Humidity when incubating Marans eggs, increase, decrease, or same?

[bargain]

Hi Ms. Tricer, Nancy here....Yes, that humidity did get a bit high there.....I really hope it wasn't high very long. But I'm hoping and praying for you. Keep me posted please on how the eggs are doing.

I usually do my hatches in an older handmade incubator.....Kathyinmo, you are correct, I do increase the humidity in the last 3 days and for my eggs, this works the best.....

I do encourage folks to synchronize their hygrometer. I use 2 hygrometer/thermometers (in case battery fails or something goes out of kilter. Dipsy Doodle Doo has a how to calibrate your hygrometers.) Lately I even calibrated my thermometers.(against a cooking thermometer I had calibrated to boiling water)

I don't want to stir up a hen's nest here, but remember that these birds came from the swamps of France.....it's humid in the swamps....It's very humid here in GA, almost all the time.....I get the best hatches with an upped humidity on my incubator. Once it rained so much that literally, I thought I was wiping humidity from the windows inside the room where the incubator was....I thought of running a dehydrator, but I got my very best hatch at 81% the last three days.

Well, happy hatching to all.... And remember synchronize hygrometer and thermometer!

 

[mstricer]

Nancy only one made it but its a cutie. I was able to accquire 18 eggs at the Maran table at Nationals. I now have 3 accrite digitals on hand one on the inside, one on the outside and one on stand bye. Nancy it was a pleasure doing business with you and I sure I'll be looking you up this spring. Have a wonderful evening.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Hi Nancy, I hope all is well with you and your DH. I appreciate your help. May I ask again (I forgot) what humidity you use for the first 18 days?

Thank you!
Germaine

 

[livin-green]

Just set 6 FBC Marans eggs in my new Brinsea Octagon 20 ADVANCE EX (best Valentines present ever!

), and I'm curious what you guys would suggest for relative humidity setting when the ambient humidity is 50%.

I currently have it set at 99.5F and 48%RH. I've incubated Marans twice before, but it was in one of those styro. kind and neither were great hatches. I'm also going to use the weight method this time, since candling Marans eggs is so difficult + it's supposed to be more accurate. Any tips there would also be appreciated!

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I have tried the "weigh" game with eggs,,will drive you nutts keeping track and adjusting,and worrying all the time. I have a Brinsea 180 EX,,with all digital imputs,,as well as humidity control. This may sound "off" but I have this incubator in my living room,,the little brushless motor that operates the water pump for humidity makes a lot of noise for as small as it is,,so with some practice adjusting the opening slots across the top,,I now completely fill the water resovior,,and I added 2 small sponges in the tray. It doesn't take long and I can keep anywhere from 40-55% humidity in the incubator at all times. For Marans I keep it at 45% for 18 days,I also only need to full the resovior(sp) twice a day,and don't need to hear that loud pump run on and off all day long.
Set your humidity at 45%,,,weigh your eggs before they go in,,weigh them at 12 days,,I thought Brinsea says they should lose 12%? weight? At this number of days you should be at about 6%,,I wouldn't be alarmed if your at 4% or even 7%,,
I close the vents completely on the 19th day,and get rh levels up to 50% and leave it alone. I have great luck that way,,,don't know the particulars of your octagon 20,but my 180 will hatch a rock if it's fertile,,very hard to mess up a hatch. Just remember if those eggs was under a hen,many controllable parts of incubating that WE can control,a hen cannot control.

 

[livin-green]

Thanks for the tips! My set-up is off in the corner where the noise isn't too bad--hard to hear over all the other noise in this house anyway! LOL!

I think I'll knock it down to 46% and make sure it stays consistent...so far, it has been very consistent. I'm wondering how the ambient humidity will play into it. The eggs also weren't kept at a good humidity for hatching anyway (they were just out on the counter) since I wasn't planning on hatching right now. I'm really just considering this a "test" run to work out any kinks that I might find. I will actually be quite surprised if I get a good hatch, and I will definitely be singing the praises of this 'bator!

Oh, as far as the weight loss thing--everything I've read suggest 12-14% by day 20. So, I'm going to shoot for 13% at the end of day 18 and call it quits. We'll just see what happens!

 

[Little Chicken's Nana.]

Help! Everyone on here have always really been a big help to me, Thank's. I need you now! I put 24 Black Copper Maran Eggs into my Hova Bator , ( that my husband got me for christmas ) on the 3 rd of February, they were due to hatch on the 24, well on the 23 they started cracking, and by late that evening I had 16. I still had thou 8 more eggs, I still kept watching, it was several hours later, I heard a peep, it got louder and louder, then I could see the small hole in it, then it just got quiet, oh I just knew it was dead, then I got my son to go onto byc, and see what I could do to help this chick, he found where I could take it out, with a dropper and warm water and dull tweesters, I got the shell back and he finally came thru, he was so happy and me to, that shell was so thick and he was big, now I have 17, and 7 eggs are left, I look in, and I dont hear anything there is no movement , no noise, and I'am standing there crying, I just dont want to give up on them yet, since that last one's shell was so thick, I seen where you could add a warm washcloth inside the incubator to help soften up the shell maybe that might help, I dont know this is my first time to do this, and I seen where you could leave them in there up to 28 days, well today is day 23, I'am going to leave them in, and leave them alone, what else can I do, and what if after day 28 there's nothing, what else can I do to help them. Thank you. And its so funny, all of them are black and white, except one he is all golden, with a black stripe on his head.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

If you take an egg and hold the pointy side next to your ear,and gently "tap" on the egg,with your fingertip,you may be able to hear the chick "peep" back or sometimes hear a picking sound. If you hear movement or chirping at least the chick is alive yet. Did you candle the eggs already? Even so,if the egg was dark when candled that does not mean it will hatch,,sometimes they start to develope and for one reason or another stop and the embryo is dark enough to make you think the egg is fertile. I wouldn't help the chicks out of the egg,unless after it has "pipped" and then if no progress for 8 hours,then possibly chip some of the shell away and see if progress is made.If you notice a lot of blood while doing so,immediatedly stop and leave the egg alone.
You should have got your humidity levels up to 50% or more the 19th day onward to help soften up the membrane-ect,,I've tried hovabators before and it only took me one time to decide never to use them again,,especially when marans eggs was costing over $60 a dozen.

 

[livin-green]

I tried the whole let them do their thing the hatch before last, and I ended up losing every single one. A couple had even got to the point of punching through to the air sac but no further. On my last hatch, out of the ones that developed properly (blame the Little Giant--same as HovaBator--& a few infertiles for losing @ 1/2), I ended up helping every single one out. It was only four, but they are all perfectly healthy ~ a little "dazed & confused" at first--no doubt from working so long to get out--but bounced right back within a day or so.

I waited & watched, waited & watched, and when two had pipped but made no further progress & appeared to be drying out & sticking to the egg shell, I intervened. Warm water with q-tips and a small, dull nut picker to gently & slowly pick the shell at least 1/2 away--where the chick could easily breathe. Then, back in the bator to see if it could make any more progress on it's own. Couple of hours later...nothing, and I ended up finishing the "hatch" for them. During this time the other two pipped, and I ended up following pretty much the exact same sequence of events for them.

The poor little things just completely wore themselves out trying to break free. The shells & membrane was so tough that by the time they made much progress, they started drying out and sticking to the shell. Now, some might say I didn't have the humidity high enough, maybe so, but it was up at like 75-80%. I had the entire reservoir filled and 3 wet sponges that I wet continuously using a syringe & tube through the vent hole (not opening the bator). I think those styrofoam bators just don't hold the humidity worth a flip, which is crucial for Marans eggs or any other particularly tough egg.

I just purchased a Brinsea Octagon and have 6 in there. I think 3 were not even fertile or died very early. Only 9 days in, and I'm not sure about the others just yet. I wasn't planning to hatch right away, so I had not stored the eggs properly, and we had some crazy weather here in AL. It's hard to say if this new bator will be that much better on this "test" run. It does seem to be keeping the temp & RH dead-on, though!

 

[john in wa]

I have hatched many many BCM eggs over the last 3 years. I started hatching in a LG still air them moved up to a Brinsea Octagon eco 20. I had many a bad hatch when i first started I ran my humidity at 45 then up to 60 last 3 days. I cracked many a egg that had fully developed dead chicks. I then started filling both trays and letting them totally dry up and let the humidity drop to 20 for 2 days before i would fill the trays again. the last 3 days i fill both trays and that brings my humidity back up to right around 45 and that's as high as it goes. I have had much better luck doing this. I don't have gooey chicks trying to hatch my rate of stuck chicks had dropped to almost none. I no longer baby sit the incubator i know if they are going to hatch they will hatch with out me setting and watching them. I have 6 eggs in the incubator now due to hatch on the first. I do not have a hygrometer in there at all any more.

Just a month ago i gave a couple BCM roosters to the man i bought my LG from. I asked him how his hatching was going going and he told me he followed the book to a T and has terrible hatches. he asked me what I'm doing and when i told him he said, I follow the book and do every thing right and your reckless and are having good hatches i don't get it. I think People just need to find what works for them. I did a lot of google searching on difrent hatching methods, this is what works for me. I also do not turn my eggs 3 times a day i figure its just a waste of time. I started trying this after another google search. I turn them twice aday every 12 hours first week them once aday after that if i miss aday i dont worrie about it. My advice is stop sweating the small stuff and play around with your incubator till you find what works for you.

This is what i have in my incubator right now. 6 BCM eggs 6 silkie eggs and 2 silkie chicks. the chicks will go down to the barn tomorrow and be raised by a silkie hen. the BCM eggs should be hatching around the 1st of the month. the other 6 silkie eggs i just dont dont know i think in about 10 days. If i remeber ill let you know on the 1st how many of the black copper marans hatched