Incubators Anonymous

[DMRippy]

Hi there, I am on day 11. Opened vent plugs last night. Humidity was a 29% so I added water. This is my first hatch and I didn't weigh or measure air Cells this time. Does anyone think I should be concerned with the humidity at this point? What I've read is very inconsistent. Thanks for your help.

DON'T ADD WATER. 29% is fine. My incubator is not even registering a humidity right now..... just says LO

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Hi hatchaholics!  I am hoping you can help me figure out what I am doing wrong, so I can join your ranks.  I am feeling like the chick Angle of Death right now. 

I have just started hatching and have had two hatches.  I tried to buy a good incubator (Brinsea mini advance) and followed the instructions.  Each time I set 7 eggs.  I have ended up with only one chick hatching each time, and the chick that hatched in the second hatch just never kicked it into gear.  It did not thrive, and died at a week of age, too small and too thin despite every effort I made to get it to eat.  It would only drink when it stumbled into the waterer.  Fortunately, the chick that hatched with the first batch is thriving.  I really hope it's a pullet. 

I did eggtopsies on the unhatched eggs from the second hatch and found fully formed chicks that seemed to have absorbed their yolks, but they never externally pipped. It's like they suffocated before they could get out of the shell, or they just couldn't break the shells.  The shells did seem very hard. 

Yes, they were shipped eggs, but packed very well, fat end up, and the ones I could see into the airc ells weren't detached.  I was hoping for a 50% hatch rate, not a 1 in 14. 
They were marans eggs, and most of them were too dark to see into.  I used a very powerful flashlight, but I couldn't see into them well enough to trace air cells. 
I live in the high desert, so the air here is thin and very dry. 
Other people with eggs from the same seller had a better hatch rate. 

Any ideas?  Someone suggested dry incubation, but the climate here is very, very dry desert, and my understanding is that can lead to skull deformities.  I was planning on raising my own chicks for my flock, but I can't do that if the hatch rate is, at best, one chick per hatch.  They need a little chick buddy and I can't stomach all those eggs full of fully-formed dead chicks.  I am trying to work my courage up to try it again, with some local eggs, but I want to know what I did wrong, or at least have a reasonable working theory. 

Sometimes the thicker dark shelled eggs take a extra day to hatch and can use a tad lower humidity the first 18 days also dark eggs seem to just be harder to hatch. Marans and penedesenca seem the same issues with hatching

 

[ozexpat]

Hi hatchaholics! I am hoping you can help me figure out what I am doing wrong, so I can join your ranks. I am feeling like the chick Angle of Death right now.

I have just started hatching and have had two hatches. I tried to buy a good incubator (Brinsea mini advance) and followed the instructions. Each time I set 7 eggs. I have ended up with only one chick hatching each time, and the chick that hatched in the second hatch just never kicked it into gear. It did not thrive, and died at a week of age, too small and too thin despite every effort I made to get it to eat. It would only drink when it stumbled into the waterer. Fortunately, the chick that hatched with the first batch is thriving. I really hope it's a pullet.

I did eggtopsies on the unhatched eggs from the second hatch and found fully formed chicks that seemed to have absorbed their yolks, but they never externally pipped. It's like they suffocated before they could get out of the shell, or they just couldn't break the shells. The shells did seem very hard.

Yes, they were shipped eggs, but packed very well, fat end up, and the ones I could see into the airc ells weren't detached. I was hoping for a 50% hatch rate, not a 1 in 14.
They were marans eggs, and most of them were too dark to see into. I used a very powerful flashlight, but I couldn't see into them well enough to trace air cells.
I live in the high desert, so the air here is thin and very dry.
Other people with eggs from the same seller had a better hatch rate.

Any ideas? Someone suggested dry incubation, but the climate here is very, very dry desert, and my understanding is that can lead to skull deformities. I was planning on raising my own chicks for my flock, but I can't do that if the hatch rate is, at best, one chick per hatch. They need a little chick buddy and I can't stomach all those eggs full of fully-formed dead chicks. I am trying to work my courage up to try it again, with some local eggs, but I want to know what I did wrong, or at least have a reasonable working theory.

the symptoms seem like classic high humidity - but then you live in the desert. did you measure humidity?

 

[ki4got]

Hi there, I am on day 11. Opened vent plugs last night. Humidity was a 29% so I added water. This is my first hatch and I didn't weigh or measure air Cells this time. Does anyone think I should be concerned with the humidity at this point? What I've read is very inconsistent. Thanks for your help.

I'm very consistent in insisting that dry incubation (no water added for days 1-18) is the way to go, and I think everyone I've talked to who's tried it aslo agrees...

 

[maryhysong]

I'm very consistent in insisting that dry incubation (no water added for days 1-18) is the way to go, and I think everyone I've talked to who's tried it aslo agrees...

But what is your humidity those 18 days? Mine will drop to 10% or lower without water added. And I don't think that is very good either

 

[Whoops]

Quote:
Sometimes the thicker dark shelled eggs take a extra day to hatch and can use a tad lower humidity the first 18 days also dark eggs seem to just be harder to hatch. Marans and penedesenca seem the same issues with hatching

Quote:



the symptoms seem like classic high humidity - but then you live in the desert. did you measure humidity?

Thanks for responding.


I measured humidity on the second hatch and it was a little high according to the hygrometer, so I controlled it by making a partial cover for the water well for the rest of that hatch. Honestly, I suspect the hygrometer reads higher humidity with higher temperatures, at least that was the impression I had when I calibrated it. But, the little mini 'bater is a very small environment and the eggs could be evaporating out more moisture due to the lower air pressure, maybe. Should I try not letting it get above 20% in the first part of the hatch? Maybe the lower pressure of oxygen in the air and the thick, less porous shells are making less oxygen available to them in the air pocket? Sort of sucking it out instead of pushing it in? What is the minimum level of humidity I should watch out for to avoid the skull deformities?

I gave them until at least the end of day 25 each hatch before I called it. I could switch to Welsummers for my dark egg layer, I guess. There is a local hatchery that produces them. But, others had success with these eggs, which makes me think it's me, not the innate difficulty of the eggs.

 

[ozexpat]

Thanks for responding.


I measured humidity on the second hatch and it was a little high according to the hygrometer, so I controlled it by making a partial cover for the water well for the rest of that hatch. Honestly, I suspect the hygrometer reads higher humidity with higher temperatures, at least that was the impression I had when I calibrated it. But, the little mini 'bater is a very small environment and the eggs could be evaporating out more moisture due to the lower air pressure, maybe. Should I try not letting it get above 20% in the first part of the hatch? Maybe the lower pressure of oxygen in the air and the thick, less porous shells are making less oxygen available to them in the air pocket? Sort of sucking it out instead of pushing it in? What is the minimum level of humidity I should watch out for to avoid the skull deformities?

I gave them until at least the end of day 25 each hatch before I called it. I could switch to Welsummers for my dark egg layer, I guess. There is a local hatchery that produces them. But, others had success with these eggs, which makes me think it's me, not the innate difficulty of the eggs.

you did not give a number...

if you want to get to know your bator, you have to study it.

take the time to weigh the eggs weekly. look at the humidity and then correlate weight loss against humidity.

turn it into a science project but in 21 days you will know exactly where you are and what you did wrong versus second guessing

even I can hatch marans

 

[Hangtown Farms]

But what is your humidity those 18 days? Mine will drop to 10% or lower without water added. And I don't think that is very good either

I think it should be 25% min. for the first 18 days but thats me. I keep my R-Com at 35% the first 18 days.
My Genesis is much harder to keep stable and it will fluctuate from 35-45%

 

[Whoops]

number for what?

I was shooting for 30-35%, it was going too high, so I corrected it. Lowest was 20%, the spike that make me correct it was over 45%, That spike was a few days into the second hatch attempt. I do believe it was me and not the type of eggs, as others have hatched them successfully, but I am flailing around trying to form hypotheses to test, as just following instructions didn't work.

The reason I think the hygrometer reads higher humidity at higher temperatures was that when I was calibrating it using the baggie with a cup of watery salt (I used the exact proportions that the test description indicated), it did not read 75% after the allotted time. It hovered at 72%, until I moved it to the top of the stove, that was warmer. There it registered 75% and stayed there. I suspect a probe hygrometer would be a better choice, if I choose to continue pursuing this.

The incubator temp I shot for was 99.5 and it seemed very consistent, when measured in a consistent place and position. I had some initial panic attacks at top of eggs verses next to incubator wall variations, and I discovered that if I positioned the hygrometer on one end verses the other, I got different readings. I don't remember those numbers.

I did lack a digital scale that would measure with sufficient accuracy. What I had and what I bought both failed me. I had planned to track water loss that way, but I just couldn't get an accurate enough reading.

 

[ozexpat]

number for what?

I was shooting for 30-35%, it was going too high, so I corrected it. Lowest was 20%, the spike that make me correct it was over 45%, That spike was a few days into the second hatch attempt. I do believe it was me and not the type of eggs, as others have hatched them successfully, but I am flailing around trying to form hypotheses to test, as just following instructions didn't work.

The reason I think the hygrometer reads higher humidity at higher temperatures was that when I was calibrating it using the baggie with a cup of watery salt (I used the exact proportions that the test description indicated), it did not read 75% after the allotted time. It hovered at 72%, until I moved it to the top of the stove, that was warmer. There it registered 75% and stayed there. I suspect a probe hygrometer would be a better choice, if I choose to continue pursuing this.

The incubator temp I shot for was 99.5 and it seemed very consistent, when measured in a consistent place and position. I had some initial panic attacks at top of eggs verses next to incubator wall variations, and I discovered that if I positioned the hygrometer on one end verses the other, I got different readings. I don't remember those numbers.

I did lack a digital scale that would measure with sufficient accuracy. What I had and what I bought both failed me. I had planned to track water loss that way, but I just couldn't get an accurate enough reading.

Doing what you did and still fail musr be very disappointing

my scale cost $7.25 on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Pocke...F8&qid=1391574222&sr=1-33&keywords=gram+scale

I also use it for dispensing medications and determining electrolyte/vitamin additives to my home made feeds.