Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[AusHen]

Little adventure chick decided it had to be with the newly hatched chick and it got stuck! Took the opportunity to also remove the divider. I counted as I did it an managed it in 4 seconds, humidity didn't seem to drop but now I'm unhappy I broke my one and only incubating rule. On a positive one of the "frizzle coloured layers" hatched and it's blue.. now I'll have to remember who is who that I know hatched from what lol

 

[gmjarvi]

Hello all I believe I hurt the chick when making a breathing hole but I fully believe it was going to die anyway so I’m upset but more upset about another factor.
I feel I need to warn new hatchers.
I opened a few of my eggs I did not want to but I had to know. ALL of these babies were shrink wrapped.
I live in New York State the climate and my home are dry right now. I have a pellet stove I know this is a factor even though I was told it was not. I was told by many many people on here dry hatch is best. I posted many times on different forums about my humidity and was told to keep it low. Now that may be true for people who live in places with a higher humidity but if you are in my area or somewhere that is very dry now. PLEASE do not keep your humidity as dry as me. I should’ve kept it at about 50 and if I saw the air cells were small I would’ve just let the humidity drop which would’ve been very simple as it was such a chore to keep it up.
I didn’t follow my instincts and a bunch of innocent babies died because of it.
Right now I can not prove for sure that it was the humidity, but this next hatch I will be starting today I will keep higher and I have a very good feeling my results will be better.
I appreciate all the advice I have gotten and it is no fault but my own to have when against what I felt was right but among so many people who are saying low humidity is best I want to please say take your area into consideration please.
I’m happy I have some healthy babies I am praying this next hatch will go better.

I am so sorry you have had a bad experience! One reason I love THIS particular thread so much is that most of the hatchers give caveats when giving advice - there are people here who have had great hatch rates with dry hatching, but they are usually very quick to remind everyone that it may not be the same for anybody else and that everyone should do what works for them in their climate. I am trying a truly dry hatch on some chicken eggs from my flock, but am going in with my eyes wide open and accepting that it may not work out well.

I am glad you're going to try again and I hope you have a more successful hatch this time ❤ I believe every hatch is unique and we need to constantly be assessing and reassessing to ensure success.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hello all I believe I hurt the chick when making a breathing hole but I fully believe it was going to die anyway so I’m upset but more upset about another factor.
I feel I need to warn new hatchers.
I opened a few of my eggs I did not want to but I had to know. ALL of these babies were shrink wrapped.
I live in New York State the climate and my home are dry right now. I have a pellet stove I know this is a factor even though I was told it was not. I was told by many many people on here dry hatch is best. I posted many times on different forums about my humidity and was told to keep it low. Now that may be true for people who live in places with a higher humidity but if you are in my area or somewhere that is very dry now. PLEASE do not keep your humidity as dry as me. I should’ve kept it at about 50 and if I saw the air cells were small I would’ve just let the humidity drop which would’ve been very simple as it was such a chore to keep it up.
I didn’t follow my instincts and a bunch of innocent babies died because of it.
Right now I can not prove for sure that it was the humidity, but this next hatch I will be starting today I will keep higher and I have a very good feeling my results will be better.
I appreciate all the advice I have gotten and it is no fault but my own to have when against what I felt was right but among so many people who are saying low humidity is best I want to please say take your area into consideration please.
I’m happy I have some healthy babies I am praying this next hatch will go better.

I'm sorry for your difficult hatching experience!
I don't dry hatch either and I actually do live in an extremely humid area and it still doesn't work for me. This is one of the huge differences I always try to explain to those that are using styrofoam vs plastic incubators. While location does play a role it really only makes a difference when you don't have the incubator inside a home with central air (or a pellet stove) drying everything out. I had a hygrometer outside of my incubators in the hatching room and it was usually around 45% humidity in the room, which would be great for early incubation if the heating elements weren't drying out the interior of the incubators even more. Note that in the same room under the same conditions I was able to run styrofoam incubators about 10% lower humidity at all times and had great hatches, so I'm convinced the material makes a difference.
(this is what it looks like inside my incubators with and without water when it's 45% ambient humidity in the room)

Type of incubator, where you're keeping your incubator, and how porous your eggs are, I really do believe are going to make the biggest determining factors for your humidity. Shrink wrapping isn't really a concern until after lockdown. During hatch I do always increase humidity to around 65%. You may find this works better for you.

Every hatch is a learning experience and it will get easier as you learn more about your personal set up. I'm glad it hasn't scared you off of hatching. I hope your next hatch goes better and that you're able to find the sweet spot for your incubator!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Silkies are popping out everywhere!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Hello all I believe I hurt the chick when making a breathing hole but I fully believe it was going to die anyway so I’m upset but more upset about another factor.
I feel I need to warn new hatchers.
I opened a few of my eggs I did not want to but I had to know. ALL of these babies were shrink wrapped.
I live in New York State the climate and my home are dry right now. I have a pellet stove I know this is a factor even though I was told it was not. I was told by many many people on here dry hatch is best. I posted many times on different forums about my humidity and was told to keep it low. Now that may be true for people who live in places with a higher humidity but if you are in my area or somewhere that is very dry now. PLEASE do not keep your humidity as dry as me. I should’ve kept it at about 50 and if I saw the air cells were small I would’ve just let the humidity drop which would’ve been very simple as it was such a chore to keep it up.
I didn’t follow my instincts and a bunch of innocent babies died because of it.
Right now I can not prove for sure that it was the humidity, but this next hatch I will be starting today I will keep higher and I have a very good feeling my results will be better.
I appreciate all the advice I have gotten and it is no fault but my own to have when against what I felt was right but among so many people who are saying low humidity is best I want to please say take your area into consideration please.
I’m happy I have some healthy babies I am praying this next hatch will go better.

What a bummer. It's always heartbreaking when they make it that far I, too, learned many lessons the hard way about hatching.

 

[Phillyndilly]

I am so sorry you have had a bad experience! One reason I love THIS particular thread so much is that most of the hatchers give caveats when giving advice - there are people here who have had great hatch rates with dry hatching, but they are usually very quick to remind everyone that it may not be the same for anybody else and that everyone should do what works for them in their climate. I am trying a truly dry hatch on some chicken eggs from my flock, but am going in with my eyes wide open and accepting that it may not work out well.

I am glad you're going to try again and I hope you have a more successful hatch this time ❤ I believe every hatch is unique and we need to constantly be assessing and reassessing to ensure success.

Thank you, I agree I feel like maybe I should’ve tried the “regular “ hatch first before doing dry. I don’t think I was fully prepared for it not working out well given other people’s results.

I'm sorry for your difficult hatching experience!
I don't dry hatch either and I actually do live in an extremely humid area and it still doesn't work for me. This is one of the huge differences I always try to explain to those that are using styrofoam vs plastic incubators. While location does play a role it really only makes a difference when you don't have the incubator inside a home with central air (or a pellet stove) drying everything out. I had a hygrometer outside of my incubators in the hatching room and it was usually around 45% humidity in the room, which would be great for early incubation if the heating elements weren't drying out the interior of the incubators even more. Note that in the same room under the same conditions I was able to run styrofoam incubators about 10% lower humidity at all times and had great hatches, so I'm convinced the material makes a difference.
(this is what it looks like inside my incubators with and without water when it's 45% ambient humidity in the room)
View attachment 2059769
Type of incubator, where you're keeping your incubator, and how porous your eggs are, I really do believe are going to make the biggest determining factors for your humidity. Shrink wrapping isn't really a concern until after lockdown. During hatch I do always increase humidity to around 65%. You may find this works better for you.

Every hatch is a learning experience and it will get easier as you learn more about your personal set up. I'm glad it hasn't scared you off of hatching. I hope your next hatch goes better and that you're able to find the sweet spot for your incubator!

Thank you for the kind words. I am going to eventually get styrofoam as well and see the difference. Why don’t dry hatches work well for you?
Something to mention as well if my incubators have no vents except for the water hole. I’m not sure if this also plays a big role. I left both open. One does not close the other does.
I am going to sort my eggs and try again. This time I am going to stay between 40-60 the whole incubation hopefully staying about 50. I’ll candle on set days and measure air cells as well each time I candle. Hopefully having a better set plan will help me! Thank you all

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

@Phillyndilly The thread below is excellent for hatching advice. It can be a bit overwhelming, because they're is so much info and links, but it's time well spent. I quoted what it says about humidity. You're wiser now and will do much better your second time around!

"Humidity is NOT A SET NUMBER, you need it YES!,
However, you use it as a tool to "adjust" egg weight loss during incubation.
We candle on days 7,10,14,18 To WATCH WEIGHT LOSS IN EVERY EGG!"

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...thread-w-sally-sunshine-shipped-eggs.1137467/

 

[Phillyndilly]

What a bummer. It's always heartbreaking when they make it that far I, too, learned many lessons the hard way about hatching.

It was so sad they were all fully formed I didn’t take them out but they all looked beautiful

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Silkies are popping out everywhere!

View attachment 2059809View attachment 2059810View attachment 2059811

I gasped when I saw this pics! They're beautiful

 

[Phillyndilly]

@Phillyndilly The thread below is excellent for hatching advice. It can be a bit overwhelming, because they're is so much info and links, but it's time well spent. I quoted what it says about humidity. You're wiser now and will do much better your second time around!

"Humidity is NOT A SET NUMBER, you need it YES!,
However, you use it as a tool to "adjust" egg weight loss during incubation.
We candle on days 7,10,14,18 To WATCH WEIGHT LOSS IN EVERY EGG!"

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...thread-w-sally-sunshine-shipped-eggs.1137467/

Thank you for that thread I will start reading it. I agree I’m going to candle on those set days and mark. I was so overwhelmed the first time I became confused and did not keep track as I should’ve. Thank you again. I believe that was my exact problem I was more set on keeping it at a certain number than watching the eggs and seeing what is it they needed. Excellent point thank you