Suffocating my eggs/chicks?

[danimal317]

I built a still-air incubator out of a Styrofoam cooler and everything has been working great. I candeled the eggs last week and most of them developed nicely. We're at day 19 today and I heard some chirping last night. This morning we woke up to our first cracked egg. I'm worried that things are a bit too sealed up. The cooler is a nice and thick Omaha Steaks cooler with some plexiglass windows cut in and it has a couple small holes for the electrical and a second thermometer to double check the one inside the 'bator but other than that it's closed up. If I open it a crack to get some air in there the humidity drops down past 50 and I can't get it back up to where it needs to be. How do I get air in there for them to breath without affecting humidity? Do I even need to be concerned about this?

 

[sumi]

That is a valid concern. Chicks need oxygen while developing and even more when they are ready to hatch and hatching. As long as there are some small holes where air can get in/out they should be o.k. though. Good luck with your hatch!

 

[danimal317]

Thank you! I've gradually increasing the number of vent holes and watching to make sure my humidity and temperature are staying relatively steady. Seems to be doing OK so far. We've got three that are cracked now. This is our first attempt so it's pretty exciting.

 

[sumi]

I've hatched countless chicks and it's still exiting for me. It's a wonderful addictive hobby. How many eggs did you set?

 

[danimal317]

12 and chick #1 has now emerged!