June Hatch a Long

[EggieRowe]

I spent all day yesterday thinking it was Thursday and it was everything I could do to not go candle my eggs. Today I'm really anxious, but I just put them in Sunday morning and I know I should wait until day 7. The suspense is killing me! I'm trying to dry hatch again although my last (and first) hatch results didn't astound me - 8 out of 12 viable at lockdown. Only this time my humidity is all over the place. I cannot keep it stable. A half teaspoon of water in the morning throws the humidity into the 40's and its at 19% by the next morning. At least the temperature is stable. This time I'm going to use cartons after I take them out of the turner. Last time I lost at least 2 to the other hatched chicks bumping around - one was rolled over on its pip and another got capped with half a spent shell on its pip end, smothering it.

Anyone else use cartons to hatch?

 

[mrsguardian88]

I spent all day yesterday thinking it was Thursday and it was everything I could do to not go candle my eggs.  Today I'm really anxious, but I just put them in Sunday morning and I know I should wait until day 7.  The suspense is killing me!  I'm trying to dry hatch again although my last (and first) hatch results didn't astound me - 8 out of 12 viable at lockdown.  Only this time my humidity is all over the place.  I cannot keep it stable.  A half teaspoon of water in the morning throws the humidity into the 40's and its at 19% by the next morning.  At least the temperature is stable.  This time I'm going to use cartons after I take them out of the turner.  Last time I lost at least 2 to the other hatched chicks bumping around - one was rolled over on its pip and another got capped with half a spent shell on its pip end, smothering it.

Anyone else use cartons to hatch?

 

I think I might, seems like a smart idea!

 

[Evanowski]

My first hatch I kept the humidity around 50%. That ended up being my hatch rate. The others drowned to death. Texas is fairly humid anyway, at least where I live. "Dry hatch" is the only method I go with now. Rarely add water to the incubator, but it stays around 25% according my my meters.

On that note, it is day 5 for this hatch.... I'll be candling for the first time on Saturday.... if I can wait that long!

 

[mrsguardian88]

t

My first hatch I kept the humidity around 50%.  That ended up being my hatch rate.  The others drowned to death.  Texas is fairly humid anyway, at least where I live.  "Dry hatch" is the only method I go with now.  Rarely add water to the incubator, but it stays around 25% according my my meters.  

On that note, it is day 5 for this hatch.... I'll be candling for the first time on Saturday.... if I can wait that long!

The humidity for outdoors here is reading 59% as well, so I'm guessing its because its raining here today. The non-digital humidity in the bator is still reading 35%. I'm getting worried now.

 

[Madpolak]

My first hatch I kept the humidity around 50%. That ended up being my hatch rate. The others drowned to death. Texas is fairly humid anyway, at least where I live. "Dry hatch" is the only method I go with now. Rarely add water to the incubator, but it stays around 25% according my my meters.

On that note, it is day 5 for this hatch.... I'll be candling for the first time on Saturday.... if I can wait that long!

I can't remember if it was this thread or the May thread but someone suggested that they had been getting better results by keeping the humidity at a total of 80% between the room humidity and the bator humidity, ie, if your room is at 50% then the bator needs to be at 30%. This basically adjusts everything for your particular climate. The percentage changes at lockdown to prevent drowning but I can't reember the #. I will try to find the post.

Question of my own...Has anyone had any luck hatching twins? I have been candling a different egg every day when I turn them in the morning. That's to satisfy my urge to candle all of them every day. LOL. The one I did this morning has 2 embryos. Any feedback appreciated.

 

[Evanowski]

t
The humidity for outdoors here is reading 59% as well, so I'm guessing its because its raining here today. The non-digital humidity in the bator is still reading 35%. I'm getting worried now.

Its raining and you only have 59% outside?! Wow. Its partly cloudy right now, and its showing 74% humidity here! Nice and sunny outside too.

I wouldn't worry too much. Of course I've never hatched eggs north of the Texas border.

 

[chickydee64]

I can't remember if it was this thread or the May thread but someone suggested that they had been getting better results by keeping the humidity at a total of 80% between the room humidity and the bator humidity, ie, if your room is at 50% then the bator needs to be at 30%. This basically adjusts everything for your particular climate. The percentage changes at lockdown to prevent drowning but I can't reember the #. I will try to find the post.

Question of my own...Has anyone had any luck hatching twins? I have been candling a different egg every day when I turn them in the morning. That's to satisfy my urge to candle all of them every day. LOL. The one I did this morning has 2 embryos. Any feedback appreciated.

I have not had this experience but have read about it on other threads...
Most do not make it.but a few have.......Hope yours go well................

 

[chickydee64]

I spent all day yesterday thinking it was Thursday and it was everything I could do to not go candle my eggs. Today I'm really anxious, but I just put them in Sunday morning and I know I should wait until day 7. The suspense is killing me! I'm trying to dry hatch again although my last (and first) hatch results didn't astound me - 8 out of 12 viable at lockdown. Only this time my humidity is all over the place. I cannot keep it stable. A half teaspoon of water in the morning throws the humidity into the 40's and its at 19% by the next morning. At least the temperature is stable. This time I'm going to use cartons after I take them out of the turner. Last time I lost at least 2 to the other hatched chicks bumping around - one was rolled over on its pip and another got capped with half a spent shell on its pip end, smothering it.

Anyone else use cartons to hatch?

I always use cartons... I like them in part because there is less mess in the incubator.................
Remember to cut the bottoms of the cups to allow air flow. I just poke a big hole in them.............

 

[mrsguardian88]

I can't remember if it was this thread or the May thread but someone suggested that they had been getting better results by keeping the humidity at a total of 80% between the room humidity and the bator humidity, ie, if your room is at 50% then the bator needs to be at 30%. This basically adjusts everything for your particular climate. The percentage changes at lockdown to prevent drowning but I can't reember the #. I will try to find the post.

Question of my own...Has anyone had any luck hatching twins? I have been candling a different egg every day when I turn them in the morning. That's to satisfy my urge to candle all of them every day. LOL.  The one I did this morning has 2 embryos. Any feedback appreciated.

Okay, so I guess I'm dumb. My digital gives me the TEMP inside the incubator, but only the outside humidity. So I guess this whole time I've been using the dry method and didn't know it. So the humidity "out" is reading 61% and the humidity "in" the incubator is reading 45% now. If im adding the two levels together- that's way too high, right? I really have no clue what I'm doing now. Darn it!!!

 

[Wrightsx4]

Is there any water (or wet objects!) in your incubator? I'm still learning but my understanding of humidity is it's not critical to be precise every day, more of an average over days 1-18. Rainy days it'll be higher, sunny days it'll be lower. As long as you're not too humid every day. You just want to see that the air cells are growing (showing evaporation) when you candle later on (or weight loss if you weigh).