June Hatch A Long

[Kris5902]

Most go to lockdown at 18 days. But it depends on the development of course, if they're late 19 is ok. I'd recommend not adding water until they've externally pipped. Extra water during hatch is mostly about keeping the inside of the egg moist while after the shell is broken.

Thank you! My incubator has been running a touch colder than 99.5, so I’m actually expecting them a little late. Last time, before I found this site, I followed the incubators “instructions” and topped up all the water channels for lockdown. My humidity jumped up to 70% then as soon as my first chick hatched, the paper towels I had lined it with wicked up water and I was at 89-100% humidity, it didn’t go well from there at all and I had a 27% hatch rate with all but 3 eggs very late stage quitters.

I’m a little anxious this time, and these are my first farm collected eggs Sire is my assisted hatch from that first sad experience, and Mama’s are some hy-line reds and a Columbia rock, mostly. I also have 8 decent looking Marans eggs but mama is a little young, so I’m anxious about that as well.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Thank you! My incubator has been running a touch colder than 99.5, so I’m actually expecting them a little late. Last time, before I found this site, I followed the incubators “instructions” and topped up all the water channels for lockdown. My humidity jumped up to 70% then as soon as my first chick hatched, the paper towels I had lined it with wicked up water and I was at 89-100% humidity, it didn’t go well from there at all and I had a 27% hatch rate with all but 3 eggs very late stage quitters.

I’m a little anxious this time, and these are my first farm collected eggs Sire is my assisted hatch from that first sad experience, and Mama’s are some hy-line reds and a Columbia rock, mostly. I also have 8 decent looking Marans eggs but mama is a little young, so I’m anxious about that as well.

View attachment 1800964

No matter how many times I hatch chicks there is always some anxiety involved. Every Incubator had a sweet spot for humidity, it's very dependant on where you're keeping your Incubator and what brand of Incubator you're using. I personally have my incubators in a closed room inside my house so it's quite dry from the HVAC running but the room temperature is very consistent. I find after lockdown that the styrofoam Incubator I like to have around 70% humidity and the plastic Incubators the sweet spot seems to be 65%. Once the chicks start pipping and hatching it will always cause the humidity to spike but if I were to see it go too much higher than 80-85% I would open the incubator to change it because extremely high humidity is more likely to kill an unhatched chick than low humidity. Worst case the membrane will dry too much and if you see it darken when they're trying to unzip you may need to help just a tad but it's nothing like the issues with too high humidity so I would say take your chances and open it to regulate humidity if it happens to spike that much again. At least in my opinion. I hope your hatch goes well!!

Oh and I would use a shelf liner, like you'll see in silverware drawers, instead of the paper towels.

 

[jolenesdad]

 

[Kris5902]

No matter how many times I hatch chicks there is always some anxiety involved. Every Incubator had a sweet spot for humidity, it's very dependant on where you're keeping your Incubator and what brand of Incubator you're using. I personally have my incubators in a closed room inside my house so it's quite dry from the HVAC running but the room temperature is very consistent. I find after lockdown that the styrofoam Incubator I like to have around 70% humidity and the plastic Incubators the sweet spot seems to be 65%. Once the chicks start pipping and hatching it will always cause the humidity to spike but if I were to see it go too much higher than 80-85% I would open the incubator to change it because extremely high humidity is more likely to kill an unhatched chick than low humidity. Worst case the membrane will dry too much and if you see it darken when they're trying to unzip you may need to help just a tad but it's nothing like the issues with too high humidity so I would say take your chances and open it to regulate humidity if it happens to spike that much again. At least in my opinion. I hope your hatch goes well!!

Oh and I would use a shelf liner, like you'll see in silverware drawers, instead of the paper towels.

Thank you! And lack of shelf liner was why I didn’t just go ahead and put them into lockdown last night after candling. First town day shopping trip after my disastrous hatch I picked some up. I forgot to drive down with it and I had committed to a 7pm-bedtime candling appointment with an excited 7 year old. It took me almost 7 months to muster the courage (and more stable room temperatures) to try hatching again.

I get confused by day 1 being 24 hrs after you put them in the incubator. I mean, it makes sense in that they need to come up to temp and settle down to growing, But why we don’t just say 22 days instead of waiting a day to say “day 1” is beyond me. I’m a little disappointed in that I was trying to time the hatch to happen on Thursday, so my little “helper” could be there for it... she’s with her dad on the weekends off farm.

I don’t have much power at my home yet, (400 watts off grid solar) so I ran the incubator in a large shared space, tucked into a corner behind a mirror so it was out of direct sunlight. The temperature is fairly stable but with the shared Dish sink, Laundry and Shower facilities for 7 and 1/2 people in the basement of the same building and naturally high humidity in my area that’s my primary challenge! I thought opening the incubator was supposed to drop the humidity, not raise it!

I’m going to be camping next to the incubator as of Wednesday night again. I’m planning a full bedroom of my house solely for incubation, mealworms, and the initial two weeks of brooding once we get it built. Until then I’m making do with what I can borrow space and power wise.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Thank you! And lack of shelf liner was why I didn’t just go ahead and put them into lockdown last night after candling. First town day shopping trip after my disastrous hatch I picked some up. I forgot to drive down with it and I had committed to a 7pm-bedtime candling appointment with an excited 7 year old. It took me almost 7 months to muster the courage (and more stable room temperatures) to try hatching again.

I get confused by day 1 being 24 hrs after you put them in the incubator. I mean, it makes sense in that they need to come up to temp and settle down to growing, But why we don’t just say 22 days instead of waiting a day to say “day 1” is beyond me. I’m a little disappointed in that I was trying to time the hatch to happen on Thursday, so my little “helper” could be there for it... she’s with her dad on the weekends off farm.

I don’t have much power at my home yet, (400 watts off grid solar) so I ran the incubator in a large shared space, tucked into a corner behind a mirror so it was out of direct sunlight. The temperature is fairly stable but with the shared Dish sink, Laundry and Shower facilities for 7 and 1/2 people in the basement of the same building and naturally high humidity in my area that’s my primary challenge! I thought opening the incubator was supposed to drop the humidity, not raise it!

I’m going to be camping next to the incubator as of Wednesday night again. I’m planning a full bedroom of my house solely for incubation, mealworms, and the initial two weeks of brooding once we get it built. Until then I’m making do with what I can borrow space and power wise.

I think it has to do with the number of hours they're incubating. Like taking a full 504 hours/21 days for the chicken eggs to hatch so you start counting days after 24 hours have passed.
I find it easier to say the day I set the eggs is day ZERO so I don't get confused when counting out my hatch date.
Central air is definitely what makes our homes so dry so if you're living off grid in a humid area you might not need to add water at all if you have a still air Incubator. Forced air incubators tend to dry out more so you may still need to add water to make up for that but it is entirely possible to have higher humidity in your room then your Incubator. It happens to people who incubate outdoors here in Georgia. You can do an entirely dry hatch outside in subtropical/tropical climates depending on your Incubator.

 

[jolenesdad]

It’s just like birthdays. You aren’t 1 until you’ve made it a year. ;-)

Just remember it that way, how many days have PASSED since you started.

Also, if you set on a Monday, hatch day is three mondays later. Hatch day (with chickens and ducks) should be on the same day that you set them...

@Kris5902 have you started mealworms yet? I just started six weeks ago and they’re going crazy. I haven’t had my own babies to be harvested yet, but I have two nursery bins going and three beetle trays with several hundred beetles in each tray. I’m pulling out a couple hundred pupaes every few days.

It’s fun and exciting, but a little confusing. It’s just like hatching though, you have to find what’s best for YOUR environment just like @CluckNDoodle was saying.

 

[Bookworm0124]

Tuesday cuteness

 

[Kris5902]

Tuesday cuteness

Oh my cuteness!!! So adorable, now I want ducks too

 

[jolenesdad]

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGG @Bookworm0124 is that a welsh harlequin?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Tuesday cuteness

Oh my goodness! Such a sweet picture!! I love it!