Lockdown on day 18?

[texaschickmom]

OK...I'm on this website everyday and will be trying my hand at incubating my own eggs in a couple of weeks. I'm confused about when lockdown starts. I will be using a separate incubator as a hatcher. I've seen posts that say start lockdown on day 18, but that would mean a 4-day lockdown? Or is lockdown after the 18th day, on day 19? That would be a 3-day lockdown. Thanks.

 

[DMSrabbit]

Day 18.. I always use this date, because generally speaking, my bators run a little high (temperature wise) and so my chicks usually end up hatching a day to 1/2 day early. I have 29 eggs due to hatch tomorrow, and i had one fully zipped and walking around in the bator last night (day 19 1/2)!! So yeah, i always use 18, im not going to say you SHOULD too, just that i would RECOMMEND it.. my 2cents.. Anyone else?

 

[HEChicken]

I'm about to set my first batch this weekend so am watching this thread with instance. So for example, if eggs are set today, what would be the date to go into lockdown?

 

[Talihofarms]

Lock down can be a little confusing and in many cases over rated.
Lock down can start on Day 17 and end on day 21. It all depends on how the hatch is going. If it takes an extra 3 days for the chicks to come out. (Day 24) you will have to remove the ones hatched on time. Chicks have only 3 days max. of reserve energy before they have to eat or drink.

Humidity is the main concern for lock down. The humidity needs to increase at lockdown and you need to keep the bator sealed unless the chick is completely out and starting to dry.

Never break the seal if a chick is in the middle or during its escape from the egg. If you open the top (break the seal).
you will have to deal with a shrink wrap problem , as well as chilling the chick which reduces surviveability.


Good Luck

 

[DMSrabbit]

Quote:
This really depends on the time of the day, but if set today at 8:00am PST, they would be starting day 18 at 1/26/2001 at 8:00am PST (when you would enter into lock-down) and be a full 18 days on incubation on 1/27/2011 at 8:00am PST.

Day 21 would start at 8:00am on 1/29/2011 and would be fully incubated for 21 days by 1/30/2011 at 8:00am PST..

I think my math is correct here... It is early though..

 

[DMSrabbit]

Quote:
I kinda agree with this.. Lock down can be confusing, but i don't think its "overrated." Humidity is of paramount concern here, so yes, you need to have the right dates set, and increasing humidity index from days 10-18 from about 30-40% to about 50%. Then to 60-70% from days 18-21 (longer if necessary for hatching.) You should only open your incubator for one reason and one reason only during lockdown. To pull FULLY dried chicks out after they have been inside for AT LEAST 24 hours. Chicks can survive for 48 hours without food/water on reserved energy from digesting the yolk in the development process. You should wait until you have a group of chicks to pull out, quickly transfer them to your brooder box, and then spray a light mist from a spray bottle back into the bator when closing it. This will bring the humidity back up in the bator, allowing you to retain alot of humidity as your temperature slowly recovers.

 

[Baralak]

If you set your eggs on the 1st of the month, at noon. Then your lockdown date would be the 19th at noon. When counting days you count completed days of incubation, not start days...

Easiest way to count is just don't count the day of set....

Hope that helps.. I think I confused myself

 

[Ridgerunner]

An egg does not have 24 hours worth of development 2 seconds after it is put in the incubator. It takes 24 hourts for the egg to have 24 hours worth of development. I don't like the way we use Day 1, Day 18, and all that. That is confusing. I think it should be days of development.

If you put the eggs in the incubator on Saturday the 8th, for example, then 18 days of development have been completed on Wednesday the 26th. A full 21 days of development will have occurred on Saturday the 29th. With chicken eggs, the day of the week you start them is the day of the week they should hatch, in this case Saturday.

I agree that you don't have to be real, real accurate or precise for lockdown, but I do think it is good practice to try to get it right. A few hours off either way will not guarantee disaster, but why tempt fate?

There are different things that will affect when eggs actually hatch. The easy one is if the average incubating temperature is a little high, the eggs will hatch early. If it is low they will hatch late. Some incubators have hot or cold spots, so where they are in the incubator can affect when they hatch. Heredity has something to do with it. There is a theory that smaller eggs of the same breed will hatch earlier than larger eggs. Nature is not real precise. But if you are adjusting your incubator temperature, I think it is good to know when the 21 days of development are up so you know how to adjust your thermostat. Mine runs a little warm. I have had an egg pipping when I went into lockdown. I still have not got it quite right.

 

[texaschickmom]

Thanks for your help. That makes perfect sense now.

Quote:

 

[texaschickmom]

DMSrabbit, you have brought up a humidity issue I haven't seen in any other posts: raising the humidity on day 10. Have you had better hatch rates doing this as opposed to the "norm?" And are you spraying warm water into the bator when you take the dry chicks out or does it matter? Thanks.
Quote:
I kinda agree with this.. Lock down can be confusing, but i don't think its "overrated." Humidity is of paramount concern here, so yes, you need to have the right dates set, and increasing humidity index from days 10-18 from about 30-40% to about 50%. Then to 60-70% from days 18-21 (longer if necessary for hatching.) You should only open your incubator for one reason and one reason only during lockdown. To pull FULLY dried chicks out after they have been inside for AT LEAST 24 hours. Chicks can survive for 48 hours without food/water on reserved energy from digesting the yolk in the development process. You should wait until you have a group of chicks to pull out, quickly transfer them to your brooder box, and then spray a light mist from a spray bottle back into the bator when closing it. This will bring the humidity back up in the bator, allowing you to retain alot of humidity as your temperature slowly recovers.