In the final stretch and have majorly messed up. Please Help.

[youngbiddy]

I know you want to go down a degree from the incubation temp, and remember that a little cool is safer than too hot. I'm going to be setting mine to 98.5 when I go into lockdown tonight.

 

[Pasha1]

Ty Ty Ty Ty !

 

[Gypsy07]

I haven't heard that before about lower temps for hatching. I always keep my temp stable throughout, right up till all the chicks have dried and I'm ready to take them out of the bator. My chicks have sat in the bator at 99.5F (fan assisted) for up to two and a half days with no ill effects. I'd be wary of messing with temps now if I were you.

If you set them on a Sunday then they should hatch on a Sunday too, that's 21 days.
Easy way to figure out your projected hatch day! So yes, you're on day 19 just now.

If the instructions for your bator say to keep both vents open in lockdown then I'd say keep them open. In the last few days of incubation, chicks need the extra oxygen as much as they need the higher humidity. If you need to increase your humidity you should do it by increasing the surface area of the water in your bator, not by decreasing the air circulation. Anything above 60% should be fine for hatching. And yes, it'll rise as they start to hatch.

 

[youngbiddy]

I've seen the slightly lower temp recommendation several times, including just yesterday on two threads on BYC. Of course, I don't remember which ones they were and can't seem to find them.

Here's a site that mentions it..

During the final three days of incubation, the eggs should ideally be located in a slightly cooler (98.5 degrees) and more humid (65 percent relative humidity or greater) environment to facilitate successful hatching. Lowering the temperature helps account for the extra heat that the larger embryos produce as a result of their metabolism, and the increased humidity helps keep the chicks from getting stuck to the membrane that’s located just inside the egg shell as they break out of the shell.

Read more: http://www.grit.com/livestock/chickens/incubating-chicken-eggs.aspx#ixzz1GxrZQdty​

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Can't say about this #1 but I do know when a broody hatches she doesn't hatch all at once nor does she hatch them ALL. She does get up once a day and leaves them and they cool down I'm sure. Read humidity under a broody is average 30 or so.

Incubation isn't like a broody and it can be unforgiving. Though I suspect bad hatches have more to do with the "quality" of the egg than we'd like to believe. I don't believe every egg is healthy or genetically predisposed to hatching. I do know that older hens lay eggs that have a lower hatchability rate than ones less than three years. Some but not all.

As for #2 only time will tell. You can never know about these things just do the best you can. i wouldn't suggest staggered hatches though.

Hope all goes well.

Rancher

 

[Pasha1]

Quote:
Thanks. I pulled the plug and it seems ok. If it drops below 60 I'll add another sponge. If not I'll leave it be. Our weather this time of year is funky. 40 this am and almost 80 now.

One of the chicks I added this am is really rocking. Funny too because at last candle I though it quit on me. I marked the egg with a question mark for scientific purposes and am so surprised. I am thinking I will start seeing more tomorrow. And on the up side I don't need to add any eggs until Sunday night.

lol Next time won't be this hectic. I set 14 eggs on 3/9. Will candle tomorrow. Now I want to switch my roosters and get some pure buff chicks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Just think how much easier and less stressful your next incubation will go!

I'm not going to give you any advice as to what to do. You are getting plenty of that. What I want to say is that the rules and advice on here are not absolute unforgiving laws of nature. They are guidelines meant to improve your chances of success. Failing to follow them exactly does not guarantee absolute unforgiving failure. Following them exactly does not guarantee absolute 100% success. Follow them as best you can and you will probably do OK, but you are dealing with living things. Anything can happen.

You are getting some of what you might see as conflicting advice or some people are recommending things that some of us have not heard of before. I think this shows you how broad the range is for you to still have success. Those eggs and chicks can be pretty tough.

I'm not saying that the guidelines are not important. They are. They do improve your chances of success and help you avoid problems. One time I opened the incubator during lockdown and shrink-wrapped one unhatched chick. I did not shrink-wrap every unhatched chick.
Stuff like that has happened to a lot of us.

It's funny how valuable each egg becomes when you put them into an incubator. You really don't want to lose any of them. I suggest you just do the best you can and try to treat it as a learning experience. I think you will get so much joy out of the ones that make it (which might be a lot) that you don't think about the others that much.

Good luck!

 

[Pasha1]

Quote:
Oh I hope so. This has been a learning experience. Almost think I should have ordered more day old chicks. lol But we started this after moving to the country with lots of land and thought "Hey let's give sustainability a try. After all we're smart people." lol If I can get this chicken thing down I want to get a pair of pigs. My son wants a cow. He's 7 and thinks cows are great.

 

[youngbiddy]

What he said. ^RidgeRunner x2.

I've been reading about hatching for 2 years and just got an incubator a couple of weeks ago. I'm following the guidelines that appeal the most to my logic/gut. After this first hatch I'll see how well that works out in the real world. *biting nails*
The good news is I candled them all this morning and the ones that weren't so filled with chick that I couldn't see a thing, I saw movement in. (!!!!!) I called my oldest daughter in to see, she'll be 6 next Thursday. She was thrilled when we saw one of them moving his/her little foot around in there. And one that was completely filled in, I swear I felt the little thing swivel around in the egg while I held it!
So I'm pretty hopeful for a good first hatch.

 

[youngbiddy]

Oh, I'm so jealous!! I'm afraid I'm stuck in the city for a good while yet, with real estate the way it is. *sigh*