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Yesterday (day 17), the air cells were a bit larger than day 14, but not too much larger. I plan on changing my humidity next time by a lot. Because I was going by the manual and from what I have read, we should not incubate at such high levels for the first 18 days. I will attach a picture of the air cells here. Once the first couple of chicks hatch is there any way I can safely lower the humidity for the remaining chicks?How do the air cells look?
I incubate at much less humidity 45% is the max. Typically around 30-40%.
If you don't get many to hatch then lower your humidity next time.
When you incubate at a high humidity typically one or two chicks will hatch, and that raises the humidity a lot and drowns the rest of the chicks in their eggs.
Only time will tell.
These pictures were from day 14How do the air cells look?
I incubate at much less humidity 45% is the max. Typically around 30-40%.
If you don't get many to hatch then lower your humidity next time.
When you incubate at a high humidity typically one or two chicks will hatch, and that raises the humidity a lot and drowns the rest of the chicks in their eggs.
Only time will tell.
Okay! I will try that for sure! Anything to increase the hatch rate.I've heard of some people propping the lid open for a little bit.
If it was me, I'd just take out the chicks right after they hatch and let them fluff up in the brooder. I know everyone says to let them dry off first but in this situation it will up your humidity way to much to be safe for the other eggs.
Perfect! This makes me so happy. I was sure they wouldn’t make it! Because I was so worried about the humidity we started at. I am going to be home for the next few days. So I will be here to closely monitor them. We have regular sized eggs and 5 bantam. Today, we could see a couple moving after putting them into lockdown.Open your vent holes or prop the lid open a little bit to let the humidity go back down to 65 to 70%. Make sure you keep tabs on your humidity levels when chicks start coming out of there shells.
Definitely use a calibrated one. 99% of the time incubator humidity gauges aren’t accurate.I am going by the incubators humidity gauge.
That’s good! Be sure to calibrate it!Now that I have been reading I purchased a hygrometer for our next batch.
I didn't see anyone advising to dry up the humidity, only to keep the humidity from getting too high.Honestly, at hatching time it should be fine to have high humidity. I keep a wet rag in my incubator as soon as the first egg pips. If it is not humid, the chicks can get dried out and stuck in the shell. One of my incubator manuals actually said the window should be fogged up during the hatch, and that when you open the incubator to remove chicks it lets out needed moisture. So you may want to do some checking before you try to 'dry up' that humidity.