Incubation questions

[chick_newbie]

These are mostly to refresh my memory, but here goes...I decided to hatch some more of my own eggs since the last hatch was somewhat botched by the good ole power...pole on fire and lost power during incubation and then of course they decided to come replace the pole the day of the hatch so I believe I lost some due to these 2 reasons.

This time was going to be different until....my DH decided to try and help!! He put them in and then forgets which day he put them in???? How can a person do that but he did anyway....on what he thought was lock down day was actually hatch day so just a few determined little fuzzy butts came out. We had to help a couple off with their shells as they dried out in the process. OK so now the questions?

What is the best way to increase the humidity for the hatch? I do have some wet sponges in there but it didn't seem to raise it very much. Day 19 is lock-down for chicken eggs, right?

Any other suggestions would be helpful.....

thanks in advance

 

[Ridgerunner]

Please read my post in this thread about how to count to lockdown. I think it will help. It is after 18 complete, 24-hour periods of incubation. Whether that is Day 18 or Day 19 just depends on when you start counting.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=464226

Humidity is controlled by water surface area. You raise the humidity by increasing the water surface area. Wet sponges should do that but they can also suck the water out of the reservoirs.

I don't know what type of incubator you have, but I fill additional reservoirs to raise humidity on my 1588. To add water during lockdown, I put a few of those straws with the accordian joints together and use a syringe I got from Tractor Supply to insert water, using the vent hole to get access. It takes a bit of fiddling around, but I can get to any of the reservoirs with that straw.