Lockdown! How high is too high on the humidity???

[Rooftop808]

I hope I have the same experience. I added water before I left for work on day 16. My quail eggs started moving. When I got home from work, humidity got to 80%. Now they aren’t moving. Maybe they’re tired. I don’t know. This is my first time.

 

[AKhan31]

Quote:

Did I send you the article from Practical Poultry magazine on hatching? Send me your e-mail address and I can send it to you if you'd like to read it.

On day 19 your humidity should be 65% and to the end. I use a sharpie to block the hole in mine if I need to. I too have no idea where the red plug is. I know you can order more.

I would keep it at 60% rather than too high and add water to see if I could get the other 5%. I add water with an eye dropper. Getting it up there is not easy. If you can't I would stay at 60%. I ususally can get it to 60 or somewhere in between there and 65%.

Wish you all the best


Rancher

I would like to read that article about hatching, I lost 2 batches of 20 eggs which were fine until lockdown stage then no internal pipping and apparently the chick had drowned

 

[AshVal09]

To be honest, it depends on what you’re comfortable with and where you live can have an effect on humidity. I live in California so for me, I’ve kept 60% at 100.4 degrees (average) for incubation and then increase humidity to around 75% with 99.5 degrees.

It has been working well so far with the eggs I’ve hatched. I had one that pipped around 11pm with the lockdown temp and humidity above. Normally, the chicks would hatch almost 20 hours after external pip so I wasn’t expecting it to hatch until the next night. But sure enough, around 3:30am I heard chirping in my room so I thought it must be from the chicks in the garage that was next to me.

But as soon as I got up to check, the chick had hatched on its own. It shocked me beyond belief but was wiggling around in he incubator. I got scared that it was too early for it to hatch but it’s doing very well.

So the point is . . . It depends on what you’re comfortable with and go from there. I followed the instructions on my incubator and so far I’ve been doing well.

 

[Chickinie]

Just yesterday I reduced my humidity hatching MGB back to what I had it pre-lockdown because they didn't look right when I candled them (after lockdown). I read a few horror stories on BYC and decided that leaving it high was going to do more harm than good. They are hatching now.

 

[AshVal09]

Just yesterday I reduced my humidity hatching MGB back to what I had it pre-lockdown because they didn't look right when I candled them (after lockdown). I read a few horror stories on BYC and decided that leaving it high was going to do more harm than good. They are hatching now.

That’s good to hear. I hope they hatch well. Crossing my fingers with mine

 

[Chickinie]

That’s good to hear. I hope they hatch well. Crossing my fingers with mine

They are all hatching. One died in the shell, so 13/14 left. I think it suffocated because of malposition. I nearly saved it... Just not in time.

Seven out of 13 are malposition, mostly pip away from air cell, one was pip wrong end; it's hatched. I'm watching them closely and helping when I hear them complaining. I expected them to be needing alot of help.

So far they are all coping really well.

I do drip water on the floor of the incubator with the pipped eggs so they have more humidity to keep the membranes pliable because I have to open it often. Works a treat.

 

[AshVal09]

That’s good. I always tell myself that it happens sometimes and it’s out of our control. All we can do is help them as much as we can without hurting them.

There’s so many factors involved that might kill the chicks before they hatch. It’s hard to control all the variables.

But we hope for the best

 

[Clucky family]

They are all hatching. One died in the shell, so 13/14 left. I think it suffocated because of malposition. I nearly saved it... Just not in time.

Seven out of 13 are malposition, mostly pip away from air cell, one was pip wrong end; it's hatched. I'm watching them closely and helping when I hear them complaining. I expected them to be needing alot of help.

So far they are all coping really well.

I do drip water on the floor of the incubator with the pipped eggs so they have more humidity to keep the membranes pliable because I have to open it often. Works a treat.

May seem like a silly question but how did you help them first time hatching here I have 12 in the incubator day 9 I candled on day 7 and only one seemed questionable the others I could easily see air cells I’m just very nervous about the hatching process.

 

[AshVal09]

You never stop being nervous about hatching chicks. The only thing that changes is that you understand that you can only do so much.

For me, I checked the eggs ever so often and if I question one, I leave it for a day or two in case I’m wrong. For hatching, I give the egg at least 20 hours or 19 to get out itself before I intervene. I’ve read that it’s recommended not to interfere but if I’m going to lose a chick, I want to know that I did what I could to help it.

All I can do is pray for them that they stay strong and check them ever so often.

 

[Chickinie]

May seem like a silly question but how did you help them first time hatching here I have 12 in the incubator day 9 I candled on day 7 and only one seemed questionable the others I could easily see air cells I’m just very nervous about the hatching process.

They usually aren't malpositioned when they hatch. These were shipped eggs and they had a rough ride + a couple of the OEG X that I incubated last were malpositioned.

If you want to assist:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

I had a gut feeling that they were going to be difficult. The eggs that didn't develop had a really thick outer membrane, I noticed when I cracked them to cook for the chooks; I had to rip them open. If they weren't so thick I don't think I would have been able to help much because they can tear and make the chick bleed out, this was a problem with every other time I've tried helping.

There wasn't really any way of telling exactly where they were going to pip at first. I just made sure they could all breathe when they needed because of the membrane concern. 11 have hatched with little assistance... 2 didn't make it.