Incubating peafowl - what did I do wrong?

[Peafowlssssssss]

Oh what i was thinking off LOL, now i can say impossible is nothing here lol.

 

[AugeredIn]

FBC is correct in that you really want to figure out what humidity and temperature combination causes the correct amount of moisture loss and just right development speed during incubation and then you need to really raise the humidity on lockdown so the chicks have enough lubrication to pip and turn before drying out or getting to sticky.

 

[connerhills]

Food for thought.. The experts say that you need a relative humidity of around say 65%. The key word here is relative and that is relative to the temp. The relative humidity at 100 deg. is not the same amount of moisture in the air as a lower temp of 50 deg.. If you were using one of the larger incubators that was fully auto and added humidity as a steam, it would stay at its setting of 65%. @ 99.5 degrees. The outside humidity changes as the temp. out side changes or the moisture and when it get too high it rains.. I have had P C eggs hatch good at a number of different humidity's. A wet bulb thermometer Is good if you maintain it and use distilled water.. If you are weighing the eggs I don't think you can worry about relative humidity and the amount of weight change at the same time, If the weight is doing correct don't raise or lower the humidity... A lot of breeders have different readings of humidity with good results . Humidity can be changed by taking out water surface or by adding more water surface area with pans or sponges, Don't close the vent holes to control humidity . George

 

[casportpony]

I've been weighing the two eggs that are under my hen and I'll use those numbers, provided they hatch, lol, to guide my humidity settings when I set the ones in the incubator.

-Kathy

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

q8peafowl, the only way you will know is to weigh the eggs before you start incubating them.,I too had a Brinsea 190 but had to sell because it wasn't large enough but in the owners manual it reads eggs should lose between 11-13% of their weight by the 24?th day. 70% in your arid climate maybe okay but others it may be a bit much for all 26-28 days

I agree, our climate are definitely different from other countries maybe its the reason why we need high humidity, in July our temperature is usually around 122 here! and our weather is usually wet, our humidity today is 39%.

 

[casportpony]

100 here today, 15% humidity.

-Kathy

 

[DylansMom]

75 here today and 70% humidity, it was downright moist today. We are about to get hit with 2 inches of rain, wish I could share that with you Kathy, hope there are no fires near you.

 

[zazouse]

Dang Kat that is bad for your area isn't it? you in the fire zone?Calie is burning up from what i see, we had bad droughts and lots of Texas burnt, now it is pretty wet but the wind is unreal, never see anything like for so long of a period, it dries everything out so fast.
Our weather is so messed up we broke record lows of 42 this morning, it is suppose to be in the high 90's to 100 plus

 

[MinxFox]

If you have issues with peachicks having trouble hatching you can always help them out, that is if it is starting to take them too long and they already have made a hole in the egg. My first peachick I had to help hatch out. I did have a year where all chicks hatched out on their own then I had last year where my boyfriend hatched an egg and he had to call me and have me talk him through helping the peachick out. It certainly is not fun helping them out of the egg and it is very scary because you have to watch out that you don't take them out too quickly or they can bleed out. If you use a damp sponge and use it to gently dampen the egg membrane it can help show you areas where the blood vessels have not dried out yet. I won't go into all the details but basically if you ever have to help them out I would make a topic on here for help just in case.

My boyfriend was up late at night helping the chick out and straightening its feet. He was scared because when he finally got it out of the egg it was a little bloody but luckily it made it but unfortunately it died a few months later for some unknown reason.

I love holding little peachicks and petting them and watching them chase bugs, etc, but man I hate hatch day. My stress and nervous level are HIGH! Don't get too bummed though I think it took me at least two breeding seasons before I was able to actually hatch something. I remember taking a bunch of bad eggs out and throwing them at trees and wishing they would have developed.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I agree, our climate are definitely different from other countries maybe its the reason why we need high humidity, in July our temperature is usually around 122 here! and our weather is usually wet, our humidity today is 39%.

Does your incubator have a CO2 jacket so it's always cool enough for the thermostat to work to make heat? I know one well known breeder who literally gave away 10 nice Leahy incubators years ago only to figure out afterwards the temps inside the building was over 100 degrees for several weeks during the summer.If your outside temp is above 100 degrees and more eventually so will the internal temp of your bator.