I NEED ANSWERS, everything I research for Incubating chicken eggs gives me different answers!!!

[feedman77]

So do you think I should rise or lower my humidity? I had it at 35% while it was 60+ in my home? These next days are going to be sunny in the 70's i plan to start my 2nd batch on Monday. I don't want to give up just yet, would just hate to waste what could be perfectly good eggs.

Start your incubator without water get it to temp desired. See what your humidity gauge reads while dry.

 

[NewChickielady]

Thank you, Im not

I can't answer your questions specifically on that incubator but I can give you some of what I've learned.

First, no matter how perfectly you have everything calibrated and stabilized before your eggs go into the incubator, your temperature and humidity will drop when you open it to put them in. DON'T PANIC....this is the stage where most people freak out and start adjusting and readjusting, then they never can get it back to that ideal environment they had before, simply because they've "overfiddled" with the settings. Remember that it takes a few minutes to get the eggs in, get them situated, and that they have a cooler total mass than the incubator is currently showing and they need time to come up to temperature. Put them in, leave them in, and leave your settings alone for several hours. The eggs will be just fine and will warm as the inside of the bater warms. Then if you need to adjust, do that in small, almost imperceptible increments.

I also preferred hand turning, even though it meant opening the incubator. I had a better hatch rate (and anyone who knows my back story knows that I wasn't doing so good before!) with hand turning. Mom gets up off the nest from time to time to shift eggs around too, and they are outside in cooler temperatures than your incubator will be in. This also gave me the opportunity to check more closely for eggs that might be seeping stuff that indicates it's time to get them the heck out of there!

Your chicks won't instantly die inside the eggs if you have to open it to add to the humidity or turn them. Again, they have an internal mass that doesn't cool off or dry out the second the door is opened. Be sensible, keep it as closed as possible as much as possible, but don't be afraid to tend them and do what you have to do.

Most incubators have cool spots and hotter spots. When you turn the eggs, it doesn't hurt a thing to shift eggs from place to place as well. Find those spots, and work within those parameters. Under a broody, the eggs that are at the very edge of her "warming cone" when she first starts incubating them usually still hatch, because when she turns them or gets up for a bite to eat or a drink, they shift positions slightly with her movements.

Shipped eggs typically don't do as well, so expect that if your eggs are being shipped. The embryos have been jostled around and air cells can become loose or even totally detached. So wait a couple of days before you put them into the incubator, without touching them, and some of those cells may well firm back up.

That's all I can think of for right now......enjoy your adventure!

Thank you!

 

[NewChickielady]

Thank you, Im not

Thank you!

Meant to put, Thank you, I'm not ready to give up!

 

[feedman77]

Personally start dry if your air cells look to big at day 7 candle then add a little water to slow them down. It is easier imho to slow them down than it is to try and dry them out. If you get to far along. I worry more about a chick drowning if has to much moisture in the egg.

 

[NewChickielady]

Start your incubator without water get it to temp desired. See what your humidity gauge reads while dry.

Thanks, as of this morning I've been running it with water. I will empty it and run it dry.

 

[NewChickielady]

Thank you everybody for the replies, I appreciate all the help!

 

[Rose Quartz]

I had mine at 35% from days 1 to 18 while the humidity in my home was at 60+ how do you think I should adjust

I generally start with no added humidity. and check the aircell size on day 7. if it matches the chart(which can be found in that link) I leave it. If it's too big I add humidity usually try to keep it below 40% though, too small I just learned you can add a small container of rice to absorb humidity (I've never used it though) and then on day 14 check the air cell size again and see if it's still matching the chart, or if it's back where it should be. if it's still not cooperating, you can make some larger changes and check again on day 18 just before lockdown. if on day 18 you find your air cell is too small you can leave your humidity down another day as long as youre watching pretty closely and after a day up your humidity or as soon as you hear chirping. The aircells keep growing after day 18 even with the humidity up quite significantly, and by day 20 - 21 it draws down really far on one side. (The incubator I made I can access the inside without loosing humidity so I've gotten to candle in incubator after lockdown)

 

[NewChickielady]

I generally start with no added humidity. and check the aircell size on day 7. if it matches the chart(which can be found in that link) I leave it. If it's too big I add humidity usually try to keep it below 40% though, too small I just learned you can add a small container of rice to absorb humidity (I've never used it though) and then on day 14 check the air cell size again and see if it's still matching the chart, or if it's back where it should be. if it's still not cooperating, you can make some larger changes and check again on day 18 just before lockdown. if on day 18 you find your air cell is too small you can leave your humidity down another day as long as youre watching pretty closely and after a day up your humidity or as soon as you hear chirping. The aircells keep growing after day 18 even with the humidity up quite significantly, and by day 20 - 21 it draws down really far on one side. (The incubator I made I can access the inside without loosing humidity so I've gotten to candle in incubator after lockdown)

Okay Thanks Rose, so with that said do I remove one plug as of day 4 or just keep them off altogether?

 

[Rose Quartz]

Okay Thanks Rose, so with that said do I remove one plug as of day 4 or just keep them off altogether?

It's up to you. the reason I said day 4 was I read some where that lack of oxygen in the first 3 days had been shown to make stronger chicks. But I have never closed off my oxygen supply. That doesn't seem logical to me even if scientists say it's the right way to go.

(I really wish I had saved links to all these articles I read)