Incubation-do I have the steps right?

[muddy75]

Both. The breeder told me to do 50% for the first 18 days. What do you set yours to?

it depends on the ambient humidity for your area.....being in the ohio valley, I keep my humidity around 30% until lockdown and then raise it no higher than 50....hatching will automatically raise it higher

 

[dougieee]

I’ll check them again before they are put in. It’s safe to carefully flip the eggs to check if it’s attached? I’ve never handled them before so I’m unsure how much they your able to move them. Thanks for your help!

If you candle them before setting it will be fairly obvious if there is a problem with the air cell, it should be fixed at the flat end of the egg (or there abouts), if you turn it under a candler and it constantly floats to the top it means its detached.
There are also saddled air cells due to being stored on their sides too long, thats when the air cel is wonky aroiund the diameter of the egg instead of being a smooth line.
There are quite a few threads about this in the forum, i recieved a lot of advice in May just gone as my shipped aruacana eggs were in awful condition on arrival, i opted to set them upright during incubation and had a good result, it was my first time dealing with shipped eggs so i wouldnt emphatically state that its the way forward, i dont know wether anyone else can offer their opinion?????

 

[Just some chicks]

If you candle them before setting it will be fairly obvious if there is a problem with the air cell, it should be fixed at the flat end of the egg (or there abouts), if you turn it under a candler and it constantly floats to the top it means its detached.
There are also saddled air cells due to being stored on their sides too long, thats when the air cel is wonky aroiund the diameter of the egg instead of being a smooth line.
There are quite a few threads about this in the forum, i recieved a lot of advice in May just gone as my shipped aruacana eggs were in awful condition on arrival, i opted to set them upright during incubation and had a good result, it was my first time dealing with shipped eggs so i wouldnt emphatically state that its the way forward, i dont know wether anyone else can offer their opinion?????

I’m having a very hard time seeing anything in the eggs. Here’s a pic of one of them. Course I didn’t know until after I took the pic that I candled the wrong end.

it depends on the ambient humidity for your area.....being in the ohio valley, I keep my humidity around 30% until lockdown and then raise it no higher than 50....hatching will automatically raise it higher

it depends on the ambient humidity for your area.....being in the ohio valley, I keep my humidity around 30% until lockdown and then raise it no higher than 50....hatching will automatically raise it higher

I live in VT. I have no clue if that means my humidity should be a pinch higher or lower?

 

[Kiki]

I’m having a very hard time seeing anything in the eggs. Here’s a pic of one of them. Course I didn’t know until after I took the pic that I candled the wrong end.


I live in VT. I have no clue if that means my humidity should be a pinch higher or lower?

You shouldn't be able to see anything right now.
The air cells are usually not even visible for the first few days so don't worry about that.

 

[muddy75]

I’m having a very hard time seeing anything in the eggs. Here’s a pic of one of them. Course I didn’t know until after I took the pic that I candled the wrong end.


I live in VT. I have no clue if that means my humidity should be a pinch higher or lower?

similar should work for VT.....basically at or slightly lower than ambient humidity first 18 and slightly higher (10% ish) at lockdown......should never exceed 45% first 18 or 60% at lockdown unless it does so without added water or “dry hatching”

 

[aart]

I live in VT. I have no clue if that means my humidity should be a pinch higher or lower?

Doesn't mater what state you are in, it's the humidity in your house.

The air cells are usually not even visible for the first few days

Should be able to see air cells before setting, every egg has one right outta the chicken butt-tho they may be no bigger than a dime, I mark them when checking for cracks before setting eggs.

 

[Just some chicks]

Now

You shouldn't be able to see anything right now.
The air cells are usually not even visible for the first few days so don't worry about that.[/QUOTE
That makes sense. Now I know!! Thank you

 

[FortCluck]

Is that temperature and humidity with calibrated thermometer and hygrometer or based on incubator?? 50% humidity is way too high IMO especially first 18 days.

I agree with this as well I keep my incubator between 28% and 35% until day 18 and then I go no more than 50%.

The reason why I do this is because I had another hatch before this one where the humidity spiked after day 18 because of the external pips and it cause condensation in my incubator. I lost 9 fully developed checks that hatch.

The hatch that I just recently did everything went perfectly. I had a 90% hatch rate.

The humidity all depends on your location, if you are in a humid area you could run your incubator dry with no water. I live in a very humid area and I would not add a lot of water because it just causes a lot of problems. You will have small air cells and that can cause the chicks to drown (what happened to me last hatch).

I have learned that incubating is basically trial and error. You are not going to know what works for you unless you get that error.

@muddy75 and @Kiki are really good at incubating. They both helped me get that 90% hatch rate this time.

 

[FortCluck]

@Just some chicks you live on the east coast like I do. Be very careful about adding water into that incubator. I hope you tested your incubator a couple days before you even put eggs in it so that you can see what the humidity is when it is dry without any water.

The East coast is a very humid area and I am sure that your houses humidity is almost like mine.

 

[Just some chicks]

I agree with this as well I keep my incubator between 28% and 35% until day 18 and then I go no more than 50%.

The reason why I do this is because I had another hatch before this one where the humidity spiked after day 18 because of the external pips and it cause condensation in my incubator. I lost 9 fully developed checks that hatch.

The hatch that I just recently did everything went perfectly. I had a 90% hatch rate.

The humidity all depends on your location, if you are in a humid area you could run your incubator dry with no water. I live in a very humid area and I would not add a lot of water because it just causes a lot of problems. You will have small air cells and that can cause the chicks to drown (what happened to me last hatch).

I have learned that incubating is basically trial and error. You are not going to know what works for you unless you get that error.

@muddy75 and @Kiki are really good at incubating. They both helped me get that 90% hatch rate this time.

That makes sense. It’s better to have the humidity slightly lower than higher. The breeder where I got my eggs, told me that running it 45-50% humidity is perfect. I’m keeping it closer to 45%. Where I live, it’s not humid at all. I have the nurture right 360 incubator. So far I love it. Thanks for the info!