Incubating chicken eggs

[rascal66]

They are on day 20 tomorrow is day 21 so idk if the humidity is normal for them if they are almost due and everything but do I take the red plugs out of the incubator or do I leave them in but should I take them or what? Is it okay if I take both of them out it wouldn’t hurt

If you are on day 20, take the turner out, lay the eggs on their sides and maintain a higher humidity, about 60%

 

[watson35]

If you are on day 20, take the turner out, lay the eggs on their sides and maintain a higher humidity, about 60%

Okay I’ll do that.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Picture 2 shows the egg isn’t full but it’s getting there but you can see inside it though

I think egg 2 might be a quitter OR a later developer due to the low temp.. can you post with light shining from the top instead so we can see the air cell and development from that angle. Also darken the room so things become super easy to see please?

The humidity on the incubator stays between 40-50% is that okay for the eggs

That's great actually.. if it's accurate.

I took the red plugs out and the temp is going to 100 then down to 90 and is the humidity okay?

Have you added any water into the well up to this point or was the 40-50% humidity stated without adding any water?

It is very common for the environment to change drastically when the plugs are removed... this is why I start with them removed and never fuss with them again. Then once you've got your temp dialed in you can adjust your humidity and much more easily. Go ahead and FILL YOUR WELLS... Humidity does drop when plugs are removed.. and give time for your readouts to stabilize from the changes. It would not be ideal for the bator to go down to 90 for an extended period of time.. but short term.. would be okay. Remember hens leave their nest to eat, get a quick dirt bath, and relieve themselves as to not mess the nest.. usually once or twice daily depending on weather. Even if the bator itself went to 90.. the eggs internal temp may not have dropped that far during that time. To help diminish temp swings I keep filled water bottles kinda like heat syncs. A larger mass is harder to sway one direction or the other... if I have room.

Again, if your read out is accurate (they notoriously are off) then your chicks will not hatch on day 21 but a bit later than that because to hatch on day 21 in still air bator temp should be kept at 101.5. I would aim to keep it at LEAST 100 degrees now through hatch.. BUT make SLOW and MINOR adjustments because sometimes they are bigger than we think.. so AFTER you've given several hours for the temp to stabilize AFTER filling your well... see where your numbers sit then. In my still air bator I use a separate thermometer and measure temp at the top of the egg.. I keep it set between 101.5-102.. It's not digital so I'm eyeballing..

I might not see new candle pics tonight.. but you are heading in the right direction. Cheering you on..

 

[watson35]

I think egg 2 might be a quitter OR a later developer due to the low temp.. can you post with light shining from the top instead so we can see the air cell and development from that angle. Also darken the room so things become super easy to see please?


That's great actually.. if it's accurate.


Have you added any water into the well up to this point or was the 40-50% humidity stated without adding any water?

It is very common for the environment to change drastically when the plugs are removed... this is why I start with them removed and never fuss with them again. Then once you've got your temp dialed in you can adjust your humidity and much more easily. Go ahead and FILL YOUR WELLS... Humidity does drop when plugs are removed.. and give time for your readouts to stabilize from the changes. It would not be ideal for the bator to go down to 90 for an extended period of time.. but short term.. would be okay. Remember hens leave their nest to eat, get a quick dirt bath, and relieve themselves as to not mess the nest.. usually once or twice daily depending on weather. Even if the bator itself went to 90.. the eggs internal temp may not have dropped that far during that time. To help diminish temp swings I keep filled water bottles kinda like heat syncs. A larger mass is harder to sway one direction or the other... if I have room.

Again, if your read out is accurate (they notoriously are off) then your chicks will not hatch on day 21 but a bit later than that because to hatch on day 21 in still air bator temp should be kept at 101.5. I would aim to keep it at LEAST 100 degrees now through hatch.. BUT make SLOW and MINOR adjustments because sometimes they are bigger than we think.. so AFTER you've given several hours for the temp to stabilize AFTER filling your well... see where your numbers sit then. In my still air bator I use a separate thermometer and measure temp at the top of the egg.. I keep it set between 101.5-102.. It's not digital so I'm eyeballing..

I might not see new candle pics tonight.. but you are heading in the right direction. Cheering you on..

The humidity been on 50-61 and they been moving the egg all night last night and they still are this morning (the babies moving the egg) so I think they might be hatching today tonight or tomorrow I HOPE

 

[Acre4Me]

@EggSighted4Life - Quick Q on temp and humidity for my upcoming use of a similar incubator. I'll likely post in a separate thread more Q, but right now have some pre-incubation temp and humidity Q.

Facts: Still-Air Little Giant incubator. No turner. Will mark eggs and am able to turn 3x per day. In a little used room, in a corner with no direct sun, not near the door or heating/cooling vent, so pretty stable environment. Sitting on a very stable nightstand, directly plugged into wall outlet. Already removed the red plugs. Brand new incubator. Its been plugged in for 3 days.

My concerns right now: The incubator has a temp/humidity reader that doesn't seem to jive with the additional ones I added. The eggs will be sitting at bottom of the incubator. So, I have a new digital thermometer/hygrometer in one side, flat on the bottom, and a non-digital temp/hygrometer on the other side. As expected, the temp at this level is lower than the temp stated by the incubator. It seems to be about 9F lower...not too surprising in a still air incubator and several inches difference in where the readers are located. The humidity reader of the incubator hasn't changed one bit. The other two inside the incubator are saying around 20% humidity. There is an additional digital thermometer/Hygrometer in the room - near to the incubator and at same level as incubator and it has a similar humidity reading as the incubator. So, looks like the incubator humidity reader might be defective, I don't know. Would the interior of a vented and empty incubator be 25% different in humidity?


Here is what the incubator says:

Digital one. Note the corner of the incubator temp/hydro meter in the left of pic.

non-digital reader in other corner, opposite of the digital one above.

So, my inclination is to believe the 14-16% humidity readings, and not the one in the incubator. Here the temps are approx 9F different, but when eggs are added, I know that this can change quite a bit due to the mass. So, I don't think I'd adjust the temp more than 1-2F before adding eggs and see where I'm at after a few hours. My plan is to leave either the digital thermometer - or the non-digital one - in the incubator during incubation.


Regarding heat sinks: Rocks are great and I have 2 options. A few egg sized clean rocks have already been baked for several hours and then cooled in the closed oven. I can sit these in the corners of the incubator. Or I can get some smaller rocks that I can sit on the bottom of the incubator, below the screen. The nice thing about this incubator is that there are 6 channels, that are NOT connected. So I could put dry rocks in the two outer channels and add water to the inner channels if needed. So the rocks would not be holding or wicking too much water for the first 18 days.

Dry vs Wet: Clearly at 16% humidity, this would be a dry incubation. With eggs added, I assume humdity goes up. So, do I just wait a few hours after eggs added to see if I need to up the humidity to that 40-50%? Or just monitor air cell development?


Thx! Hoping to start incubation on Monday or Tuesday.

 

[watson35]

Some of the eggs are moving in the incubator but still no hatch it’s day 21 so is it normal or what??