I added water to my incubator and put in eggs, but then read about dry incubating and just never put any more in. I live in the jungle. The humidity INside my house is normally anywhere between 75-90% With a dry incubator and both vent holes left open the incubator has maintained a constant between 45-55% humidity. My question is during hatching. On the last hatch I took chicks and shells out 1-2 times a day because it got pretty crowded in there. This time I have even more eggs, but I'm thinking I might go in and chuck the pretty sure are clears tonight. Still, that will leave me with about 30 eggs for lockdown. (I have 10 that are too dark to tell and 16 that I could see moving 44 total) Should I leave it shut until day 23 or will my opening not impact the hatch much if my exterior humidity is equal to or greater than the 'bator humidity? This is the current conditions here and we've got a wet wet wet weekend ahead. partly_cloudy1 84°F Updated 2:00 PM Partly Cloudy Relative Humidity (%): 79 Wind (kt):NE 08 Pressure(hPa):1012.3 Sunrise:5:59 AM (FRI.) Sunset:5:16 PM
DO you check the eggs for either moisture loss or increased size of the air cell? This is the real reason to monitor the RH. Eggs need to lose 12-14% of the eggs wt; or search for aan air cell at 7th, 15th and 18th day. Print a copy and have it near while candling tonight for the duds. I do open my incubator and do need to help a few that shsrink wrap. I once had one with just his back glue to the inner membrane. A simple fix to finish: it had pipped but not zipped. Do a little reading as many people do help out a chick, easy once you do it a few times. The first time I was shaky scared to help. Arm yourself with the how -to and give it a go if needed. GL
I have no real hatching experience, but just remember that relative humidity and absolute humidity are two different things. 79% relative humidity at 84 degrees is not 79% at 100 degrees. It will probably be closer to 50%, but I haven't done the exact math.
I take my chicks with their shells out as they hatch. I keep my temperature at around 99.5 and the humidity around 35% if possible during incubation. Right now it is at 40% with no water and all of the vents open. At lockdown I raise it to around 75%. I have had no issues with shrink wrapping and the chicks pop right out of their shells. My hatch rate is 90% to 100%.
