Janoel8-48 Egg Incubator

[number7]

Hi,
This is my first time at hatching eggs, I'm using the Janoel8-48 egg incubator and I set it off yesterday with 48 eggs. The temperature is currently at 37.6 and the humidity is at 68%. Is this about right, too high or too low? Thanks.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hi,
This is my first time at hatching eggs, I'm using the Janoel8-48 egg incubator and I set it off yesterday with 48 eggs. The temperature is currently at 37.6 and the humidity is at 68%. Is this about right, too high or too low? Thanks.

In my opinion 68% humidity is quite high for the first 17 days. At lockdown, yes. I do dry incubation the first 17 days as long as the bator stays above 25% dry. Last hatch I ran dry the hygrometer read about 40% and that worked perfect for me. I monitor my air cells though to make sure my humidity is adequate.

 

[number7]

Ok thanks. I've read about the humidity being 30 - 40% for the first 18 days then to put it up to 65 - 70%. I currently have both channels filled with water, do you only fill one channel or put no water in at all?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

A lot of it depends on your ambient humidity. You pretty much have to play with it until you figure it out. If you are in a more humid area, and the humidity inside your house is higher, you probably will need less, if you are in a more dry place, or say you use a wood stove to heat your house, it's probably going to be dryer and you'd need more water to get that humidity. Personally, I would take the water out and let it run for three or four hours and see what your humidity is w/no water, then add water a little at a time until you get it to the number you are comfortable with. I'd shoot for 30-40 and keep an eye on the air cells. If at day 7 you candle and they look small for day 7 lower the humidity if they look too large, higher the humidity. Then maintain that humidty and just recheck the air cells. That will keep you on track better than any numbers thrown out at you.

 

[dorpersheep]

I usually find with my 8-48 incubators that just a dash of water in one of the tracks is enough to maintain 30%-40%, I generally lift the lid and squirt a little bit of water in the gap between the rocking trays. I only fill the tracks when I am going into lockdown, and depending on how dry the ambient air is (Australian summer air is dry!) I usually add a small bucket of water in the incubator as well just to increase the surface area of water - without that I struggle to get to 55% even with 2 full tracks, with the extra I can achieve 70%+ no worries.

 

[number7]

I've come across this information for temperature and humidity. Forced air incubators should be 37.2 - 37.5°C and 60 - 65% humidity. Still air incubators should be 37.7 - 38.3°C and 60 - 65% humidity during incubation and 70 - 75% at hatching time. I also found the optimum for hens is 37.5°C above this temperature as well as a reduced hatch there will be an increase in the number of crippled and deformed chicks. And above 40.5°C no embryos will survive.
After finding this information I'm going to give it ago with the temperature at 37.4 and the humidity is 65%

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I've come across this information for temperature and humidity. Forced air incubators should be 37.2 - 37.5°C and 60 - 65% humidity. Still air incubators should be 37.7 - 38.3°C and 60 - 65% humidity during incubation and 70 - 75% at hatching time. I also found the optimum for hens is 37.5°C above this temperature as well as a reduced hatch there will be an increase in the number of crippled and deformed chicks. And above 40.5°C no embryos will survive.
After finding this information I'm going to give it ago with the temperature at 37.4 and the humidity is 65%

65% humidity in the first 17 days is usually too high. If you run your humidity that high during the incubation make sure you are checking your egg's air cells to make sure that they are loosing enough moisture or you have a high probability of drowning the chicks.

What people do not understand is these books and manufacturer suggestions that throw out humidty numbers are general numbers. They do not take into cosideration your ambient humidity, the pourousness of your eggs among a ton of other factors that makes it impossible to set one number for the general population and have that be the right number for them.

Temps yes, they are pretty clear cut and dried, but humidity no.

We control humidity (during incubation)for the purpose of allowing the egg to loose the proper amount of moisture and there is no one "magic" number for everyone. What works for me might not work for you. Some people weigh their eggs to make sure they are loosing the the right amount, (I believe it is supposed to be roughly 13% weight loss over incubation) and others (like me) monitor the eggs air cells to make sure there is sufficient humidity. At lockdown it needs to be highered so that the chicks can hatch w/o being shrinkwrapped in the membrane.
If you candle at least on days 7 and 14 you'll know how to adjust your humidity. If your air cells are too big compared to the chart it means your humidity has been too low and too much moisture is escaping the egg too quick. (This can cause the membrane to shrink wrap the chicks.) In this case you up the humidity to slow/stop moisture loss. If your air cells are too small, you know your humidity is too high and not enough moisture has been lost. (This can cause the chicks to drown in the excess fluid at hatch.) In this case you would lower your humidity to increase the rate of moisture loss. By keeping an eye on both your humidity and air cells (or weight loss) you'll get a better idea of what number works for you.

 

[dorpersheep]

Total agree as above! I was following the book so to speak at the start and getting 20% hatches, and those we did get were wet and sticky for days after hatching. I now let the bators drop to 20% before the alarm goes off, then I add just a tiny amount of water and they run up to about 45% before I let them drop again for a couple of days. Since starting that we are now averaging 85% hatchrate, chicks are dry and alert at hatch, and everyone is much happier!
BUT I am in Australia in the country and our air is darn dry at the moment. If you are in the middle of a late season snow storm your ambient air will be much different which could (and probably will!) lead to different results.
Harsh as it is, this hatching business really is a 'suck it and see' scenario!!
Good luck, let us know how it all goes.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Total agree as above! I was following the book so to speak at the start and getting 20% hatches, and those we did get were wet and sticky for days after hatching. I now let the bators drop to 20% before the alarm goes off, then I add just a tiny amount of water and they run up to about 45% before I let them drop again for a couple of days. Since starting that we are now averaging 85% hatchrate, chicks are dry and alert at hatch, and everyone is much happier!
BUT I am in Australia in the country and our air is darn dry at the moment. If you are in the middle of a late season snow storm your ambient air will be much different which could (and probably will!) lead to different results.
Harsh as it is, this hatching business really is a 'suck it and see' scenario!!
Good luck, let us know how it all goes.

I'm upstate NY USA and we have decently high humidity. For my fall hatch I tried the dry incubation for the first time and loved it! Of course I kept an eye on my air cells. All the chicks were active w/in minutes of hatching and jumping around. No sticky chicks, and energetic...wow! I want to continue the dry incubation for the Easter hatch, but it looks like I won't be able to go totally dry becauase w/the wood pellet stove as heating it's really dry in here, and my bator isn't holding nearly as much humidity as for fall, but we shall see. This will be my first winter hatch and a little nervous about the outcome of this one.

 

[TARALEE21]

In my opinion 68% humidity is quite high for the first 17 days. At lockdown, yes. I do dry incubation the first 17 days as long as the bator stays above 25% dry. Last hatch I ran dry the hygrometer read about 40% and that worked perfect for me. I monitor my air cells though to make sure my humidity is adequate.

What do u mean when you say dry?
You mean no water in the channels?
Mines sitting currently at 37.2c and 58%