Sometimes the electric hygrometers can get really off after awhile. My Accurite weather station sensor went caput right after I got it. Definitely test it out with the salt solution to see how close it is.
very sad non hatch
- Thread starter speckiedoodle
- Start date
Quote:
This isn't exactly correct. If your humidity has been ideal throughout the incubation such that the eggs have lost 11-14% of their starting weight and achieved the correct moisture loss going into lockdown, it is almost impossible to then drown the chicks with high lockdown humidity.
Chicks drown when they pip internally into the air cell and inhale excess fluid that is still inside the egg due to a too-high humidity throughout the first 18 days of the incubation. So while they do drown during the lockdown period, the actual cause of the drowning is a too-high early humidity and not a too-high humidity in lockdown.
I have run lockdowns and hatched chicks at 85-90% humidity and never yet had any drownings. And even at 85%+ humidity, the chicks still fluff up and dry off fine. Personally I'm now tending towards the belief that as long as your eggs have lost the correct amount of moisture by day 18, you can run your lockdowns as high as you want without seeing any adverse effects. This is based on my own experimenting however, and other people in different climates using different bators may well have had very different results...
This isn't exactly correct. If your humidity has been ideal throughout the incubation such that the eggs have lost 11-14% of their starting weight and achieved the correct moisture loss going into lockdown, it is almost impossible to then drown the chicks with high lockdown humidity.
Chicks drown when they pip internally into the air cell and inhale excess fluid that is still inside the egg due to a too-high humidity throughout the first 18 days of the incubation. So while they do drown during the lockdown period, the actual cause of the drowning is a too-high early humidity and not a too-high humidity in lockdown.
I have run lockdowns and hatched chicks at 85-90% humidity and never yet had any drownings. And even at 85%+ humidity, the chicks still fluff up and dry off fine. Personally I'm now tending towards the belief that as long as your eggs have lost the correct amount of moisture by day 18, you can run your lockdowns as high as you want without seeing any adverse effects. This is based on my own experimenting however, and other people in different climates using different bators may well have had very different results...
- May 19, 2011
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Is there vent holes in the top of your incubator. If so just open those and pour a little in. Just be sure it is really warm so that it doesn't change the temp. And just do a little at a time so that you dont get the humidity to high. If you have any questions next time you can always PM me. This Website has helped me so much!
- Thread starter
- #14
- Nov 4, 2008
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Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the help! I think next year I will give it a try again -- after much time on here
. All of this made me think of how much the hen is a miracle girl so I thought I might tell her story. Somehow very early this spring she got into my backyard (well away from the chicken yard). My dogs got her -- with my girls seeing all (awful). I heard their screams so I came running. I grabbed her and ran to the house. I about died when I saw her (all the while my one girl sobbing about her bantie hen). They had managed to "deglove" her entire neck. Meaning they had pulled all of her neck skin down and off. They had also punched two holes in her crop. Now, with any of my other animals I would have rushed her to the vet BUT the vets around me won't treat chickens. My regular small animal vet "doesn't know anything about chickens" and what really irritates me the bird specialist in my city refuses to treat chickens (even with much begging). I know this from before with some sick chickens I had. So I was on my own. I had my husband stop at my vet's to get suture. But in the mean time I knew I had to protect the tissue on her neck. I COVERED it with triple antibiotic ointment. While waiting the poor girl had stuff coming out of her crop hole. It was just awful. When I got the suture I found it to be too "springy". So I used my dental floss -- the kind that's thick soft cotton with dry mouthwash stuff on it. It won't slip. So I lifted the skin up with the suture needle and gathered the edges and going all the way around it. I never expected her to live but she seemed so determined to. I expected her to be dead every morning I went to my master bath (she lived there for 2 months). Each day I covered her tissue with the ointment. And by goodness she didn't die. She really did very well everyday she got better. Eventually skin was growing back but at one point it was kind of constricting her throat. This made her glup. Her crop would fill with air so several times a day I had to gently grip all around it and "burb" her. Well, that was months ago and she is thriving -- enough so she layed the fertile eggs I tried to hatch. What a girl!! I attached a current picture of her -- I'm not sure she will ever grow feathers there again.
[/img]
Thanks for all the help! I think next year I will give it a try again -- after much time on here
A gorgeous hen!
Glad to hear you are willing to try again. Many people hatch in the fall also
in case you're tempted to try sooner rather than later.
Here is a resource that may provide a solution to your hatching problem. You have noted great detail which will help you when looking at this link.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa204
In the sticky, is the Mississippi Univeristy link with another in depth review of hatching mishaps. A number of things can go awry, and if you can identify the cause, perhaps you can correct the situation next time.
Better luck on your next try.
Glad to hear you are willing to try again. Many people hatch in the fall also
Here is a resource that may provide a solution to your hatching problem. You have noted great detail which will help you when looking at this link.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa204
In the sticky, is the Mississippi Univeristy link with another in depth review of hatching mishaps. A number of things can go awry, and if you can identify the cause, perhaps you can correct the situation next time.
Better luck on your next try.
another book one that helped me a lot MN has a site with a lot of help as well
http://gallus.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf
http://gallus.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf
- Thread starter
- #18
- Nov 4, 2008
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- 22
Thanks! for all of this! I should have done my research before I tried but I got a wild hair and decided to give it a go. Concerning my Millie girl --I'm impressed with how resilient this hen is -- she never gave up. And she's not a young girl - I got her as an adult two years ago! I can't believe I have to do this doctoring -- it really gets under my skin that the bird specialist wouldn't see my chickens. I guess this is one reason we have this forum. But anyway, I will do much more research and see if I can make things go better with the next hatch attempt -- it's just so heart breaking to see all those perfect little chicks so close to being out... but you guys understand
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