out this am, and another pip about an hour ago. Today is day 20 for them.

 

[HEChicken]

One chick out this am, and another pip about an hour ago. Today is day 20 for them.

Yay! Congratulations.

 

[HenchantedAcres]

Day 21! So far 3/6 are hatched. No movement from 2 of them, and 1 wiggling egg. Had to take the first chick out, he was pecking the other new comers brutally, especially their eyes. Next question, when I went to bed at 4 this morning the brooder temp was 94, when I got up at 8, the brooder was reading 99!! The chick was panting a little bit. Got the temp down to 90-91. It's been almost an hour since then. The chick is laying with his head stretched out in front of him, and just appears to be sleeping right now. Should I be really concerned about this?