Newbie help with hova bator

[TucsonAZ]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=600461

That's what I'm doing with one exception, I have stopped paying attention to the humidity for the first 18 days which drops down to 25% or so. The last 3 days I toss them in my home made hatcher with a ton of fresh air and bump the humidity up to 65%, this has caused an issue with a chick or two but I have still been getting a 100% hatch rate.

 

[adkins90]

Quote:
That really sounds a fair bit on the high side to me. Maybe you have had good hatches with those humidities, and if so, congratulations, but you should know that you are in a minority. A good starting humidity for newbies with no previous hatching experience is more like 30-45% for the first 18 days. I would recommend that first, and I would only recommend a higher humidity to someone who had tried out 30-45% with a previous hatch and had found it to be too low.

More people over-humidify eggs than under-humidify them, and it's one of the most common incubating mistakes made. Especially with still air incubators, which seem to need much less humidity than fan assisted bators. I'm not sure if the Hova Genesis always comes with a fan or not... If it doesn't have a fan, I'd say go for a lower humidity, say 30-40%. If it does have a fan, maybe go a bit higher, something like 40-45%.

Good luck. And yes, get that hygrometer. And make sure you calibrate it before use, cause they're not always accurate!

I agree, 60-65% and 80-85% is waaay to high especialy for a newbie. I do dry hatching, so I prefer having it from 20-35%. Good luck with your hatch

The Genesis 1588 is preset with a fan, and is an awesome little incubator. I also do the dry hatch, and have much better results, humidity around 20% or so the first 18 days, and bump it up quite about the last 3 days.

Good Luck!!

 

[Supermommy486]

Quote:
Awesome, again thank you so much!!

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Awesome, again thank you so much!!

Make sure your vents are closed? That really doesn't sound right to me. Standard advice when incubating is to start with your vents somewhere around a third to a half way open, then for the last week of the incubation, and especially for lockdown and hatching, open them up fully to let the maximum amount of air possible into the bator. Oxygen is crucial to the developing embryo, and the last week of the incubation they need more oxygen, not less. One of the causes of full term dead-in-shell chicks is insufficient oxygen.

Shutting your vents as a way of increasing humidity really isn't a good idea. If you're having trouble getting your humidity high enough, you should increase the surface area of the water instead of closing off the air vents.

 

[chickmanna]

I also have the Genesis 1588. We set our first batch of eggs on 12/31. I am finding that the humidity stays right at 40-45% using the one water tray just like the instructions suggest. Also have the remote thermometer/hygrometer from Incubator Warehouse. I use the cut out on the corner for the turner cord and the probe as the vent hole on top is too small for the probe.

I have some concern that the eggs/chicks will be very crowded at hatch time. I have a turner, thus 42 eggs in the incubator. Anybody have experience using this incubator as a hatcher with that many eggs?

 

[kefiren]

I am also setting my first hovabator hatch this week.

Our house thermostat is set to keep the house around 66, but it dips down to like 58 at night.
Am I going to have to put the incubator inside a box?
Or keep it in the wood stove room and keep the fire going?
Or change the house thermostat to keep us at 70 non-stop?

With the egg turner in, how do you see the wells to fill them?

Hoping to get lots of advice and hear about everyone's experiences.

 

[Gypsy07]

Well, ANY incubator stuffed to maximum capacity is always going to be a bit crazy inside come hatch time. They will all manage to hatch, they'll just be clambering and flopping all over each other and all over the other unhatched eggs. Don't worry about them stomping on each other and causing injuries, they're a LOT tougher than they look. Some people like to open the bator to take out the fluffed up ones and make some space in there, other people won't open the bator for anything till the whole hatch is finished. It's down to personal preference really. Remember they can survive up to 72 hours before they need food or water, and they'd be equally squished up if they were hatching under a hen, and don't be too quick to want to get them out just cause they're a bit cramped for space...

 

[AlienChick]

I had 48 eggs in my hovabator 1588 during one of my hatches.

The babies were not bothered at all. They don't really move around all that much anyway during the first 48 hours. The do a lot of sleeping in between their bursts of energy.