I’m sorry to hear that your broody hen passed away! I think that in an emergency situation like yours, that 24 hr rule etc need not apply. The incubator is probably better for your eggs than whatever emergency setup you’ve managed so far. I’d put them in but get a calibrated external probe to check the real temperature as soon as you can. If one egg is hatching, then are the rest ready to hatch? If so, don’t use the turner, just put the eggs on their side with the big end a little up. Add warm water to all the wells if chicks are hatching now then worry later about the finer points of temperature and humidity of your new bator. IF you dont have time to double check temp and you are at hatching time, then adjust the temp a few degrees down to 98 or so, as hatching eggs don’t need as much heat and too high is worse than too low. Best of luck with with your hatch!Thank you for the help! I linked the incubator in a post above.
See the problem is that my broody died while sitting on the eggs and my backup broody got sick and now is no longer wanting to sit on the eggs. So I’ve been keeping them warm and they’ve been doing fine (one is hatching at the moment actually) but I know that it’s not going to work for much longer probably. I went out and got the incubator yesterday evening and it says to wait for 24 hours so that’s what I’m doing. The temp is still fluctuating so I don’t think it’s a good idea to put the eggs in yet. But at the same time I’m getting a bit worried about the eggs because they haven’t had the proper humidity and things for a while.
The humidity in the incubator is reading at 48% with no added water yet.. should I just leave the water then for now?
