~*Third Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatch-Athon*~ all poultry welcome!

[yinepu]

Quote:
lol.. it's drier here!.. When I was visiting Delaware I about died.. only place I have ever seen where they can have 100% humidity and it's not raining.. ugh

Something else to consider is the humidity in the room where the incubator is.. things like water features (showers, fish tanks and so on) will raise the humidity.. heaters and AC will also affect it..
here we live pretty much year round with the windows open.. so there isn't a heck of a lot of difference between inside the house and outside... we tried using the AC once.. it's an "industrial unit" which we had serviced just before using it.. it couldn't keep up with the heat... developed ice on it and the house was still roasting.. so now we just deal with the temps and occasionally use a fan.. lol

One other thing which will affect the eggs is the incubator itself.. especially in a forced air incubator.. fan placement can make or break a hatch depending on if it's directing air flow properly or not

Two turkey eggs with external pip!!!!

THese are bit early as they were set the 7th. Need to look for more with pips . . . . .

YAY!!!

Quote:
aww.. but they NEED a new home!!

I bought a hygrometer today. My hatch failed, I think, because it was only 40% humidity in my incubator. It's now up to 60% and my chicken eggs are on day 23. I don't think they will hatch but the duck egg in there looks like the air cell is pretty large. Since it should hatch this week, I've got to find a way to get that humidity up to 65%. I have the reservoir filled, 2 butter tubs filled and sponges in them, then I added 2 whole sponges cut into strips and soaked in hot water to the floor of the incubator. Grrr

a hygrometer is only as good as it's calibration... so go by the eggs and their air cells.. they will tell you what they need.. and will be a lot more accurate than a hygrometer any day!
Chances are you're a lot higher than 65% with all of that going on in there...

I only calibrate mine out of curiosity.. I never use it to judge a hatch

 

[Avlana]

My turkey eggs, which were due on the 5th and 6th, are already hatching. I have 4 poults so far. Even though they're early, all look healthy so far. Very cute! My first turkeys ever.

 

[ronott1]

lol.. it's drier here!.. When I was visiting Delaware I about died.. only place I have ever seen where they can have 100% humidity and it's not raining.. ugh

Something else to consider is the humidity in the room where the incubator is.. things like water features (showers, fish tanks and so on) will raise the humidity.. heaters and AC will also affect it..
here we live pretty much year round with the windows open.. so there isn't a heck of a lot of difference between inside the house and outside... we tried using the AC once.. it's an "industrial unit" which we had serviced just before using it.. it couldn't keep up with the heat... developed ice on it and the house was still roasting.. so now we just deal with the temps and occasionally use a fan.. lol

One other thing which will affect the eggs is the incubator itself.. especially in a forced air incubator.. fan placement can make or break a hatch depending on if it's directing air flow properly or not


YAY!!!


aww.. but they NEED a new home!!


a hygrometer is only as good as it's calibration... so go by the eggs and their air cells.. they will tell you what they need.. and will be a lot more accurate than a hygrometer any day!
Chances are you're a lot higher than 65% with all of that going on in there...

I only calibrate mine out of curiosity.. I never use it to judge a hatch

exactly.. I haven't added a drop of water to any of my bators for the past year.. (except to clean them.. lol).. BUT you HAVE to monitor air cells and make sure they are on track.. and then at hatch watch the first few to make sure the membranes are soft enough.. as each chick hatches the humidity will naturally climb

And for the record.. here in Texas my relative humidity is usually around 16% .. when it got as high as 23% relative humidity (outside and in the room since we have windows open most of the year) I noticed a bit of an issue with sticky babies.. so I dropped the humidity down (no added water at all) and they popped out without any issues..

so for this method to work you need to monitor your eggs AND the chicks at hatch.. then respond as needed with the water

See what I wrote above!

not necessarily... like I said it depends on how the eggs and the chicks are doing with everything DRY (incubation AND hatch).. I hatch out hundreds of chicks, goslings, turkeys and ducklings a month (and right now parrots .. not to mention emu, peafowl and anything else I can get) and I have had better success with going totally dry during incubation AND hatch.. to the point where I am getting 100% hatches more often than not.. and the ones that aren't hatching are infertile or damaged (scrambled) eggs

Every home and incubator will require different things.. so I refuse to use a blanket statement like "you MUST add water at hatch".. since I and several others have proven that it is NOT needed in every case.. and for the people who have had issues with chicks not making it out of the shell because of stickiness or because the chicks were bloated.. it's just one more thing they can try before giving up on incubating altogether

Like all things.. people should be willing to keep an open mind and experiment when they can't get it right... and since they are risking the eggs anyway by using the "old methods" which everyone seems to parrot.. it's just one more thing they can try which may very well give them positive results!

lol.. and Texas (where I live) is far from humid .. we are once again in drought conditions (well.. we never really left them) and today for example our relative humidity is 12%.. and you better believe I am still hatching dry until the eggs and chicks tell me otherwise!

this is from National Weather service... the hygrometer (recently calibrated) in the incubator is reading a whopping 18%

You are on a roll today!

Humidity has a wide range of error. The numbers are 25% to 55% for incubation. Regardless of your experience, it is dangerous to tell people that it is good to hatch at less than 25% humidity.

I hope everyone has a great Hatch!

 

[Arielle]

Funny that you mention dry hatching too Yinepu.. I have accidently left eggs in the hatcher too long and boy do the eggs hatch!! Started me thinking there is MORE than one way to get chicks to hatch.

Right now I have turkey eggs in the hatcher with water in the wells, and I have a slew in the incubator with NO water. Left these because they were not externally pipped and I see air cells that should be bigger. Hard to view during daylight hours, but perhaps these are quitters, not sure. WIll candle again tonight when darkness has set in.

 

[lsmith]

lol.. it's drier here!.. When I was visiting Delaware I about died.. only place I have ever seen where they can have 100% humidity and it's not raining.. ugh

Something else to consider is the humidity in the room where the incubator is.. things like water features (showers, fish tanks and so on) will raise the humidity..  heaters and AC will also affect it..
here we live pretty much year round with the windows open.. so there isn't a heck of a lot of difference between inside the house and outside... we tried using the AC once.. it's an "industrial unit" which we had serviced just before using it.. it couldn't keep up with the heat...  developed ice on it and the house was still roasting.. so now we just deal with the temps and occasionally use a fan.. lol

One other thing which will affect the eggs is the incubator itself.. especially in a forced air incubator.. fan placement can make or break a hatch depending on if it's directing air flow properly or not


YAY!!!  


aww.. but they NEED a new home!!


a hygrometer is only as good as it's calibration... so go by the eggs and their air cells.. they will tell you what they need.. and will be a lot more accurate than a hygrometer any day!
Chances are you're a lot higher than 65% with all of that going on in there... 

I only calibrate mine out of curiosity.. I never use it to judge a hatch

I'm so confused! The air cells look great. The chicks dropped down into position but then never hatched. Why?

 

[Arielle]

While we're in the anxiety of waiting . . .

Here is what I had for breakfast--

olive oil in a small fry pan, with 1 snipped scallion, 1 oz chream chees cut into bits, 5 eggs from chickens and turkeys, and slowly carefully scramble leaving a few unbroken yolks. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt.

Eating this good food with out an over dose of breads and cakes allows me to heavily dose all my food with salt liberally. Yum.. TOmorrow I will have this again but with butter, or tonight.

How do you eat your eggs???

 

[winteree]

While we're in the anxiety of waiting . . .

Here is what I had for breakfast--

olive oil in a small fry pan, with 1 snipped scallion, 1 oz chream chees cut into bits, 5 eggs from chickens and turkeys, and slowly carefully scramble leaving a few unbroken yolks. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt.

Eating this good food with out an over dose of breads and cakes allows me to heavily dose all my food with salt liberally. Yum.. TOmorrow I will have this again but with butter, or tonight.

How do you eat your eggs???

ive always been a fan of over easy

 

[winteree]

Woohoo!!! I'm so jelly. I saw some sweet grass babies at the feed store and really wanted one but didn't do it.

I wish my feedstore had turkeys that way we would have to order them

 

[winteree]

My turkey eggs, which were due on the 5th and 6th, are already hatching. I have 4 poults so far. Even though they're early, all look healthy so far. Very cute! My first turkeys ever.

can't wait to see pics

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I had forgottten how good it was . . . .