Weighing Eggs Question

spowell

Songster
8 Years
Apr 26, 2011
342
2
111
Rocky Point, NC
Hi, this is my first hatch and I'm weighing my eggs so that I know if my humidity is in the correct range. I weighed my Jap eggs today, Day 7 of incubation. The initial weight of all 7 eggs was 211g. Today, the combined weight was 197g. A loss of 14g or 2g per egg. From my calculations that is 7%, is that to much loss at 7 days? Do I need to increase my humidity? Or, am I just obsessing too much????
hu.gif

The Humidity is at 50% right now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thank You
fl.gif
 
are you weighing as a group or individually? some eggs may lose more or less depending where in the incubator they are. personally I like to weigh each egg, not as a group.

your goal is about 15% by lockdown, but japanese eggs will lose more, faster, than a full sized chicken goose or duck egg, because of the higher surface area to volume ratio... so i'm not sure you can really go by the book on them? I've never hatched bantam eggs, but once my 'bator gets here I'm planning a hatch of oegb/japanese babies for a trial run... (just happens she's the only one laying consistently right now, and she likes my black jap best.)

not sure what to suggest for your batch, but if it were me i'd leave the humidity alone for now and crank it up early if they lose too much too soon. but remember also, that's just a ballpark estimate, not written in stone. hens don't know how to weigh, count, or tell time. 8)
 
Sounds like ur doing fine so dont worry as you'll be near 14% at 14 days if the rate continues. I would re-check at 10 days to see that you're around 10% weight loss so you've still a little time for adjustments.

I've lots of incubation information and links on my website which may help you
smile.png


http://oakgarthgeese.com

Pete
wink.png
 
Quote:
I read your thread on hatching eggs (goose eggs) yesterday. It was great. Thanks for all the info.
I did weigh the eggs separately, each one had lost 2g. I will check again at 10 days and add more humidity if necessary. Thanks everyone for the input:bow
 
Fertile and developing eggs lose moisture more quickly than non-developing or developed-then-died ones. So if you find a couple of non-developers, you shouldn't include them in your calculations as they'll give an inaccurate indication of humidity if you count them. For that reason I always weigh each egg individually. Commercial hatcheries weigh batches of eggs (hundreds of eggs at a time) cause they pretty much know they'll have high fertility, but I'm sure they'll allow for some non-developers in their calculations. With small amounts of eggs I imagine it would be easier and more accurate to do each egg individually.

Your humidity sounds okay so far. If you're aiming to lose 13-14% by day 14 you're pretty much on track.
smile.png
 
OK weighed my Silkie eggs and each weighed ~36 gms , weighed on day 7 they all lost 4 gms, 1 looks like a developer others ????? , thats already almost 15 % loss, humidity has been running 34, attempting dry hatch, using a Brinsea Oct 20, HELP!!!
Ayda
PS upped humidity to 40
 
If you're only on day 7 and they've all already lost 15% of their starting weight, you really want to stop them losing any more weight at all! I've never experienced what you're describing and I honestly don't know if this is the best thing to do, but if I was in your situation I'd bump my humidity way up to at least 65% then check them all in a couple of days. If they've lost any more, get it up even higher. If they've stayed stable keep it where it is. They shouldn't regain weight, that doesn't normally happen unless you submerge them in water (definitely not recommended!) no matter how high the humidity is.

Hopefully someone else will have some more advice for you...
 
Quote:
I increased humidity from 30's to 40's , weighed last night and no more loss
thumbsup.gif
Am wondering if it's due to elevation?? I read somewhere it does have something to do with it, am gonna keep researching. It would make lots of sense as I have been doing the dry hatch method, and I still keep losing chicks due to shrink wrap! so this hatch will keep humidity above 40 and lockdown between 65-75 and see:fl
This has been an intersting learning curve, I was getting obsessive about this and very few chicks hatched, will keep it up until I figure it out.
Thanks
Ayda
 
Hi Ayda

Sorry i've not got the time for a detailed reply but your eggs at day 7 have already lost 11% and your target weight is 15-16% around days 19/20. I advise you to close your incubator vents and increase the surface area of the water in the incubator. To prevent further weight loss you'll need a humidity around 65%.

Yes elevation can influence atmospheric humidity andyou should check what your is by just using a cheap humidity guage but it will give you a more informed picture
wink.png
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom