Let's talk Ventilation, Co2 and oxygen levels in the incubator

[Toirxon]

Thanks, I was wrong thinking that eggs get havier at the end of hatching.

 

[seventreesfarm]

I'm doing my first hatch in my homemade wine cooler incubator after using a LG foambator with fan & turner. I always had a hard time with temp fluctuations and would wrap the seam to help with that. The vents and little air holes were open, but I still had less then great hatches.

On day 7 in the new incubator, all but 5 of 41 eggs are viable and seem extra developed; more veining, more wiggly embryos. The new bator needs some modifications, but I have an Incukit 225w heat/fan unit, plus a 3" speed-control computer fan mounted on a 3" vent hole, pulling air out. I think the added air flow is making a huge difference.

I'm hatching all homegrown eggs this time too, and most other hatches had some shipped eggs, which usually don't do as well, so that could be a factor.

I tried a few hatches judging air cell by weight, but not enough to see a pattern in percentage of air cell lost and percentage hatched. I've tried humidity levels from 25% to 45%, but again, the mix of shipped and home eggs throws things off. Shipped eggs often have larger and/or damaged air cells. Homeys have smaller cells, so humidity needs are different. This time I'm keeping around 28%-32% and the cells look about right so far.

 

[Taco]

I only have 2 3/4" holes open and CO2 stays very low in the first 1/2-2/3 of incubation, then it starts to climb so I start opening more holes.
Three inch hole with a fan sounds like a lot . You shouldn't need much air in the beginning. The more out side air you add the more risk of drafts and cold spots, and it's harder to keep constant humidity. If you don't monitor the CO2, then don't worry about air flow until half way then open a little bit of vents, then during lock down open more, that's when they really put out a lot of CO2.
Here's a link to the meter I use. http://www.ebay.com/itm/AutoPilot-A...ty-/390707311490?ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:US:3160

 

[seventreesfarm]

Yeah, I kind of jumped into this hatch without too much playing around with variables, and the wine cooler is so well insulated that I was having a hard time keeping the heat down. I read a few threads where people added a fan and got good results. Now i know a bit more about tweaking the incukit though, and will adjust heavily for the next batch.

I also need to move the heater from bottom to top, and will change up the ventilation then too. But now that I have all these eggs going, I don't want to play around too much. I am getting a little hot/cold spots, but not as much as I thought. The humidity stays steady, as do the temps.

That's a nice monitor. I might have to invest soon