Ventilation is the key not humidity!

[Nicola]

so the more ventolation u have the better???

 

[Highaltitudechicks]

wow-after reading this thread I think I have brain damage. Who would have guessed that hatching chicks was going to cause this much stress. I have very poor luck trying to hatch. 1 out of 40 in three different batches. He died three days later. I have finely ordered a digital thermometer/hygrometer to better track humidity and will have to look at ventilation a little closer.Thanks for all the info:

 

[BeardedChick]

Quote:

Wow, it looks like Fraser is at about 8,500'! That is high altitude!

 

[greathorse]

yep Fraser is getting up there. Takes some hardy stock to survive those elements. "Highaltitudechicks" I would reccommend calibrating that hygromter before you even think about using it. Mine were off a lot from the beginning.

I hatch at about 5200 ft and with local eggs no problem but shipped eggs yikes. I increased the size of my water pan a lot put in a pad/sponge and opened my vents quite a lot to get about 40% RH during the first 18 days more sponges for the last three to get closer to 55RH wiht a lot more ventilation than before. I will know soon if that helps.

High altitude seems to have its challenges for the flat lander eggs.

good luck.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

If ya really think having to low of air pressure is the issue Why not build a incubator out of a pressure cooker? Drill an inlet for compressed air an put something like a 4 or 8 psi weight on the outlet.

 

[chicklady63]

This has been very interesting to read and very informative. I am going right now to alter somethings in my incubator. I have been reducing the ventilation as was suggested by someone to me last year to up my humidity levels, and my hatches have been dismal. I had been doing very well until then. (If it ain't broke don't fix it!) I am incubating a lot of shipped eggs, but they are not traveling far for the most part, (one state over or within state), and even my own birds' eggs have not been doing well at all. They get to hatch time and I find perfectly formed, sometimes pipped, sometimes not, but dead in shell chicks, and it's really getting to me.
I have a trio of expensive dewlap Toulouse eggs in there now and do not want to loose those if I can do anything else to prevent it. Do you suggest this same thing of greater ventilation with waterfowl incubation?

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I don't have any experience with water birds. I would assume that they need the same amount of ventilation as chicken eggs but should use more humidity.

 

[chicklady63]

Yeah, that's really a very fine balance, I guess. I'm just going to provide more ventilation and keep a close, close watch on the humidity and see what comes. Healthy goslings I pray.
Thanks.

 

[SpunkyChicken]

This thread has convinced me to take the other plug out the top of my still air LG and raise the humidity up to 40%. It appears to be about 34% naturally (or so I believe; my calibrated hygrometer read 11% low so I can only assume that 23% is really 34%!); we haven't had to add water for a couple days. Is that normal for still air LGs in a room with about 45-50% humidity? We don't have a sponge or anything in the incubator, just add a teaspoon of water to the tray when necessary. Just a teaspoon makes the humidity spike up 10%, and it evaporates from the tray within an hour or so.

This is day 5 for my batch of shipped BBS bantam orp eggs. We candled them last night and found that 11 out of 15 are clearly developing (we're not gonna chuck any eggs until day 10 though). However, after looking at that image that displays the air cells for 7, 14, and 18 days, I think the air cells may be growing too quickly. Is the size different for bantam eggs, or is it still proportionate to that chart?

 

[BeardedChick]

Quote:
TRUST me, I have literally laid awake at night thinking about it. Must... built... hyperbaric... 'bator...

But I don't want to run a compressor!

There are some articles on the web about the problems with hatching at high altitude, and bird egg studies. Eggs produced at low altitude do not have the same pore sizing and O2 exchange to hatch well at high altitude.