humidity

[Country Parson]

I have 10 Pilgrim goose eggs 1.5 weeks into incubation, and (as of today) 7 more in the nest outside (I'm hoping she'll go broody and do those herself). I have a humidity question. I understand why humidity is important in the final days (as an aid in hatching), but why is it important in the initial few weeks?

Can I just dry incubate (no extra humidity) until the last week or so?

 

[pete55]

Thats how we incubate and then raise humidity only when the gosling externally pips

 

[Gracie9205]

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Same here!

 

[gofasterstripe]

Ok so here is a question. I was told that once they Externaly pip not to open the bator so you dont shrink wrap them inside. I have opened the bator to take duccklings out but then Ive had to keep a good eye on the rest of them in there so they dont have trouble hatching.
When I get ready for lockdown, I candle, turn the eggs aircell up, line them all up so I can see eggs pip on both sides of the bator window, do my water and bowl and such then LOCKDOWN, take me about 10 minutes... so what Im more or less asking is. Am I best to wait untill they have cracked the shell before humidity up and lockdown. Another question.....sooo sorry for hijacking your post

Ive read some geese take longer to hatch out...I have Sebbie eggs, so when would I put them into lockdown, I was oging to do it on day 27 but I read in the Sebbiefreeforums that some of them do it on day 25....What day do you recon I should lockdown, or just check my eggs and see whats happening before doing it and maybe leaving in a day or so. Im determined these eggs are not going to worry me to death.

 

[goosedragon]

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Yes but you live in British Islands most of which are known for their high Humidity. There are many places in the USA where you can get away with the local humidity and other places you can't. High Humidity tends to prevent too much moisture being removed from the egg, too early.

 

[gofasterstripe]

 

[pete55]

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Yes but you live in British Islands most of which are known for their high Humidity. There are many places in the USA where you can get away with the local humidity and other places you can't. High Humidity tends to prevent too much moisture being removed from the egg, too early.

To assist in more detail and dispel the myth of the British weather I'll try to give more details. Here in South East England the relative humidity is 55% today. Of course this varies with the seasons and weather.

My point is that I run the incubator DRY throughout incubation at a relative humidity of 25 to 30%. This is to achieve an average weightloss during incubation of 15% of the weight of a fresh laid egg. Regardless of location and environment it is up to the owner to adjust their humidity to their preferred level using water, dehumidifiers, control of incubator vents etc.

Now please dont shoot me down in flames but we do not get worried so much with lockdown. Yes we increase the incubator humidity by filling the trays with water but we will frequently open the incubator to check how our eggs are progressing. I can recall no instances of this causing fatality in the chick but the close monitoring has saved countless babies.

So to when to go into lockdown? Well we stop turning when the air cell adopts a lop-sided profile and 'enlarges' suddenly before internal pipping. At that point the egg has a natural tendency to face one way up as its weight is unevenly distributed. That's nature's cue to us to stop turning as the chick adopts its hatching position. After this phase there can be seen increasing shadows in the air cell and if you listen to the egg at the blunt end you will hear a regular tapping/clicking noise - the chick has internally pipped. The next stage is external pipping when the chick breaks the shell. Once the shell has been breached then we increase humidity.

If you had an egg that hadnt lost sufficient weight why would you go into lockdown before external pipping? It makes more sense to continue at a low humidity until the pip is seen. However I have noted a few times that a chick has externally pipped prematurely below the air cell line which is unusual.

Its not absolute black and white as there are always exceptions but I have simply shared OUR incubation techniques that we have used over the years with a good sucess rate in many species.

Sorry if it was a bit long but hope that makes thing clear

Pete

 

[redhen]

Good info here!

What humidity do you all use to hatch? and for lockdown also?
And..how long to hatch Sebbie eggs? Thanks!

 

[pete55]

Its hard to be too prescriptive as we incubate many types of eggs including the tortoises!

For ALL SPECIES (which of course includes the geese) we control the relative humidity to acheive a weight loss over incubation of 15% (13 - 17%) will do, so dont get too focussed on 15%.

Therefore our Dewlaps Toulouse eggs usually weigh 145gms when fresh laid so we expect a weight loss of approx 22gms by external pipping, this usually results in a more vigourous chick. In the hatcher the relative humidity is approx 65-75% by filling the water trays. As I said we do open the hatcher to remove eggs during lockdown to check progress or assist but I do understand a lot of forum members think this should not be done.

Hope that helps

Pete

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

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