setting humidity

[Betsysbabyservices]

the hovabator we are using says that for lockdown, you fill both basins in the bottom with water, close up the incubator and don't open again till hatching. is that good enough, or do I need to put a humidity monitor inside?

we are so freaked about all this... the stakes are high as the 7 yr old watches this unfold... if day 21 is Thursday, and we put them in to incubate in the evening, will they be likely to hatch in the evening, or will they start on day 20? super confused about how that all works.

when they hatch, they stay in the hovabator until they are all fluffed up, right? is it ok for them to stay in there until all the babies are hatched and fluffed? because otherwise you're opening it up and letting out the humidity before the babes are all hatched.

why is this so hard? why are we doing this? AAAAAA!

 

[Domestic_goddess]

I got my first hova-bator too, and I've had to figure out all these things over the last few days myself. Temps need to stay in the range of 99.5-100.

I had to get a hygrometer to put inside my incubator, that way I could keep the humidity with in the limits it needs to be. I have heard here on BYC that people keep thier humidity at or around 40-50% and then at 18 days bump it up to 65-70%. I'm very inexperienced and this my first ever hatch, but this is what I've been reading. Good luck, I know exactly how stress full this can be.

After then all hatch, you should leave them in the incubator for up to 24 hours. They don't need to eat right away because they have obsorbed thier yolk sac.

The first day I was freaking out, and thought I had killed the eggs before they had even begun. It's definately stressful and I keep questioning myself and why I am doing this. This hatch will determine whether I do it again