July Hatch-a-long

[Shellz]

Wow, the nerve of some people! Hope you catch them in the act & they have the book thrown at them!

 

[crazyhen]

Up until recently I was getting loads of eggs. Suddenly we had illegal people in a trailer back of us in the woods. Its not owned by us. But the people who do own it run a power cord out there to it in the summer. Its not legal but if I report it, I would not be able to live here safely. Now I have to lock everything down. Including the egg doors and inside of my coop, even in the day time. If you live in the back end of the coves you do not report.!! You take care of or just lock up. No more egg disappearances. They know, I know. I will not have any more trouble. Sad isn't it.? Its really sad because if they had come to me, I would have given them free eggs. I know they are poor.

Its not safe for me to walk back there alone to hand them eggs. Sigh.

 

[sbrown]

My last hatch went very well and I kept my humidity at about 50-55% until last few days when I jumped it up to 75%. I keep by bator outside under my gazebo and its been so humid the last few months with a lot or rain. Also, out of my 37 eggs I set, about half were at least 2 weeks old and I had 30 hatch. That wasnt intentional, I just found a nest in my shed a hen had been slipping off to and I didn't want to throw them away. I didn't wash my eggs before putting them in either. I had two roos covering 4 hens so I felt fertility shouldn't be an issue lol. Interested to see how the eggs I just set turn out cause they were not mine and I just don't know how they might have been stored, handled, etc. Although, the Marans eggs came from somebody that knows a good bkt more than me so they should be fine.

 

[sbrown]

Up until recently I was getting loads of eggs. Suddenly we had illegal people in a trailer back of us in the woods. Its not owned by us. But the people who do own it run a power cord out there to it in the summer. Its not legal but if I report it, I would not be able to live here safely. Now I have to lock everything down. Including the egg doors and inside of my coop, even in the day time. If you live in the back end of the coves you do not report.!! You take care of or just lock up. No more egg disappearances. They know, I know. I will not have any more trouble. Sad isn't it.? Its really sad because if they had come to me, I would have given them free eggs. I know they are poor.

Its not safe for me to walk back there alone to hand them eggs. Sigh.

Sorry. Fortunately my place is fenced in and I have good neighbors. I don't think me being 6'2 , 330, and having a rooster named Ruger has anything to do with it lol...

 

[PugBug]

While we are on the topic of humidity.

It is my understanding that keeping the humidity lower (and what constitutes lower varies widely) during the first 18 days allows the moisture to escape from the egg keeping the chick from drowning. At that point, the humidity needs to be higher (again, a matter of discussion what "higher" means in terms of humidity) in order to avoid drying out of the membrane. IS THAT CORRECT?

I read Chooks Chick's hatching guide for styro/still air incubators (dry incubation method). I've also read a ton of other things here at ByC and no one seems to agree on anything. I'm trying something different from my first hatch which, for a variety of reasons, was pretty poor.

I'm trying to keep the humidity around 30-35% for the first 18 days, then I'll bump it up to around 60% (assuming I can control it). I ran a plastic tube (it was intended for aquariums) from the water holder in the bottom of the bator, out through the indentation for the wires and up to the top. I'm using an old syringe to shoot water through the tubing to the bottom of the bator when it needs moisture. It take about 3 of the little syringes full each morning to keep it in the 30-35 range. My goal is to keep the bator closed until day 7 when I plan to candle the eggs and then day 14 for the same reason. Keeping my hands off those eggs is a real challenge for me, so I have to set some rules for myself. By using the tubing, I don't have the top off or the window open, so I'm less tempted to touch them.

Is there any definitive word on humidity? Why does it make any difference what your outside humidity is? I can see how that would affect how much water is needed to keep the humidity up during hatch, but why would it change the recommended levels within the bator?

The reason for keeping a lower humidity during the first 18 days is for the air cell to 'grow' to the right size so when the chick does get to the internal pip it has enough oxygen from the air cell until it can make an external pip & breath fresh air. The process from internal to external pip can take quite a while. If the air cell is too small the chick will drown in the fluid. Also if the humidity is too high during days 1-18 not only is your air cell not growing eough, but your chicks can drown, IF they make it you can have 'sticky' chicks. If the humidity is too low during lockdown it can cause a whole host of problems, from shrink wrapped chicks to shells being too hard to pip. External humidity effects the internal humidity because the incubator is pulling air from the room into the bator. If the air is too humid outside the bator, it will raise the internal humidity. If you have too low humidity outside, it does the opposite...

 

[PugBug]

Can I ask a dumb question? I am getting a few more eggs for our now empty second 'bator (since we condensed after clearing out the duds) and they're scheduled to arrive on different days. With our first batch that is now in the 'bator, they all arrived on the same day, so it was easy to let them rest for 12 hours at room temperature and then plop them in. What do I do if I have eggs that I want to set together arriving at different times? Is it ok to let the first to arrive just sit at room temperature a bit longer? I would imagine that it's fine, right?

Thanks, everyone.

I've done staggered hatches several times, but I was using to bators. The big bator was for all of them until each sets lockdown. Then I would take the ones for lockdown into the 2nd bator. Using 1 bator for staggered hatches will usually have bad results. As for leaving the eggs out- if they are shipped eggs, they should not sit out more than 24 hrs before incubating.

 

[PugBug]

My last hatch went very well and I kept my humidity at about 50-55% until last few days when I jumped it up to 75%. I keep by bator outside under my gazebo and its been so humid the last few months with a lot or rain. Also, out of my 37 eggs I set, about half were at least 2 weeks old and I had 30 hatch. That wasnt intentional, I just found a nest in my shed a hen had been slipping off to and I didn't want to throw them away. I didn't wash my eggs before putting them in either. I had two roos covering 4 hens so I felt fertility shouldn't be an issue lol. Interested to see how the eggs I just set turn out cause they were not mine and I just don't know how they might have been stored, handled, etc. Although, the Marans eggs came from somebody that knows a good bkt more than me so they should be fine.

Your own eggs can be as old as 3 weeks and still hatch, but not shipped eggs

 

[sbrown]

[COLOR=800080]Your own eggs can be as old as 3 weeks and still hatch, but not shipped eggs[/COLOR]

Gotcha.

 

[Jmurph]

I am NEVER doing a hatch around a holiday again! I FORGOT(I know there is a medication for that) that yesterday was lockdown. Today, I went to put the sponges in....I have a bunch of peeping going on and ONE pip....That was about 6 hours ago. Now my humidity is good, but I just looked through the windows and I get nothing. I can see no rocking, hear no peeping....Maybe everyone is sleeping?

I usually (past 3 hatches) candle on day 18...which would have been yesterday, to get an idea. I candle on day 5, 10, 15 and 18.I missed day 18. I started with 31 eggs. I have 17 now. (2 had blood spots and the rest either were not developing by day 15 or were clear). So NOW I have 17 eggs in lockdown(a day late), one of which was pipping...and I wait. Wednesday is day 21...I just think I've had more progress by now in my previous hatches...and I did have progress BEFORE I put the sponges in.(humidity was at 30% on both hydrometers).

I am hoping that mama hen's have issues and don't have the dates correct all the time and all is going to be well. GEEZ.....NOW I am going to have to look through the darn window of the incubator every few hours!!!!!!!!! ]

As my father used to say, "Don't get old"....I swear most days I have to stop and think about what day it is. This is crazy! For some reason the goofy four day weekend threw me for a loop.

Now to have a glass of wine and chillax! (as my daughter would say).

 

[sharol]

So it is like when a plant isn't doing well. You are either watering too much or not enough?

Seriously, my incubator is in an air conditioned part of the house but out of reach of the vents, so the humidity is fairly steady. However, I live in a fairly humid area (42% today) I understand about the air cell size, and I'll monitor that on days 7 and 14. I'm hoping that 30% falls in the safe range for the first 19 days or so with about 60% at lock down.

So drowned chicks are a result of too much humidity during the first part of incubation, and shrink wrapped chicks are a result of too little humidity during lockdown? Is that right?

Thanks for the response. This whole humidity thing makes me dizzy.

The reason for keeping a lower humidity during the first 18 days is for the air cell to 'grow' to the right size so when the chick does get to the internal pip it has enough oxygen from the air cell until it can make an external pip & breath fresh air. The process from internal to external pip can take quite a while. If the air cell is too small the chick will drown in the fluid. Also if the humidity is too high during days 1-18 not only is your air cell not growing eough, but your chicks can drown, IF they make it you can have 'sticky' chicks. If the humidity is too low during lockdown it can cause a whole host of problems, from shrink wrapped chicks to shells being too hard to pip. External humidity effects the internal humidity because the incubator is pulling air from the room into the bator. If the air is too humid outside the bator, it will raise the internal humidity. If you have too low humidity outside, it does the opposite...