Humidity Question - First time hatching eggs

[guinea124]

We are hatching eggs for the first time, three barred rocks and three cream legbars. They are in a Brinsea Mini Advance incubator. The eggs are on Day 19, which is when we were told by the people that sold us the eggs to fill up the water compartment before going on "lockdown". When I went to fill it up I could hear peeping and two of the eggs have holes pecked through and one is rocking back and forth quite a bit.

My question is, is it too late to open up the incubator and add more water? There is some in there but it's not full.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[cscigu]

I don't know a sure answer, but wanted to point you at a couple threads that might help:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

And a question I myself asked last year on the topic:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/986217/another-humidity-question

I'm not sure about your model, but I add water sometimes with a straw thru the vent hole of my Hovabator. Low tech.

 

[kss1113]

I would watch a little while to see if those two pips progress. If so, the humidity rises once those eggs have hatched. I've had too much humidity in the Brinsea Mini Advanced after two or three chicks hatch and then they are unable to get dry. If you do feel you need to do something to up the humidity - you could wet a paper towel and just barely open the Brinsea on a corner to slide it in. One question, is there any condensation on the turner gear area? If so, you are probably fine. Good luck. I'm hatching today also! I have four that have pipped early - 2 in the Brinsea and 2 in the Little Giant. Today is day 20. I'm hatching Golden Campines and a few Orpingtons.

 

[Dannygj]

Don't open incubator u can shrink wrap them( the membrane will stick to them) add water when all or close to all water gone quickly there is still half they will be okay

 

[AmyLynn2374]

We are hatching eggs for the first time, three barred rocks and three cream legbars. They are in a Brinsea Mini Advance incubator. The eggs are on Day 19, which is when we were told by the people that sold us the eggs to fill up the water compartment before going on "lockdown". When I went to fill it up I could hear peeping and two of the eggs have holes pecked through and one is rocking back and forth quite a bit.

My question is, is it too late to open up the incubator and add more water? There is some in there but it's not full.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Yes adding the water to get your humidity up is important. There is more than one philosophy to hatching. The pippers need the higher humidity to keep the membrane from drying out. I am a hands on hatcher, which means I open during hatching. It is better to keep your humidity up and if you need to open the bator to add water, that is ok. If you can add water via syringe or tubing, that's great. Do you have any idea what your humidity is at?

 

[guinea124]

I am not sure where the humidity is at, I went ahead and added the water. Hopefully, it'll turn out okay. I'll post pictures in the March hatch-along forum when/if they hatch! Thanks!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Oh and

 

[guinea124]

Thanks for all the replies. So far four eggs have hatched and the other three are working on it. I've read it's best to wait for them all to hatch before removing to the brooder, so I'm going to try to wait. One chick does concern me. I think he's kind of stuck between an egg and the middle of the incubator? He's thrashing and peeping but once he got in that position he hasn't stood up for a couple of hours. I'm hoping once the egg he's stuck on hatches he will be able to move, and it's fairly close to hatching. Should I intervene?

 

[kss1113]

You can intervene as long as there are no other pips in any of the other eggs. I probably would if I could make sure that no others have a pip going on.

 

[mizwilli]

I am on day 20 of my first every hatching. 26 eggs and had 4 pip about midnite. One hatched about 2 a.m.. My humidity keeps dropping down to 55,Knowing I can't open incubator after day 18 I have a piece of wadded up paper towel underneath the vent hole to poor warm water on. Two worries, 1) will the fresh chick stay too wet and not dry out by my adding water to help the other break out. The other 3 that have pip have not made any progress since midnite. Do I need to assist them in coming out of the shell? Help please.