Too Early for Feb Hatch-A-Long Thread??

[ShannonsChimkens]

This is one of the mixed colored Marans from the last two batches. Thought she was a cockerel for a long time because she was so big. Gorgeous blue laced feathers in the back. I’ll have to get a photo of the blue. The blue Marans I got from the second batch are very flighty. This one, Brittany lol, is very friendly.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

@ShannonsChimkens

Good looking bird! Do you have a side pic? It looks very roosterish in that first pic. Can't wait to watch it develop.

The Marans I got from her in '18 were not even close to correct from a SOP standpoint. But they were sweet girls who layed dark eggs. I liked then enough to rebuy this round since I'm done with breeding purebred chickens for a few years.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

They’re about 8 weeks old in that photo. The roosters have shown their “true colors”. One is attempting his first crows and it’s hilarious.

I do have one Maran egg in the incubator that’s marked with a B. Not sure what that is

 

[LilyD]

Let's talk a bit about humidity. I was going through the incubation guides and was surprised to see humidity levels between 30 and 60% recommended for incubation. I usually dry incubate and don't add any water until I'm in the last three days and ready to hatch. Then I go up to 60-65% for hatch. What is everyone else doing. Back when I bought my incubator the booklet that came with it said that you wanted between 20-30% humidity for incubation and 50-60 at lockdown so it seems things are changing a bit. Interested in what everyone else is doing.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Let's talk a bit about humidity. I was going through the incubation guides and was surprised to see humidity levels between 30 and 60% recommended for incubation. I usually dry incubate and don't add any water until I'm in the last three days and ready to hatch. Then I go up to 60-65% for hatch. What is everyone else doing. Back when I bought my incubator the booklet that came with it said that you wanted between 20-30% humidity for incubation and 50-60 at lockdown so it seems things are changing a bit. Interested in what everyone else is doing.

I personally shoot for humidity between 45-55% for the first 18 days and increase it to about 65-70% for hatch (usually 65% but some breeds, like Marans, I go a tad higher). I will alter the humidity if I feel like the air cells are growing too fast or slow in early incubation for my incubators in my area, those percentages seem to work very well.

I do think there are a lot of factors that will change what humidity works best for everyone and that's why it's all across the board what everyone says works for them. What incubator you're using, where you keep the incubator, what your weather is like, all of these things can make a difference.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

Got Barnevelder eggs in the incubators right now....one week in...

 

[LilyD]

I personally shoot for humidity between 45-55% for the first 18 days and increase it to about 65-70% for hatch (usually 65% but some breeds, like Marans, I go a tad higher). I will alter the humidity if I feel like the air cells are growing too fast or slow in early incubation for my incubators in my area, those percentages seem to work very well.

I do think there are a lot of factors that will change what humidity works best for everyone and that's why it's all across the board what everyone says works for them. What incubator you're using, where you keep the incubator, what your weather is like, all of these things can make a difference.

I'm finding that hatching this time of year I actually have to add more. Our house is pretty dry with the wood heat. In the summer it's usually a lot wetter so we don't need to add as much. I try to keep it around 30-40ish but watch the air cells to make sure they aren't losing too much. In the summer if I add water it gets too high with the normal air humidity.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I'm finding that hatching this time of year I actually have to add more. Our house is pretty dry with the wood heat. In the summer it's usually a lot wetter so we don't need to add as much. I try to keep it around 30-40ish but watch the air cells to make sure they aren't losing too much. In the summer if I add water it gets too high with the normal air humidity.

I live in a humid area but my house is pretty dry in the winter too and I will probably aim for the lower side of my humidity range once summer returns. I keep my incubators in the front room in my house and it has nice stable temps but also the dryness from my central air and I'm sure all of that also plays a role.

 

[FortCluck]

Let's talk a bit about humidity. I was going through the incubation guides and was surprised to see humidity levels between 30 and 60% recommended for incubation. I usually dry incubate and don't add any water until I'm in the last three days and ready to hatch. Then I go up to 60-65% for hatch. What is everyone else doing. Back when I bought my incubator the booklet that came with it said that you wanted between 20-30% humidity for incubation and 50-60 at lockdown so it seems things are changing a bit. Interested in what everyone else is doing.

I do dry hatch as well in my humidity goes from 20% to about 38% throughout and I wait until the first external pip to add water into my incubator.

Usually I do not let my humidity go above 50% even at the end because when all the eggs start hatching that increases the humidity and my incubator. I always try to keep it under a certain point because if I don't condensation starts happening.

My first incubation experience, I pretty much fluffed up pretty bad. I let the humidity get too high because I added water straight from the beginning and I had a lot of chicks that died. When I say a lot it was about nine of them out of the 39 that I put in.

My air cells looked awful so someone gave me advice on here to not put any water at all in my second hatch until I saw the first external pip and I had all but one hatch from that one. I only added about 30 ml of water at the end when I saw the first external pip.

 

[LilyD]

Ive heard positive things about sealing cracks like that—- hope it works for you!

Thank you so far it's looking good we got day 5 today at 4pm. Fingers crossed he or she makes it.