Humidity

[lizp8]

Good afternoon, everyone!! I have a quick question... I have an electronic thermometer/hygrometer to measure the temperature and humidity in my incubator. I am stabilizing it for when the eggs go in soon. The humidity is at about a constant 33-34% for the past day. Is that a good humidity or should I add some water? There is nothing in there right now, that is the humidity without any water. Thanks for your help!!

(Also, I ordered the eggs offline. They said they were being shipped. How many days after the eggs are laid do I have to get them into the incubator? If the shipping takes too long, I don't want to waste time trying to hatch eggs that won't hatch because too much time has passed. I also would like to get my money back and try to find a farm to drive to if that is the case. Thanks!)

~Liz

 

[pete55]

The humidity seems ok to me but if you go onto my website there's more incubation information and links to care of eggs if they have damaged air cells after shipping.

Best of luck with your eggs

http://oakgarthgeese.com

 

[lizp8]

Ok. Thanks! I hope everything works out for us, my class is excited to get started soon!

 

[gavinandallison]

Just make sure when you get to go into lockdown you get the humidity to about 62-68%. When your first chicks hatch the humidity will rise anyway, but the humidity at that level will help keep the membrane soft enough to break through, and not heat shrink the chick when it pips!!

 

[yinepu]

the humidity really depends on where you live.. in a dry climate like where I am that would be a little low.. if your relative humidity is high you can go with a drier humidity in the bator..
also are these chickens or ducks or just what?

 

[lizp8]

They are chickens. We learn about the life cycles of different animals in first grade and one of those is a chicken so I thought it would be neat for the children to experience it first hand.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
ok.. here in Texas we have a relative humidity of around 26% (where I live anyway) on any given day during the summer.. so here's what I do for chickens (not sure where you live or what your humidity is.. so you may need to go drier depending on the relative humidity in your classroom)
days: 21
lockdown: day 18
temps: 99.5 F for forced air..
humidity: 40's % (i usually hit around 43 - 45%) ... lockdown 65%+
your humidity will go high when the first chicks start to hatch out.. so don't freak if it hits the 70's or 80's

 

[yinepu]

Oh.. I meant to ask.. are you planning on candling every day?.. if so I would pick one egg and mark it and candle the same egg each time.. you should start to see veins around day 4 unless your temps are a bit low.. the others I would wait until day 7 or 10 (depending on the color of the egg shell) and then toss any clears

by candling the same egg each time you lessen the risk of dropping the other eggs or introducing bacteria to them.. plus they can also see the development of the same egg and how much it changes from day to day..

you can mark the egg with a colored pencil or even a sharpie pen at the air cell so you dont end up obscuring the veins and making it harder for your students to see whats going on in the egg

 

[lizp8]

Thanks, yinepu! I am in Baltimore, Maryland. Our outdoor humidity right now ranges from 50% to 75% or so, depending on the day. Thanks for the candling advice. Is there a best way to candle? As in, should I make something or should I buy something? I really want to make sure I do this right!!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
i got the ovascope high intensity candler from brinsea.. it magnifies the image and from what i understand you can even hook it up to a computers camera to put the image on a computer screen.. not sure what your budget allows for for school projects.. but I highly recommend it!

check the humidity in your classroom and see what that runs.. sounds like you can go with a much drier incubation than I can