Just had my best hatch by mistake!!!

[yinepu]

I was using the genesis incubator, dry method. Humidity was at about 22% . I am having a stressful month so I counted wrong. Never put the chicks to lockdown, so they just kept turning and humidity was in the 20's. 12 of 12 hatched without any help. What the hell was that about????? anyone?

Chuck best before this was 50 percent. Anyone have an answer to why?

Maybe it was just freak chance. I hope someone more educated can actually give you a reasonable answer!!!

It's simply just proof that if things are correct & you leave them alone, they can hatch themselves

i have been hatching like this for a a long while (50+ years though i turn eggs by hand)

And every time I try to tell some people that you CAN get 100% hatch rates by ignoring "lockdown" with incubating.. and YES even hatching DRY it can work .. they ignore me or come back with "well so and so said it HAS to be this way"

the pure facts are that your home humidity was fine for hatching dry (air cells or weight loss should be your guide to humidity anyway and NOT a hygrometer)

Once the chicks begin to hatch the humidity rises on it's own naturally

THINK ABOUT IT.. a broody hen does NOT go into "lockdown" she doesn't go out and dip her behind in water three days before hatch. Even here in Texas (where our local humidity usually runs around 16% in the summer) I have seen hens get off the nest with pipped eggs and go for a drink or something to eat.. leaving pipped eggs without the humidity from her body and yet those eggs STILL HATCH FINE

So congrats on your perfect hatch and for proving what I have been saying for a long time!

 

[yinepu]

I figured I would add this in to help explain things a bit

1 You started out with good fertile eggs from healthy stock

2 You placed them in a clean incubator (one that did not have a lot of bad bacteria growth)

3 You maintained proper temperature through out incubation and hatch

4 the eggs were turned an appropriate amount of times every day to help prevent problems with the developing chick

5 humidity was in the perfect range for your current home environment and shell porosity, proper air cell growth & weight loss. This helped ensure that chicks did not drown in the shell or were to weak to cause issues with hatching

6 you had enough air flow so the chicks did not die from carbon dioxide poisoning

7 at hatch the first chick that pipped raised humidity enough for it to hatch.. which raised the humidity even higher for the others to hatch without any problems

8 the location of the fan and how it directed air flow did not impede any chicks hatching. Bad fan location is THE main culprit in shrink wrapping chicks. It mainly occurs when a chick makes a large pip then rests for a bit too long. The air flow directed ONTO that egg instead of around it causes the membrane to dry out too quickly. Had humidity at hatch been the main culprit as so many people like to blame .. every one of your chicks should have been stuck into their shells by membranes that were wrapped around them since you did not raise the humidity at "lockdown"

The only issue you had (that did not affect hatch) was that the auto turner was still running. But this proves that if the chicks are oriented properly in the shells that turning isn't that much of an issue during the last few days of incubation

As i have stated many times before (and have been scoffed at by people with a whole lot less incubating experience and poor hatch rates) Once you have met the main parameters: fertile eggs, temperature, air flow for oxygen as well as fan placement, humidity during incubation (checking air cells or weight and adjusting it as needed instead of following "the book" or trusting a hygrometer), cleanliness, and turning. You can have 100% hatch rates with no issues while still ignoring "lockdown".

The term lockdown always make me beat my head against a wall. My great grandparents never heard of such a thing.. neither did my grandparents or my parents or any of my ancestors before them (yes, i come from a long line of poultry men).. and neither did any broody hen out there. It's a "new" term created by people who got tired of telling newbies not to mess with their incubators. So they created the "lockdown boogieman" to scare the newbies into leaving things alone. And also put the blame on the newbie when things go bad.. even if it was something as simple as bad fan location and resting pipped chicks. Sure a newbie to incubating can screw up a lot of things..but if they are taught HOW to use their incubator and how it works in THEIR home it shouldn't be an issue.

One more note about humidity percentages. Most of the recommendations you see were created by the poultry meat and hatchery industries. they use climate controlled rooms with set parameters. So YES they do have set humidity percentages because they know what works in THEIR buildings (I have worked in commercial hatcheries so I know this first hand). Since your home IS NOT climate controlled and has many variables, humidity during incubation will change due to things like seasons (heaters and AC), weather, location of the incubator, aquariums, humidifiers and so on. Which is why it's best to ignore the recommendations set forth by the poultry industry and let your eggs tell you what they need. Check air cells.. check weights if air cells are not visible. The eggs will tel you what they need in order to produce live chicks at hatch.. It's not rocket science people.. don't make it harder than it has to be!

 

[red golden]

I figured I would add this in to help explain things a bit

1 You started out with good fertile eggs from healthy stock

2 You placed them in a clean incubator (one that did not have a lot of bad bacteria growth)

3 You maintained proper temperature through out incubation and hatch

4 the eggs were turned an appropriate amount of times every day to help prevent problems with the developing chick

5 humidity was in the perfect range for your current home environment and shell porosity, proper air cell growth & weight loss. This helped ensure that chicks did not drown in the shell or were to weak to cause issues with hatching

6 you had enough air flow so the chicks did not die from carbon dioxide poisoning

7 at hatch the first chick that pipped raised humidity enough for it to hatch.. which raised the humidity even higher for the others to hatch without any problems

8 the location of the fan and how it directed air flow did not impede any chicks hatching. Bad fan location is THE main culprit in shrink wrapping chicks. It mainly occurs when a chick makes a large pip then rests for a bit too long. The air flow directed ONTO that egg instead of around it causes the membrane to dry out too quickly. Had humidity at hatch been the main culprit as so many people like to blame .. every one of your chicks should have been stuck into their shells by membranes that were wrapped around them since you did not raise the humidity at "lockdown"

The only issue you had (that did not affect hatch) was that the auto turner was still running. But this proves that if the chicks are oriented properly in the shells that turning isn't that much of an issue during the last few days of incubation

As i have stated many times before (and have been scoffed at by people with a whole lot less incubating experience and poor hatch rates) Once you have met the main parameters: fertile eggs,  temperature, air flow for oxygen as well as fan placement, humidity during incubation (checking air cells or weight and adjusting it as needed instead of following "the book" or trusting a hygrometer), cleanliness, and turning. You can have 100% hatch rates with no issues while still ignoring "lockdown".

The term lockdown always make me beat my head against a wall. My great grandparents never heard of such a thing.. neither did my grandparents or my parents or any of my ancestors before them (yes, i come from a long line of poultry men).. and neither did any broody hen out there. It's a "new" term created by people who got tired of telling newbies not to mess with their incubators. So they created the "lockdown boogieman" to scare the newbies into leaving things alone. And also put the blame on the newbie when things go bad.. even if it was something as simple as bad fan location and resting pipped chicks. Sure a newbie to incubating can screw up a lot of things..but if they are taught HOW to use their incubator and how it works in THEIR home it shouldn't be an issue. 

One more note about humidity percentages. Most of the recommendations you see were created by the poultry meat and hatchery industries. they use climate controlled rooms with set parameters. So YES they do have set humidity percentages because they know what works in THEIR buildings (I have worked in commercial hatcheries so I know this first hand). Since your home IS NOT climate controlled and has many variables, humidity during incubation will change due to things like seasons (heaters and AC), weather, location of the incubator, aquariums, humidifiers and so on. Which is why it's best to ignore the recommendations set forth by the poultry industry and let your eggs tell you what they need. Check air cells.. check weights if air cells are not visible. The eggs will tel you what they need in order to produce live chicks at hatch.. It's not rocket science people.. don't make it harder than it has to be!

Two thumbs up . I think this info might would help newbies not be so nervous.

 

[ChucktheChick]

Two thumbs up . I think this info might would help newbies not be so nervous.

that his what I thought when reading it!!!! Good job

 

[nova022]

i have been hatching like this for a a long while (50+ years though i turn eggs by hand)

And every time I try to tell some people that you CAN get 100% hatch rates by ignoring "lockdown" with incubating.. and YES even hatching DRY it can work .. they ignore me or come back with "well so and so said it HAS to be this way"

the pure facts are that your home humidity was fine for hatching dry (air cells or weight loss should be your guide to humidity anyway and NOT a hygrometer)

Once the chicks begin to hatch the humidity rises on it's own naturally

THINK ABOUT IT.. a broody hen does NOT go into "lockdown" she doesn't go out and dip her behind in water three days before hatch. Even here in Texas (where our local humidity usually runs around 16% in the summer) I have seen hens get off the nest with pipped eggs and go for a drink or something to eat.. leaving pipped eggs without the humidity from her body and yet those eggs STILL HATCH FINE

So congrats on your perfect hatch and for proving what I have been saying for a long time!

I will defineltly try your method, it sounds logical.

 

[nova022]

Two thumbs up . I think this info might would help newbies not be so nervous.

x2

 

[gimmie birdies]

I agree, and some eggs take longer than other eggs so if you lock'm all down then it might not befit all of them.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I got 7chicks from this fridge batch. 2 RIR/EE and 5 mix Coocoo marans and? Jan, Helene, CeCe, Cathy, Carol, and Val... anyone know the t.v. show I got their names from?

 

[cwalsh2]

I just got my best hatch too, but only on my Bantam Phoenix.100% on their own. The eggs I brought back from missouri only got 33%. The ones I got 100% on I just pulled out of the fridge to fill up the incubator. It is definitely better with less humidity. When I kept it at 40% + I had wet sticky chicks and poor hatches. This time I tried to keep it at 30 but it wanted to stay at 27 easily. Next time it will be at 27. Someday I may do a test between eggs stored in the fridge 35 or on my entry 45-65.

 

[TAMMACLEAN]

I figured I would add this in to help explain things a bit

1 You started out with good fertile eggs from healthy stock

2 You placed them in a clean incubator (one that did not have a lot of bad bacteria growth)

3 You maintained proper temperature through out incubation and hatch

4 the eggs were turned an appropriate amount of times every day to help prevent problems with the developing chick

5 humidity was in the perfect range for your current home environment and shell porosity, proper air cell growth & weight loss. This helped ensure that chicks did not drown in the shell or were to weak to cause issues with hatching

6 you had enough air flow so the chicks did not die from carbon dioxide poisoning

7 at hatch the first chick that pipped raised humidity enough for it to hatch.. which raised the humidity even higher for the others to hatch without any problems

8 the location of the fan and how it directed air flow did not impede any chicks hatching. Bad fan location is THE main culprit in shrink wrapping chicks. It mainly occurs when a chick makes a large pip then rests for a bit too long. The air flow directed ONTO that egg instead of around it causes the membrane to dry out too quickly. Had humidity at hatch been the main culprit as so many people like to blame .. every one of your chicks should have been stuck into their shells by membranes that were wrapped around them since you did not raise the humidity at "lockdown"

The only issue you had (that did not affect hatch) was that the auto turner was still running. But this proves that if the chicks are oriented properly in the shells that turning isn't that much of an issue during the last few days of incubation

As i have stated many times before (and have been scoffed at by people with a whole lot less incubating experience and poor hatch rates) Once you have met the main parameters: fertile eggs, temperature, air flow for oxygen as well as fan placement, humidity during incubation (checking air cells or weight and adjusting it as needed instead of following "the book" or trusting a hygrometer), cleanliness, and turning. You can have 100% hatch rates with no issues while still ignoring "lockdown".

The term lockdown always make me beat my head against a wall. My great grandparents never heard of such a thing.. neither did my grandparents or my parents or any of my ancestors before them (yes, i come from a long line of poultry men).. and neither did any broody hen out there. It's a "new" term created by people who got tired of telling newbies not to mess with their incubators. So they created the "lockdown boogieman" to scare the newbies into leaving things alone. And also put the blame on the newbie when things go bad.. even if it was something as simple as bad fan location and resting pipped chicks. Sure a newbie to incubating can screw up a lot of things..but if they are taught HOW to use their incubator and how it works in THEIR home it shouldn't be an issue.

One more note about humidity percentages. Most of the recommendations you see were created by the poultry meat and hatchery industries. they use climate controlled rooms with set parameters. So YES they do have set humidity percentages because they know what works in THEIR buildings (I have worked in commercial hatcheries so I know this first hand). Since your home IS NOT climate controlled and has many variables, humidity during incubation will change due to things like seasons (heaters and AC), weather, location of the incubator, aquariums, humidifiers and so on. Which is why it's best to ignore the recommendations set forth by the poultry industry and let your eggs tell you what they need. Check air cells.. check weights if air cells are not visible. The eggs will tel you what they need in order to produce live chicks at hatch.. It's not rocket science people.. don't make it harder than it has to be!

Ok, I'm trying to figure this out. I just had two horrible hatches. One the humidity was low and my last one every chick was upside down.

I have more eggs coming in April and I would like to try hatching out my own eggs again.

1-- What should the humidity be? Say my room is around 40% the inside of the incubator should be???

2--What temp should the incubator be?? Room temp is about 68.

3--How often should I turn the eggs?

4--Should the eggs be in a carton or should they just lay down and be rolled over?

5--When day 18 comes should I stop turning the eggs or keep turning until they pip?

6--If I incubate in cartons should they be removed before they are do to hatch?

7--If I go by the air cells, when should I add humidity to the incubator?

Is there anything I forgot? Last year I had excellent hatches but not this year. I only got 1 out of 50 to hatch the first time. Some were eggs purchased and shipped and some were from my flock. They only one that hatched was one from my flock. The 2nd time they were all my eggs. I 7 out of 40 eggs to hatch, and again they were all the wrong way.

Please any advice would be helpfull.

Thanks!!