Humidity Question - First time hatching eggs

[BertandMary]

A quick way to up the humidity without opening the Bator for very long is to use warm water on a couple of paper towels. Crumple them into a loose wet ball and put them in quickly. The humidity jumps quickly doing that

 

[mizwilli]

Thank you, I have already done that but my concern is the hatched chick. Will she continue to dry out with the humidity up. She is fairly dry now. Do I need to assist the other 3 chicks who piped at midnite but have had no progress since, one small hole in shell. Since the humidity falls, I am concerned about the ones who have pipped and the membrane become too hard for them to break away the shell. How long do I wait before I assist?

 

[BertandMary]

That is a judgement call on when to assist. The hatched chicks will dry out just fine. It can take up to 24 hours from pip to zip with some chicks. I just had one pip and zip in 5 hours and it is a day early. I just think since it was the smallest egg it warmed faster and developed quicker. No other pips so everyone else is on schedule. My humidity is in the high 70s.

 

[mizwilli]

Thank you, makes me feel better. Things are looking good, got the humidity up and now I have 7 pips and rockin and rollen. 2nd chick just hatched and more to come. Questions, How long can the babies stay in the incubator without being harmed and without no food or water. I cannot open incubator until the eggs stop pipping. I still have 7 pipping, not out of the shell yet, just a small hole or two. I have to wait? I have 26 eggs. some have not pipped yet. THE FIRST ONE IS CHASING AND PECKING AT THE NEWEST!!!! NOW WHAT.

 

[kss1113]

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.

Do NOT open your incubator if you have external pips. After the initial pip is a resting period for the chick. Sometimes this will last for 24 hours before they start to zip. If you feel that you need to add some water through the vent, that will be fine. Once the chicks who have pips are fully hatched and there are not other pips - you can move them to the brooder. Hope this helps. Let us know how many you hatch!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thank you, makes me feel better. Things are looking good, got the humidity up and now I have 7 pips and rockin and rollen. 2nd chick just hatched and more to come. Questions, How long can the babies stay in the incubator without being harmed and without no food or water. I cannot open incubator until the eggs stop pipping. I still have 7 pipping, not out of the shell yet, just a small hole or two. I have to wait? I have 26 eggs. some have not pipped yet. THE FIRST ONE IS CHASING AND PECKING AT THE NEWEST!!!! NOW WHAT.

I was going to keep my mouth shut, but I am finding it too hard to do. When to take eggs out, whether to assist and whether to open the bator is a personal decision. Many of us do things differently with the same success rates. I am a hands on hatcher who assists, who removes the chicks AS THEY HATCH and become active who is an all around meddler. I often, (which is an understatement that anyone who knows me will call me out on) open my bator from day one to the last hatcher. I do not leave my chicks in until the end, usually they aren't even in there more than a couple hours. So I will give you the viewpoint from BOTH sides.

Hands off hatchers don't open the bator and leave the chicks in their until hatch is done and rarely assist. They run on the theory that the yolk will sustain the chick for 2-3 days. Most will add water by using syringes/tubing through the vent hole to help humidity because they have a strict do not open the bator policy.

Then there are those of us who SUCCESSFULLY hatch with a hands on philiosophy. That do remove chicks that do assist and that will open the bator during hatch. Yes, we too have 90-100% hatches. The key is to keep your humidity up and know when help is actually needed. The key is finding what works for you. It's not a matter of right or wrong.

 

[BertandMary]

We are meddlers too. The lone hatched chick is already in a brooder. We've got a FBCM egg pipped about an hour ago. As was just said, be calm and do what feels right for you. Look at the he said she said thread. Whatever works for you, works for you. We run basically dry for 18 days and then bump up to around 80 humidity and are in and out of the bator constantly, pip or no pip. Last hatch was 90% and this one is looking good too.

 

[guinea124]

All 7 of our eggs hatched! I will post pictures as soon as I can get some decent ones. I opted not to help the one that seemed stuck. He eventually worked his worked his way out. This being the first ever hatch I had no idea what I should expect. It helps to get all the different points of view!

After all the eggs hatched I put the first four dry ones in the brooder and left the other three in the incubator. My kids are beyond thrilled although they all hatched in the middle of the night or while they were at school, so they missed the actual hatching, but I did get some video for them.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

All 7 of our eggs hatched! I will post pictures as soon as I can get some decent ones. I opted not to help the one that seemed stuck. He eventually worked his worked his way out. This being the first ever hatch I had no idea what I should expect. It helps to get all the different points of view!

After all the eggs hatched I put the first four dry ones in the brooder and left the other three in the incubator. My kids are beyond thrilled although they all hatched in the middle of the night or while they were at school, so they missed the actual hatching, but I did get some video for them.

That's great!! Congrats!!

 

[mizwilli]

Thank you Amy Lynn. I have 7 hatched, a number to go yet and have 7 pips.I will jump in and take out the older chicks who hatched early this morning and are dry and fluffy (and picking on the newbie) which will make room for the newer ones. Brooder is ready. Appreciate your input. Much needed. I did a dry incubate and got humidity up to 70 for hatching, has worked very well. Blessing to you.