Newbie questions

[Blackbird258]

Hi all!

We are new here and new to chickens as well. We (dh, ds10, ds7 and dd3 and I) just hatched our first chicks last week and had some problems. We set them January 26th and had our first hatch on the 16th and another on the 17th. We set 36 eggs and only ended up with the 2. Of the others 3 pipped but died before hatching and there were 7 others fully formed but never pipped. I am afraid it was a humidity problem but am not sure. I don't have a hygrometer but plan on getting one as we are setting another dozen today. Any ideas or suggestions on what happened? We are using a styrofoam incubator with an automatic turner borrowed from a friend and the eggs are free from her as well.

 

[jessicayarno]

So were you not able to monitor the humidity? I am new at this too, but i do know that humidity is important. I invested in a really good hygrometer and that way you know what the humidity does throughout the entire incubation, reads the highs and lows along with temps. Good luck next time and i am sure people with more experience will chime in and give you some great advice.

 

[Blackbird258]

So were you not able to monitor the humidity? I am new at this too, but i do know that humidity is important. I invested in a really good hygrometer and that way you know what the humidity does throughout the entire incubation, reads the highs and lows along with temps. Good luck next time and i am sure people with more experience will chime in and give you some great advice.

No we didn't even realize we needed to monitor it until I started reading here. The lady who helped us get started told us she just put water in the reservoir every so often. Thanks for the welcome!

 

[Blackbird258]

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?