Incubating tips

[sophiajw23]

Chookschick- if I already have water and eggs in my incubator can I switch to the dry hatch way? It wouldn't harm the eggs to take our cause it would be like candling time. I have the genesis 1588 so temp goes back up very quickly.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Yes, you can do that. With still air, the evaporation sometimes isn't as good, so dry hatch is appropriate and best, but in my rcom, I let the preset 40% humidity ride...if I remember to put water in, which I don't most of the time.

I haven't used a genesis myself, but I imagine it will do just great that way at candle.

 

[ThaJuicyJuice]

Don't get obsessed... Wait... get obsessed, after they hatch.

 

[fifelakelooper]

Thanks everyone for their help. Chickee...thanks especially since we have the same incubator. Glad I don't have to do the sponge.
I plan on candling again on day 10 and look for the dark spot since I never saw veining on day 7 candling. Oh...and thanks for the "pip" "zip" explanation. I knew what 'pip" was...didn't know that after that it was 24 hours to absorb yoke and now I know the "zip". Great info. This has got to get a lot less stressful after doing it a few times!!

 

[sophiajw23]

Our first hatchling!!!
Came from a mixed flock. My guess is bantam Cochin. Possibly frizzle!

 

[sophiajw23]

I have two incubators. First one had water in it but I let it dry up so I can use the cheat sheet method. I followed the directions with my second bator. It's forced air though. Does it matter? Also, will my eggs be ok to use this method even though I was using water in the first one? Also, will it change up anything if I put the eggs in the top part of an egg carton? Trying to kept the hatched chicks from rolling the eggs around so much.

 

[sophiajw23]

So whats a normal humidity range using the paper towel method?

 

[midget_farms]

My hatching tip.

I have a home made incubator - that is pretty huge & weighs a ton.

In order to have a very fine control over the humidity I use paint trays under the hatcher floor & I have a copper tube that lets me add water from the outside w/o opening the lid.

The paint trays have a sloped bottom so the more water you add the more surface area you get. This works great for when you need to humidity to come up!

 

[sophiajw23]

I attempted to make my hatchery the same as the dry hatch cheat sheet. It was way too humid. Over 90%. That's too much right? So I've removed a couple trays of paper and the water. Gonna try to get my humidity to 65-70%. Does that sounds right?

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Yes, 90 is too much, but you also need to know your hygrometer is correct, and 90 would likely have made it impossible to see inside. Were the windows all steamed over?