Michigan Hatchers! What'cha got cookin?

[gladahmae]

What does DIS mean?
What was your room humidity....and was your hygrometer tested for accuracy?

Dead in shell, and yes, it was calibrated.

 

[aart]

Thanks @naglady.

What does DIS mean?
What was your room humidity....and was your hygrometer tested for accuracy?

Dead in shell, and yes, it was calibrated.

Drowned?
What was room humidity?

 

[naglady]

my first hatch all but one egg was dis.



i have found with my still air, first off before you even turn on your incubator check your thermometer and hygrometer for accuracy.. i only keep eggs on the left half.. the other side doesnt get warm enough.. keep your eggs in the area that keeps the ideal temp.. 101 -103 for still air..
i also tape the seams between top and bottom and go through top panels.. then at lockdown i take top off take turner out, candle all eggs.. put water in resivior, put eggs in cardbourd egg cartons with bottom popped out so they get airflow.. then i put lid back on, tape seams again.. i manage temp with plugs.. if to hot i remove a plug, if to cold i add a plug. if to cold and you have both plugs in try a towel over the bator, i keep a towel over my incubator the whole time.. try not to open untill day 5 after lockdown.. if you have to ad water go through a plug hole with a straw.. this is what works for me.. took me a couple hatches to get this system down pat.. but this is how my incubator works.. may not be the same for someone elses.. hope i helped some of the newbies with a still air with someone out.

if i candle its like day 7 and only a couple eggs check for viening, i go through the top panel. then maybe another candle of a couple eggs like day 14.. that is the day you watch for spikes in temp

 

[gladahmae]

Drowned?
What was room humidity humidity too high during ?

If your humidity IN the incubator doesn't allow enough evaporation, your chicks will get "too big" for the shell and not have enough room to maneuver to pip internally, or in some cases they pip internally but then are too big to pip externally. Basically, the air cells in the eggs don't get big enough if your humidity is too high during the first 18 days. Observing air cells and weighing eggs is the scientific way to adjust for this, but I don't have a scale, so I just drew air cells on the eggs. At this point I just don't add any water until lockdown/pip. That way I don't have to obsess or worry about it since I already have enough things to do that about.

If you have a different method that works well for you that is GREAT. I just know that for me (and many others) that adding water in the beginning tends to make things more dicey than they need to be when it comes to chick/air cell size.

 

[naglady]

glad i agree, i dont want to worry about humidity. thats why i dry hatch also.. pretty easy..


i have 2 pips and one starting to zip.

 

[mattsinger]

What's the the thinking behind putting the eggs in a egg carton for lockdown?

 

[naglady]

@mattsinger i use the cardboard cartons, helps keep the humidity up while hatching, the eggs dont get knocked around from other chicks like they do when they are lying on the floor. , i think chicks zip out of them quicker, plus i use a turner, and it keeps the center of the egg at the level of heat that it had in the turner.. so the internal temp doesnt change to much ...hope this helps..


3 pips one zip

 

[mattsinger]

I think ill try that for my lockdown later this week

Thanks

 

[eatwhatyougrow]

i might try that as well next hatch not a bad idea

 

[naglady]

try it, i think you both will like it..especially if you use a egg turner..

this am 5 chicks, 5 pips, 2 zipping..