Temps and Humidity... I'm a hatching Newbie..

[PhoenixFeatherFarms]

Ok so I bought a Little Giant Still Air bator that i am going to use for my lock down bator and two LG Forced Air with turners.. I have the therm. that came with them and a store bought one that also has the thing that checks the humidity. Which therm should I trust as the one that came with is reading a temp of 102.5 and the store bought is reading 99.5. Also how do you get the humidity under control as its at 68-70%? What does it need to be at till lock down and then after lock down what should I have it at?

Sorry for so many questions but I dont know who else to ask and I have ordered over a 100 eggs (yes Im already addicted.. haha) and want them perfect for when the eggs get here (they start coming in Tue afternoon)

Thanks!

 

[suzettex5]

Ooooooh, loaded questions my friend! Everyone has their opinion on temps and humidity, and on which incubators for what. You could really end up with alot of different answers! I know I did! I went to the incubating and hatching chicks forum and read all the links provided in the stickies at the top. That may be a good place to start your research. I am a first time hatcher myself and just started my set- so I cant give any advice since I havent had any success yet. But I am using the same bator as you, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[PhoenixFeatherFarms]

Anyone???

 

[kathyinmo]

Thermometers... I tried them all ! The best one is especially made for incubating ... called a, "Spot Check."

Hygrometers .... be sure to callibrate before use.

Personally, I use 30 - 35 % during incubation, and 60 - 65% for hatching. However, I do not worry if the humidity drops to 50%; before I add water. I just do not want it to get too high. Most important is to have all the holes and vents OPEN for hatching, as they need the oxygen when they hatch.

 

[babsbag]

You will get as many answers as their are people, but here is my take. I only have done one hatch in a homemade incubator and got excellent results, so here it goes.

Are you getting the different reading in the exact same spot? I am not familar with the therm that comes with the incubator, but does it have a backing that is moveable, or is it digital as well? Some of the cheap therms are just stapled to a piece of cardboard and I wouldn't trust them. I am not real fond of digital ones either, and I had 3 in mine. I finally just gave up and took the average.

Humidity- make sure you calibrate your hygrometer.

http://exoticpets.about.com/od/herpresources/ss/hygrometer.htm

Humidity should run between 30-40 on days 1-18 if doing dry incubation, and around 50 if you are not. I did dry, but not everyone does. I started to raise my humidity on day 16 because I wanted to make sure that I could get it up high enough before lockdown. After lockdown you want your humidity around 65-75. During incubation the eggs need to lose moisture or the chicks can drown when they pip internally into the air cell. At lockdown you need the humidity to go up so that when the chick pips externally the membrane will not dry out. You can control the humidity by controlling the surface area of the water.

Also, you must have the vents open, all the time. It is imperative that you have good ventilation in the incubator. It is common for people to close vents to raise humidity and that is just NOT a good plan. That probably kills as many chicks as improper humidity.

If you calibrate your hygrometer and your humidity is still that high then you need to take out all the water and see what happens. Is it humid where you live?

This is just my take on all of this. You will get other opinions to be sure. Good luck, and that is alot of eggs for a first time. Just read, read, read.

 

[babsbag]

Quote:
I just pretty much typed the same thing. Do you think that high humidity during lockdown can be a problem? It is my thought that it is high humidity during the first 16 days that is a potential problem. Am I right or just lucky? I don't want to pass on misinformation.

I am glad that I am not the only one telling people to open the vents.

 

[kathyinmo]

High humidity during lockdown causes sticky chicks. Sticky chicks can not turn around in the shell. I try to not go above 65%. I agree with you .... you will get 10 different answers from 10 different people. This is only my opinion, in my experience. I have hatched chicks at 35% all all the way through (because I forgot to move them out of the incubator into the hatcher!

) Those hatched nice and clean, no problems.

 

[babsbag]

Ok, good to know. I have done a bunch of reading, on BYC and elsewhere, and there are many, many opinions and I am still learning from those with more experience. On my one and only hatch my average during lockdown was probably around 65. A few times lower, and a few higher, but not for long. It didn't seem to be hard for the humidity to "just disappear". Maybe someday I will get to try a commercial incubator and see if it is less tempermental than my homemade one. Right now I just don't have room for any more chicks

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Me either .... but I am still hatching!

AND ..... I HAVE A PIP ! ! !