Ended Official 2020 BYC Halloween Hatch-Along

[jolenesdad]

Mine are due to hatch at midnight Saturday. I have kept the humidity higher than I normally do this hatch. Some days it was up close to 60% and then added water when it got down below 30%. It has been very humid here the last week or so. Up around 85-100%.
I weighed on Saturday and my eggs were between 2 and 3 grams heavier than they should have been so I removed the water. I've been running around 20% since then. I'm going to weigh today to see how they're doing.
IMO it is unrealistic to think that one should/could achieve a set humidity throughout. That doesn't happen in nature. It is always relatively humid here but can get down into the 30s. A hen can be sitting on eggs during a drought and then several days of rain happen. She can't lower 98% ambient humidity but the eggs still hatch.

Me too. I often put some water in, let it dry out, then adjust.

 

[Allthefloofs]

Mine are due to hatch at midnight Saturday. I have kept the humidity higher than I normally do this hatch. Some days it was up close to 60% and then added water when it got down below 30%. It has been very humid here the last week or so. Up around 85-100%.
I weighed on Saturday and my eggs were between 2 and 3 grams heavier than they should have been so I removed the water. I've been running around 20% since then. I'm going to weigh today to see how they're doing.
IMO it is unrealistic to think that one should/could achieve a set humidity throughout. That doesn't happen in nature. It is always relatively humid here but can get down into the 30s. A hen can be sitting on eggs during a drought and then several days of rain happen. She can't lower 98% ambient humidity but the eggs still hatch.
Considering a specific humidity level isn't realistic, not all eggs porosity is the same. Eggs from different species, breeds and strains may need different humidity.

Thank you. This is a really, really great reality check for me. I have a background in biology with a strong emphasis in botany and microbiology so incubation for me is really precise, whether it is microorganisms or in vitro meristematic plant tissue. I think I need to loosen up and revert to thinking about how systems work in nature. When I stand back I am trying to do Organic Chem when I should be trying to do Biochem.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thank you. This is a really, really great reality check for me. I have a background in biology with a strong emphasis in botany and microbiology so incubation for me is really precise, whether it is microorganisms or in vitro meristematic plant tissue. I think I need to loosen up and revert to thinking about how systems work in nature. When I stand back I am trying to do Organic Chem when I should be trying to do Biochem.

When in doubt, I always try to simulate nature.
Chickens and most other egg layers have been doing this for millions of years without human intervention. So they are the experts.
As an example, expert humans think that baby chicks need to be brooded at 90-95F the first week and drop by 5F each week. Except for large scale production, that is nonsense. If one is brooding hundreds of thousands of chicks in a big barn, those temperatures are a good guideline that will lose the fewest number of birds but that isn't the way a mother hen nurtures chicks. She provides a warm spot for chicks to warm up their core temps and allows them to run around in the cool air the rest of the time. That tells me a brooder should have a hot spot and lots of cool space, not to keep the whole brooder at 90F or any other temperature.

 

[Trisseh]

This last hatch (the Hedemora) I ran them bone dry right up til I had internal pips. Even then I was concerned they weren’t going to have lost enough but when they drew down, they drew down a LOT. I only upped the humidity to around 40% for hatch and had no issues with that at all. Ambient humidity in the room was around 50% so I think that’s why they did just fine, even though the cheapy hygrometer was saying it was only 12-15% in there. xD it was my most perfect hatch to date, with all 3 (3/3 eggs that developed) right on schedule and all hatched out before 24 hours had elapsed. The last one I expected to be later because it was in the cooler spot under the fan in there, and it wasn’t terribly tardy.

*insert obligatory adorable chick pic here*

 

[Allthefloofs]

This last hatch (the Hedemora) I ran them bone dry right up til I had internal pips. Even then I was concerned they weren’t going to have lost enough but when they drew down, they drew down a LOT. I only upped the humidity to around 40% for hatch and had no issues with that at all. Ambient humidity in the room was around 50% so I think that’s why they did just fine, even though the cheapy hygrometer was saying it was only 12-15% in there. xD it was my most perfect hatch to date, with all 3 (3/3 eggs that developed) right on schedule and all hatched out before 24 hours had elapsed. The last one I expected to be later because it was in the cooler spot under the fan in there, and it wasn’t terribly tardy.

*insert obligatory adorable chick pic here*
View attachment 2389186

They look like the chick version of Charlie's Angels

 

[Allthefloofs]

I have one pip!!!!!!!!

 

[jolenesdad]

I have one pip!!!!!!!!

Yayyyyyyyyy here we go!!!

I’m so hopeful you consign that previous miserable hatch to a distant memory.

 

[Allthefloofs]

Yayyyyyyyyy here we go!!!

I’m so hopeful you consign that previous miserable hatch to a distant memory.

In some ways I already have. Doing the hatch-a-long has been really helpful, I was so sad last time when we kept having eggs fail out and then only having one lone chick at the end. The progress of all the eggs this time has helped ease a lot of my initial trepidation with hatching. Having you guys giving feedback has been soooo reassuring. I am feeling pretty positive at this point, even though I have times where I feel sort of anxious. Thanks for all the help and feedback, it's been so awesome and game changing!

 

[jolenesdad]

In some ways I already have. Doing the hatch-a-long has been really helpful, I was so sad last time when we kept having eggs fail out and then only having one lone chick at the end. The progress of all the eggs this time has helped ease a lot of my initial trepidation with hatching. Having you guys giving feedback has been soooo reassuring. I am feeling pretty positive at this point, even though I have times where I feel sort of anxious. Thanks for all the help and feedback, it's been so awesome and game changing!

A pop on time is hardly ever a sign things are going to go wrong at the end. This is very good!!!!

 

[jolenesdad]

Here we gooooooo!

40 eggs in lockdown!