Newbie

[chickchickuk]

Hi everyone! I've been keeping chickens for a year. Love fresh eggs every day! I have just started to incubate some of our eggs. I had two failed attempts...one with a homemade incubator and the second with a brinsea octogan 10 both still air. Chicks either drowned or shrink wrapped and couldn't hatch out.
I decided to buy a new brinsea mini advance. I followed the instructions. Humidity was around 40% during incubation, I added a little water to one of the reservoirs then as instructed, filled both up at lockdown (end of day 18)
First 3 pipped and zipped perfectly, within minutes of each other...

But it raised the humidity to high I think for such a small incubator and the last 4 were in trouble. They had all pipped but couldn't zip. SO....I helped them!! One by one. They were all sticky chicks, the last two, were the worst, they just couldn't dry off so I washed them with warm water and dried them with a hair dryer till fluffy. (Found this info in a thread on helping sticky chicks) They were very weak and tired, I put them in brooder (fish tank) under a brinsea Eco glo, and hoped for the best. Woke up to them this morning and they are all doing fine.

So happy!
Just set 7 bantam eggs this morning...I don't want a repeat of what happened so any advice on using the mini advance appreciated. What if I lockdown without filling with so much water, as hatched chicks raised humidity anyway, would that help? Should I lockdown later? Say day 19 or when they have internally pipped?
P.S Thanks for reading

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Congrats on the hatch!! They are just adorable! Sounds like you did everything right during incubation. What was your lock down humidity level? If it was a bit high to begin with and then these first chicks hatched, it will definitely raise the humidity up more. Generally a humidity of 65% to 70% is a good lock down humidity.

Enjoy your new babies and welcome to our flock!

 

[chickchickuk]

Thanks....Lockdown was 70%

 

[chickchickuk]

Do you think I should have it a little lower next time??

 

[mymilliefleur]

Hello and Welcome to BYC! Congrats on the chicks!

 

[holm25]

 

[Wyandottes7]

Hello, and welcome to BYC!

I'm glad you joined us.

Congratulations on the (mostly) successful hatch! The humidity seems fine to me. I usually have a 50% humidity during incubation, then increase it to 70% for lockdown. I follow those same guidelines for all my incubators, including my Brinsea Mini Advance.

I would avoid locking down any later. Turning eggs past day 18 can cause malpositions of the embryo. Plus, in my experience, bantam eggs always seem to hatch just a little early. You may have some external pippers on day 19, in which case you'd want the humidity to already be at the right point.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined!

 

[chickchickuk]

Thank you! I never thought hatching chucks could be so stressful!!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Congratulations on the successful hatch!