I am completely and about as unshakably certain that not everything is understood about what happens to the egg as I can be about anything. far to many chicks get lost at this point. Humidity is simply to easy to bring back up fast for it to be the whole problem. In fact my gut tells me it is not really all that much of the problem. I want to share something I noticed in my last couple of weeks of playing with my home made incubator.
At times I have had to open the bator after it was all warmed up and pretty well stable. of course I have no eggs so it does not matter except it plays heck with my temperature, which is what I am trying to get fine tuned. I have two bottles of water in there pretending to be the eggs just in case that does make a difference later. since these bottles are clear, it is real easy to see what is going in inside my eggs. and they are complete with a little air pocket. I began to notice that every time I opened the incubator water would bead on the wall of the bottle like an ice tea glass does in the summer time. only in reverse. this water is inside my egg. I am thinking that one result of opening the incubator after lock down is that the air cell gets filed with water and does not have time to evaporate before the chick pips internally. also where did all that beading water come from? other parts of the egg, possibly resulting in shrink wrapping the chick. the problem may not be so much a drop in humidity as it is a drop in the surface temperature of the shell at the air cell when an incubator is opened. If you absolutely must open during lock down, blasting the eggs with a blow dryer may be more effective than trying to get the humidity up faster.
At times I have had to open the bator after it was all warmed up and pretty well stable. of course I have no eggs so it does not matter except it plays heck with my temperature, which is what I am trying to get fine tuned. I have two bottles of water in there pretending to be the eggs just in case that does make a difference later. since these bottles are clear, it is real easy to see what is going in inside my eggs. and they are complete with a little air pocket. I began to notice that every time I opened the incubator water would bead on the wall of the bottle like an ice tea glass does in the summer time. only in reverse. this water is inside my egg. I am thinking that one result of opening the incubator after lock down is that the air cell gets filed with water and does not have time to evaporate before the chick pips internally. also where did all that beading water come from? other parts of the egg, possibly resulting in shrink wrapping the chick. the problem may not be so much a drop in humidity as it is a drop in the surface temperature of the shell at the air cell when an incubator is opened. If you absolutely must open during lock down, blasting the eggs with a blow dryer may be more effective than trying to get the humidity up faster.
