Incubation Lockdown day

[Daniel-ir-74]

Hi
this is my first time working with an incubator .
I gathered 9 Eggs from my chicken and at the day 24 of January 07:00 pm put them in my incubator.
I set the temperature at 37.7 and humidity 45/50.
Now I am a little confused about 2 things:
1. start of lock day.

it should start at the beginning of the 18 day(that is 10 February 07:00 pm) or at the end of day 18 (that is beginning of the day 19 - 11 February 07:00 pm)

2.temperature and humidity in lock down time.
From what I have been reading is it 37.4 for temperature and 70% for humidity?

Thank you

 

[ChickNanny13]

From what I've read, haven't hatched anything for YEARS, lock down would be 7pm Feb 11th, temp 37.5C & 65 - 70% humidity Waiting to see what the experienced say...

 

[Smuvers Farm]

OK.... Say, I put eggs in a brooder at noon on January1. Noon on January 2 would be DAY 1... then noon on January 3 would be 2 days (48 hours). That is how the time is counted.

HTH

 

[CABINHOLLOWNC]

Day 1 begins 24 hours after you set your eggs. If you placed your 9 eggs in your incubator on 1/24/18 @ 7:00 PM then day 1 is 1/25/18 @ 7:00 PM. I place my eggs in lock down on day 18 at the same time I set them (so, 1/11/18 @ 7:00 PM would be when you start lockdown). Are you are using a still air or forced air incubator? For a still air incubator the temp should be a constant 101 F at the egg level. If you are using a forced air incubator the temp should be between 99.5 F - 100 F. I like to have two thermometers in my incubator. Also, did you candle the eggs to see how the air cells have developed? That will give you some clues about how the humidity you have maintained has affected your eggs. If you have very large air cells, your humidity has been low allowing more moisture to evaporate. If your air cells are small, then your humidity has been too high not allowing enough evaporation to produce a good air cell. The humidity you are using is about what the instructions for most incubators recommend and should be OK for most eggs (I noticed when I hatched Marans eggs that they lost moisture much slower than my blue, green and white eggs and thus the air cells were smaller). I usually keep my humidity for lockdown/hatch between 65 -70...but be aware that when they start hatching, it will shoot up due to the chicks being wet (just an FYI so you don't freak out when it happens ). Good luck with your hatch...and here is a reference picture regarding air cell development:

 

[Deryk]

I have a different way of tracking, maybe this will help you.

The basic principle is the lock them down 3 days (72 hours) prior to hatch. If you put them in on a Sunday at noon, hatch should be at noon on Sunday 3 weeks later. Lock down would be Thursday at noon or 72 hours earlier.

Hope that helps.

 

[Daniel-ir-74]

This is day 21 and I see two of my eggs has a little crack on the side and it's getting bigger
I am very nervous about other 7 eggs.....

 

[chickens really]

They all don't externally pip at the same times..Keep waiting..