March 2017! Hatch with us!

[Lamancha]

My power is back on. 100% hatch rate. All the chicks did just fine thanks to some hand warmers I got from the feed store. The two that were still just pips when the power went out had some major sticky-chick issues, but I was able to assist them out and give them baths. I'm not sure how the eggs are doing yet. I didn't want to open the incubator to candle until the temp got back up to normal. Will candle tonight and see how they are doing.

 

[Jessimom]

My power is back on. 100% hatch rate. All the chicks did just fine thanks to some hand warmers I got from the feed store. The two that were still just pips when the power went out had some major sticky-chick issues, but I was able to assist them out and give them baths. I'm not sure how the eggs are doing yet. I didn't want to open the incubator to candle until the temp got back up to normal. Will candle tonight and see how they are doing.

That is AWESOME!! I'm glad there don't seem to be too many problems. Great idea using hand warmers!!!

 

[Lamancha]

That is AWESOME!! I'm glad there don't seem to be too many problems. Great idea using hand warmers!!!

Thanks. Yes, the hand warmers worked great but MAN those things get hot. I had to be really careful the chicks didn't overheat.

I think once I clean out my incubator I am going to try some experiments with the hand warmers to see what happens if I try to use them to keep eggs, not chicks warm. I didn't try it yesterday because I didn't want to open the incubator up and lose what little heat was in there just in case the hand warmers didn't help.

Meanwhile dh is trying to figure out what is wrong with our generator.

 

[Mylied]

Okay. So I have results from the eggtopsy. I didn't get any pictures but I can describe it. It looks like all of the chicks died during lockdown. The yolk wasn't completely absorbed but mostly were. The only thing that was odd that there was a lot of liquid around the chick. I think that the problem was that the humidity was too high and was turned on too early. It was at around 75% and I turned it up 3 days before the hatch. Is this the problem? I can't think of anything else.

It does sound like too much humidity, but more like too much humidity over a longer period of time. A few of mine looked like that after I had a mixed hatch dates. The last few that were a week out from the first ones died in the shell without pipping. When I looked they were really wet with sticky liquid around them. They looked fully developed but still had yolk to absorb. I had the humidity up at normal lockdown for the earlier chicks.

 

[lilwildrabbit]

With the humidity here I have a hard time keeping the humidity under 35% i work to keep it below 40 best I can do but it's not hard to bump it up but then my temp lowers a few degrees for the last few days haven't figured out why it does that ether it's a balancing act for me hoping I get a better hatch this time if not I'll try some more till I get a high rate of hatch

 

[orrpeople]

With the humidity here I have a hard time keeping the humidity under 35% i work to keep it below 40 best I can do but it's not hard to bump it up but then my temp lowers a few degrees for the last few days haven't figured out why it does that ether it's a balancing act for me hoping I get a better hatch this time if not I'll try some more till I get a high rate of hatch

Some folks run their incubators at 40-45% the entire first 17 days - I've done both: fairly dry and more humid with pretty much the same results.

 

[lilwildrabbit]

Good well as my first was a mirical that any hatched at all being so old and in the fridge but got 14 so I must have done something right!!

 

[ARiesb]

So I'm confused. What should you run your humidity at?

 

[Jessimom]

So I'm confused. What should you run your humidity at?

Everybody does it differently. You experiment until you find what works best for you. Start with a dry hatch and keep an eye on the size of the air cell. If it isn't changing the way you want it to, then increase or decrease the amount. My houses runs around 35%. That works for me. When you get to lockdown then everything changes. I like to run mine between 65 and 70%. As the chicks hatch - your humidity will jump to 85% . Just leave it alone. Try not to let it drop too low.

But during the first 18 days, just keep an eye on your air cells and adjust as needed.

 

[enggass]

I run mine 20-30% during incubation. Maybe 35%... then 70% during lockdown and hatch.