Oh Goodie, just won Silkie eggs auction...Need help this time

[Ceinwyn]

Quote:
The article you quoted is using a wet bulb thermometer.
60% humidity reads about 87 degrees on a wet-bulb at 99.5 degrees.
60% humidity reads about 89 degrees on a wet-bulb at 101.5 degrees.

80% on a regular thermometer/hygrometer would be too high and you should have much better results by lowering it.

 

[TerryQui]

Quote:
The article you quoted is using a wet bulb thermometer.
60% humidity reads about 87 degrees on a wet-bulb at 99.5 degrees.
60% humidity reads about 89 degrees on a wet-bulb at 101.5 degrees.

80% on a regular thermometer/hygrometer would be too high and you should have much better results by lowering it.

Oh wow. Thank you. I guess I don't know what a wet bulb thermometer is, but I am going to keep things at the level of my thermometer.
When I hatch green cheek conures, I hatch all the way through at 45 to 55 percent humidity.

 

[Ceinwyn]

Here's an example of a wet bulb thermometer.

I hope your incubation goes much better this time and I look forward to seeing some pictures.
Your photos are beautiful.

 

[TerryQui]

Thanks for showing that to me. Mine is just a simple outdoors thermometer that registers temp and humidity. I think it is pretty right on as I have been successful in raising other birds in it.
Another thing that I did not know was that the small end has to be down on the egg. I had some of them backwards and when I found that out, I simply turned them over. Well that could have been dangerous too.
At lockdown, I took all the eggs out of the egg turner and laid them on their side. Maybe I should have just simply turned off the turner and not messed with them.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

This is what I do.

Day 1-18 humidity stays around 20%. I don't add any water, except when I mist the eggs down with disinfectant a couple times during incubation.
Day 18 I move them over into the egg cartons to hatch. Humidity stays around 70% or so.

When I get shipped eggs, if the eggs are warm when I open the box, I put them right into the incubator, but keep the turner off the first 2-3 days.

 

[TerryQui]

Quote:
So instead of taking them out of the turner and laying on their sides, you use an egg carton and keep them in the same position?
What do you use for a disinfectant to spray them with?

Do you use water in the bottom of the incubator for humidity? I have used baby diapers in the bottom and put water through the vent holes with a syringe that has a long tube on the end, so I can direct the water directly to the spot and not on any eggs. The diapers are cloth and they seem to hold the humidity better then putting water in the bottom. I don't know why that is.
When I sit little dishes of water in there, I don't get good humidity.

Also why don't you turn the eggs if they come warm? It is summer here and my eggs might arrive warm. Thanks for all your help.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
So instead of taking them out of the turner and laying on their sides, you use an egg carton and keep them in the same position? Yes, day 18 instead of laying them on their sides I hatch in egg cartons. There are lots of threads on here about hatching in cartons. I love it.
What do you use for a disinfectant to spray them with? I don't use any disinfectant. I used to mist the cartons with water and then microwave them for a min. or two.

Do you use water in the bottom of the incubator for humidity? I have used baby diapers in the bottom and put water through the vent holes with a syringe that has a long tube on the end, so I can direct the water directly to the spot and not on any eggs. The diapers are cloth and they seem to hold the humidity better then putting water in the bottom. I don't know why that is.
When I sit little dishes of water in there, I don't get good humidity. I use no water in the bottom of the incubator for the first 18 days. Day 18 I fill up all the wells in the incubator to get the humidity around 70% or so.

Also why don't you turn the eggs if they come warm? It is summer here and my eggs might arrive warm. Thanks for all your help. I figure, if they come warm, why let them cool down. What if the eggs already started to devlop from the heat? That's why I put them in right away. Instead of putting them large end up and letting them sit for 12 hours, I put them right in but just don't turn the first 2-3 days.

 

[TerryQui]

Quote:
So instead of taking them out of the turner and laying on their sides, you use an egg carton and keep them in the same position? Yes, day 18 instead of laying them on their sides I hatch in egg cartons. There are lots of threads on here about hatching in cartons. I love it.
What do you use for a disinfectant to spray them with? I don't use any disinfectant. I used to mist the cartons with water and then microwave them for a min. or two.

Do you use water in the bottom of the incubator for humidity? I have used baby diapers in the bottom and put water through the vent holes with a syringe that has a long tube on the end, so I can direct the water directly to the spot and not on any eggs. The diapers are cloth and they seem to hold the humidity better then putting water in the bottom. I don't know why that is.
When I sit little dishes of water in there, I don't get good humidity. I use no water in the bottom of the incubator for the first 18 days. Day 18 I fill up all the wells in the incubator to get the humidity around 70% or so.

Also why don't you turn the eggs if they come warm? It is summer here and my eggs might arrive warm. Thanks for all your help. I figure, if they come warm, why let them cool down. What if the eggs already started to devlop from the heat? That's why I put them in right away. Instead of putting them large end up and letting them sit for 12 hours, I put them right in but just don't turn the first 2-3 days.


Ok sorry for so many questions. Why don't you add any humidity for the first 18 days? Do the eggs give their own humidity?

Ok, so if my eggs arrive warm, I will follow these instructions and not turn for 2/3 days. Is it normal to just not turn for two or three days anyways? I know that the eggs are not formed much yet then.
BTW, I have a little giant incubator just for info.
Should I leave the plugs in for the first 18 days to keep the humidity right? That is probably why I have added water, as I left the plugs out. People in the past told me that they needed air circulation.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I do dry incubation. Here's an article. https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html If I keep the humidity up around 40% or so where the manual tells me too, the eggs don't lose enough moisture and the air sacs don't get large enough and I get really poor hatch rates.

When you receive shipped eggs your supposed to let them "rest" for around 12-24 hours. I put them in and let them "rest" 2-3 days. Just gives them extra time to rest. Not sure how many plugs the LG's have but when I incubate in my 1588s I would keep the plug out the first 18 days, then put it back in. Some people leave the plug out 24/7. My dickey has 2 vent holes which I keep open 1/2 the way on both holes. My Brinsea has one vent that stays open all the time. Depends on which incubator I use.

 

[TerryQui]

OMG THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I just printed that info and I will do everything according to those instructions.
My next eggs are silkies. Those are smaller, so they mention how to do it with bantams in there too.
WOW!! What a blessing. I don't want to loose any of these beautiful silkie babies that are coming up. I understand now all the things that went wrong before.
This explains it all so well. God bless you for helping me with this. I will be sure to show you my beautiful chicks when they hatch.