Incubation from day 1 - 21 instruction please.

[Spitman]

Can someone give me a walk through please . I see from post that peeps are candling eggs while they are in bator? How long is it ok to take eggs out and candle . I was under the impresion that the temp had to stay consistant and that you would not want to be opening the door and handling the eggs? at what point dose it become important to control the temp and humidity? what is Ideal temp ? what is Ideal Humidity? When and what is Lock down? as you can see I'm a nubie but I'm building a awsome bator and am looking forward to hatching eggs with my 8yr old Zoe We got our first chickens this year and are both hooked !!!!

 

[orionburn]

Quote:
Yes, you can candle your eggs, but resist doing it too often. By day 3 you should see clear veining going on.

Yes, being out of the bator for a little while won't hurt the eggs. A laying hen will get up to eat & drink during the day for a few minutes, so taking them out of the bator is no different.

The "best" temp is 99.5 F. Too high of temps will cause the chick to develop quicker (not a good thing) and too low will slow it down. Minor temps spikes are ok as long as it's nothing extreme. Humidity is a trickier issue. There's a lot of debate as to what is right. It's more of an experience thing in finding what works for you. Most will say to keep the humidity around 35-40% during the first 18 days and then up it to around 60% during lockdown.

Lockdown simply means you let the eggs be during the last three days (days 18-21). You up the humidity during that time and let nature do the rest. You basically sit back and wait to see what happens. You stop turning the eggs at this point as well. If you have an auto-turner you take that out and let the eggs just lie on their side in the bator. If you were turning eggs by hand and they were laying on their side already then you just stop turning them.

Hope this helps.