Lockdown Hatching Completed - NEW PHOTOS ADDED

[joebryant]

I am using a Genesis 1588. I've had perfect 53% humidity for 18 days. Today I removed the turner, put the eggs in paper egg carton, and filled the second water well. I put the lid on, and the temp went back up to 99 degrees, BUT the humidity is 83%. Should I wait to see if it goes down in a few hours to the 60-70% range or take immediate steps to lower it now? Any suggestions for lowering it?

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Quote:
I ran two of these same units for a while. Seems my humidity would jump up to the 80% +/- range right after I filled them on day 18 as well. Might open the little red plug on top and let a bit out (perhaps for an hour) and then re-check. Mine always seemed to settle in the mid to upper 60% range

From what I have been told the higher humidity is important ONCE THE EGG PIPS, so you have time to adjust.

Good luck!!

 

[joebryant]

Yard full o' rocks :

Quote:
I ran two of these same units for a while. Seems my humidity would jump up to the 80% +/- range right after I filled them on day 18 as well. Might open the little red plug on top and let a bit out (perhaps for an hour) and then re-check. Mine always seemed to settle in the mid to upper 60% range

From what I have been told the higher humidity is important ONCE THE EGG PIPS, so you have time to adjust.

Good luck!!

Thanks, Yard full o' rocks, that's a relief. I'll remove the red plug now.​

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Hi Joe,

I would take out the red plug and turn it upside down over the hole. Then cover only a little of the hole until you lose enough humidity, then replace it or just cover some of the vent with the plug.
Its good to have ventilation during the hatch, just not too much that the humidity goes crazy. I actually am hatching out right now and mine is at 83. I have Marans and BLRW in there.
I did a dry hatch so they didn't drown and now I want the humidity a bit higher to hatch out, especially for the Marans. I have 1 Maran pip and 1 BLRW pip and 1 BLRW rocking. So here's hoping all goes well.

I also have my plug out and upside down over part of the vent.

 

[emvickrey]

I am also on Lock down. My humidity was up to 80% at first also. I just open one of the windows for a few minutes to let some out. I don't have the plug in. I use 2 vent holes and the one big one to add water. I have hoses in them so I don't have to open the bator anymor than necessary. I just cover them with a wash cloth to hold it in if I need to. It's at 59% right now. I'd prefer to have it closer to 65% closer to hatching. I started doing this just this year and have learned many tricks. Ways to hold in heat without loosing ventilation and all. When the weather changed along with the temperatures I lost alot of eggs. I almost gave up but my hens kept laying. I just hate to toss out a perfectly good egg so I changed locations of the bator and worked on temps. It spikes sometimes but i'm right here and watch it closely. Like I have much else to do anyway. I just went on lock down today but i've found with Bantams they hatch a day or two early and I try to keep my temps around 100 and 101 degrees. If it goes down to 99 it usually goes below the 99.5 mark during the night.

I plan to have my hatching on webcast so all can watch if they want but need to find where I can do that so amybody can watch. I have sightspeed but only 4 people at a time. But thats for another post.

Good luck all

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
Yes! I noticed a big difference when the weather changed also. And have noticed that Bantams hatch a bit earlier than LF. And like you I also like it a bit higher temp. When I am right at 99.5 the chicks really don't seem quite as healthy and I don't understand that.
At 100 to 101 they hatch a little early but healthy.

I have been taking my hoses out, but think I may leave them in after your post. It has always concerned me that water might drip on an egg from the tubing and somehow contaminate or shock it into not progressing.

 

[joebryant]

Thanks, rustyswoman and emvickrey, I removed the red plug completely at 2:00 P.M.; the humidity was 83%. It is now 3:30, and the humidity has only dropped to 81%. Guess I'll leave it as is for a few hours and see what happens.

 

[kysilkies]

We've had same problem during current lockdown, even without visible water in the bator it's in the 80% range...We have Pekin/Khaki eggs in there...We think the bator, which we only started using for this lockdown, absorbed the water when we washed it...Only thing we can think of....

 

[Germaine_11.20]

You are welcome. One last thing I have done when I was desperate...and seeing as how you have your eggs in cartons you may be able to pull it off.

I folded a towel and put it under the incubator and then I carefully tipped the excess water toward the bottom vent holes. Alot of the excess water will drain out onto the towel.

It takes a bit for the humidity to read true because now you have more water over the surface area due to tipping. But it regulates pretty fast and if you have just gone on lockdown you probably won't have any residual issues.

You just have to be really careful not to dump the eggs out

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Wow, that's strange! 80% without water.
What's strange with mine is that when my incubator was empty and before I started actually incubating eggs, I tested it by filling the first hole and after one day the humidity held at the mid-50's percentage. Then I filled the second well, and it held in the mid-60's percentage.
I thought everything would be fine, but...
BTW, it's 4:45 the red plug is still out, and the humidity is still 82%.
"The best laid plans of mice and men go oft' awry"
Hope it's better in the morning.