new to incubation

Date sort Score sort
So, I added more water and turned the heat down just a bit. At 5:35 cst will mark 21 days! A part of me wants to peek in the shell and see what is going on!
 
Hello everyone, my name is Diana, I'm a newbie here,up untill now I've just been following,this is my first time incubating chicken eggs.today is day 21..And I'm a nervous wreck!!! To say the least,I live in northern Michigan and humidity is not the greatest. Mornings have been chilly.so keeping humidity and temperature up has been a struggle for me. out Of all I've been reading I've been doing. And I must say it's all very helpful.but like I said..it's day 21 and no action inside the incubater.(little giant still air) I have done everything I'm supposed to be doing. (I hope) from removing the last plug on day 18 and upping the humidity.I Should say trying to keep humidity up.first morning after lockdown temperature in my house dropped and I found that the humidity in the bator had dropped to 45%.I realize being New to this that the odds are stacked against me. I'm extremely stressed out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Drabbits said:
Hello everyone, my name is Diana, I'm a newbie here,up untill now I've just been following,this is my first time incubating chicken eggs.today is day 21..And I'm a nervous wreck!!! To say the least,I live in northern Michigan and humidity is not the greatest. Mornings have been chilly.so keeping humidity and temperature up has been a struggle for me. out Of all I've been reading I've been doing. And I must say it's all very helpful.but like I said..it's day 21 and no action inside the incubater.(little giant still air) I have done everything I'm supposed to be doing. (I hope) from removing the last plug on day 18 and upping the humidity.I Should say trying to keep humidity up.first morning after lockdown temperature in my house dropped and I found that the humidity in the bator had dropped to 45%.I realize being New to this that the odds are stacked against me. I'm extremely stressed out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Also in Michigan, I did 2 hatches this summer (first got 4 of 20, 2nd got 15 of 27, way better) and what I learned is that humidity during the incubating needs to be LOW, like 30% and it's hard to get that low in Michigan! I also bump it up at lockdown to 70-80%, haven't had a chick drown yet. I think high humidity early is what killed off my first batch.

Just turned my incubator back on today, gonna throw a batch in just in case my 2 broodies don't hatch anything so I'll have some chicks to give them.

I will say though, at 21 days if you've got nothing you might want to try candling, then the float test. My hatches were all done by the end of day 21... everybody who pipped on day 20 hatched, 1 pipped on 19 and died in the first batch. Nobody pipped after day 20. they were all DIS.

Float test is warm water (their temp) put the eggs in the water. If the chick is alive you will see the egg wiggle. If not, likely your chick didn't make it.
 
I just candled and I have 5 for sure alive!! out of 11. Whew... I'm just wondering if I missed counted my days. I put them in at 9:30 am and seen that I needed to count that day as day one. Is this correct?
 
No the day you put them in is the set date. Day one is 24 hours later. I tried the water thing with my clutch from broody Betty, who is broody yet again. Her 2 youngest is only a month and a half old. With the water test, none of the eggs moved at all yet 8/10 hatched. I'm not sure if I myself can trust it. I'm afraid to open the bator and see what's going on, but 5:35 equals exactly 21 days after set date.... Still nothing.
 
BroodyBettysMom said:
I was honestly wondering about that. I have a lot of water trying to get some condensation going, even tried to up the temp. to about 102° thinking that may help with humidity. I'm in Mississippi and it is pretty humid here still.
Click to expand...

I am also in Mississippi. For hatching you can lower the temp about a degree to help with heat stress. I usually fill the channels with very warm water and add a sponge if necessary also with very warm water. This should be adequate for humidity. Leave out the plugs as the chicks will need all the oxygen they can get. Did you calibrate your thermometer and hygrometer to check for accuracy? If they haven't pipped just yet your temps may have been a bit low and the hatch could be delayed. Hang in there it sounds like you are doing great. If you have to open the incubator for any reason use a clean spray bottle to spray very warm water to allow humidity to stay up. Humidity is best between 65 and 75% for hatch. Good luck!
 

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