***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Kassaundra]

Kass, I have one heck of a time keeping humidity up in my Brinsea at lockdown. I think 70% is too low though, I aim for the high 80's. The times that I've actualy been able to keep it that high I've had excellent hatches all on their own. In order to keep it that high though I have to fill both wells with paper towels and keep them soaked plus add a big cotton sponge and keep it soaked plus make sure the vent is almost fully closed. I drilled a tiny hole in the cover of mine and put a rubber hose (fish tank airline hose) into it. The end of the hose sits on the sponge and I have to squirt a LOT of water in there during lockdown to keep humidity in the high 80's. There's no such thing as too much humidity during lockdown if you've done a dry hatch. There's styrofoam incubators for cheap all the time at auctions, lots of people use those for hatchers.

Yes getting the humidity high at lock down is hard, I had both wells full and the vent almost totally closed, there was no room for a sponge, had it full of eggs.

 

[nnbreeder]

Yes getting the humidity high at lock down is hard, I had both wells full and the vent almost totally closed, there was no room for a sponge, had it full of eggs.

What was the room humidity? That in itself can vary a lot in a day's time. Try either running a humidifier in the room or putting the incubator in a small space like a closet where it's easier to control the envoroment. Candling eggs before they are set can be useful too as you can see porous eggs which lose way too much moisture. Weighing the eggs during incubation to check for weight loss is a more accurate method of checking humidity, they should lose weight at a set rate. There should be tables here on BYC someplace, I know that I have ran across them here before.

 

[Kassaundra]

What was the room humidity? That in itself can vary a lot in a day's time. Try either running a humidifier in the room or putting the incubator in a small space like a closet where it's easier to control the envoroment. Candling eggs before they are set can be useful too as you can see porous eggs which lose way too much moisture. Weighing the eggs during incubation to check for weight loss is a more accurate method of checking humidity, they should lose weight at a set rate. There should be tables here on BYC someplace, I know that I have ran across them here before.

Haven't seen you post in a while, good to "see" you.

I did nothing to control the room humidity so it was whatever the ambient was. Sunday should have been near 100% and the started hatching then.

 

[nnbreeder]

I really like my Hova-bators and once I was going to step up into the 20th century so I got a new one with an electronic thermostat.. Shrink wrapped the chicks as yours is doing. The difference in the old and new Hova-bators is that the ones with the electronic thermostats the fan ran constantly, the old wafer models the fans are only on when the heating elements are on. Changed the new bator back to the old wafer and re-wired the fan and that did it, good hatches after that.

 

[bardies]

Had to post a few pictures...
Someone asked about Norman...the kitchen calf. Well he is now officially 4 months old as of April 6...Growing and friendly


Spring has arrived on the farm..a new calf and a shot of part of the herd


Petey smells cubes... and decides to take one


Field companions ...driving Miss Gracie...Red and Gracie love their rides as we check out the pregnant cows 3 x a day.


Red watching over HIS April 2 chicks in the house brooder...Wyandotte and Buckeyes. He won't watch TV but loves to watch his babies.
When the chicks start peeping in the hatcher in the bathroom, he comes to tell me.

Cant decide which pic I like best - Red watching the chicks or Petey taking the cube. Thank you for them all!!!!!

 

[Kassaundra]

I really like my Hova-bators and once I was going to step up into the 20th century so I got a new one with an electronic thermostat.. Shrink wrapped the chicks as yours is doing. The difference in the old and new Hova-bators is that the ones with the electronic thermostats the fan ran constantly, the old wafer models the fans are only on when the heating elements are on. Changed the new bator back to the old wafer and re-wired the fan and that did it, good hatches after that.

If I had cooperative chickens that would go broody when I WANT chicks that would solve my problem! lol

 

[nnbreeder]

Thanks to my work schedule I haven't been able to get on here. No way am I going to try to catch up on all the back pages, just too many of them. LOL I do miss everyone on here and being able to chat in the evening like I used to. Maybe if I ever got to where I can retire I can have some time.

 

[bardies]

It is when the membrane dries out during hatch and shrink wraps to the body of the chick, immobilizing and suffocating it. It usually is to high of temp, to low of humidity, or opening the bator during lock down, or to dry of incubation. But in my case it is my bator, it has done it from day one no matter what I do about temps and humidity. Every hatch I have had has shrink wrapped all but one or two at the most. If it happens you have to assist hatch, there is no way for them to hatch on their own or to survive.

that is terrible.

You probably have talked about this already, but what kind of incubator is it? I would lose that puppy as soon as possible. Costly, yes, but not worth the heartbreak you've been going through - especially since you are working so hard on your project.

Fingers crossed for the rest.

At least you know about the problem and are good at dealing with it.

 

[nnbreeder]

If I had cooperative chickens that would go broody when I WANT chicks that would solve my problem! lol

Does your NNs not want to brood? Ours were always ready to set a nest no matter what time of year. The Orientals are good hatchers too. I have three of them sitting nests now.

 

[NanaKat]

I'm upping the humidity now in the incubator too. Added water and wet paper towels spritzed with Oxine.
One pip out of 18 so far...the Delaware pip has hatched.
Candled and removed 5 quitters...the rest are wigglers.
Will watch for pips but won't open again until tomorrow.