Update. The Great Debate: Is it the incubator or the egg?

[mstricer]

Well I'm glad I stumbled back to this thread. I would have never have thought of just not adding water, I've had a few yucky sticky chicks lately. The hatches that I'm doing now are both dry. They are in a closet which should keep everything pretty stable. Also have an old Farm Master Cabinet incubator on and adding the shelves and waiting for things to stabilize, oh yeah and there's the BF who can't understand that when we put things in the incubator it changes the temp. he keeps wanting to mess with it, saying "why is the temp so low, it shouldn't be that way" then me saying " hello dummy, you just put a cold wire pan inside, yes it will change it, dah" He loves old things and how they work so he's has put himself in charge of all the temp and humidity regulating and the fact that, I'm blind as a bat up close and can never find my reading glasses, on the average at least 3 pairs are MIA at all times.

 

[tenman]

Jungleexplorer, wow i read this whole post... Im having the same issue just like you Im thinking im getting to much humidity too and they are drowning during lock down. What did you end up sticking with for your incubation and hatch humidity? The GQF humidity led gauge is garabage its 10% lower on the reading so if you run it at 45% ur really giving it 55% humidity i found this the hard way. I had a very bad hatch recently.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Jungleexplorer, wow i read this whole post... Im having the same issue just like you Im thinking im getting to much humidity too and they are drowning during lock down. What did you end up sticking with for your incubation and hatch humidity? The GQF humidity led gauge is garabage its 10% lower on the reading so if you run it at 45% ur really giving it 55% humidity i found this the hard way. I had a very bad hatch recently.

On day 18 when I transferred the eggs to my hatcher (old style 1588), I let it run dry until one or two chicks had hatched, then I brought the humidity up to 70% because the sticky chicks were drying out real fast and getting stuck to things. But if I were to do it over again, I would let it run dry and I would just take the sticky chicks out as soon as they hatched and wash them under warm running water, like I did the last one. I think all the problems I had with the last two were because I increased the humidity. That is just my guess though.

I would just watch your chicks, if after day 21 they are piped but having trouble getting out, I would go in after them. I have been told all my life not to do this, but it worked for me this time and saved two chicks that would be dead by now if I had not done so. I will say that under normal conditions, when eggs have been incubated properly, a chick that cannot hatch on it's own has probably got something wrong with it and I would let nature take it's course. But in my case, their not being able to hatch was my fault, so I intervened.

 

[mbleily]

Jungleexplorer, wow i read this whole post... Im having the same issue just like you Im thinking im getting to much humidity too and they are drowning during lock down. What did you end up sticking with for your incubation and hatch humidity? The GQF humidity led gauge is garabage its 10% lower on the reading so if you run it at 45% ur really giving it 55% humidity i found this the hard way. I had a very bad hatch recently.

Wow, I was beginning to think I was crazy. I even wrote to the people I bought my incubator from and asked if anyone else complained about the humidity gage being 10% low. They told me no one else compained to them. I finally put two others in that I calibrated and found that out. I can't believe it is so far off. Why don't they do something about it?????

 

[tenman]

mbleily you have the same problem to I think I noticed in the thread if Im not wrong. I think they just put a cheap humidity digital gauge to make it look all fancy but really the only thing that works is the digital temp on it. But yes when I placed 2 even 3 different humidity gauges in there they all read fairly close except for the GQF digital humidity gauge thats when I was stressing out bout to much humidity already given to the eggs. Gosh darn it was an expensive hatch too, what a waste!!!

 

[tenman]

jungle explorer so whats your recommendation going here forward... I was debating about doing a 30% for the 18 days then 50% for the last 3 days....

 

[yinepu]

jungle explorer so whats your recommendation going here forward... I was debating about doing a 30% for the 18 days then 50% for the last 3 days....

since it's spring here and moister than our regular summer time droughts I am adding 0 water during incubation.. our home humidity is high enough to compensate for it.. so depending on how humid it is in your home you may find that the bator humidity is naturally 30% without any added water at all.

for the multiple bators I have running right now I am getting accurate readings of 30% in the bators in the dining room and 35% for the ones that are in the bathroom. My hygrometers are accurate too... so if you are uncertain about the accuracy of your hygrometers and have are experiencing a nice green spring then I would suggest running dry for incubation and ignoring the hygrometers



edited to add.. I have 4 bators running right now.. I double checked the emu bator I also have in the bathroom.. it's also running at 35% today

 

[tenman]

Thanks Yinepu, I have my incubators in my lower level home in the bathroom.... i think if i run dry i'd get about 30-35 as well! gonna give it a shot and kick the typical 50% for 18days and 70-80last 3 days to the floor for now.

 

[yinepu]

Thanks Yinepu, I have my incubators in my lower level home in the bathroom.... i think if i run dry i'd get about 30-35 as well! gonna give it a shot and kick the typical 50% for 18days and 70-80last 3 days to the floor for now.

np.. you just really need to pay attention to your home environment.. then use the chicks and eggs as your guide... figuring it all out is the hard part.. but once you know your bator and how it reacts in your home during the different seasons of the year .. well.. after that it's sooo easy and you will have more chicks than you know what to do with

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Thanks Yinepu, I have my incubators in my lower level home in the bathroom.... i think if i run dry i'd get about 30-35 as well! gonna give it a shot and kick the typical 50% for 18days and 70-80last 3 days to the floor for now.

Running dry incubation for the first 18 days is okay, but I think you still need increased humidity for the last 3 day (unless your chicks are too wet like mine). This is especially true if your chicks are dry.