WHAT AM I DOING WRONG??? i JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND....

[twigg]

Quote:
The instructions are pretty clear about the vents. Air flow will be sufficient if they are followed. Unfortunately, RH might not be, and may require the use of additional wicking materials.

 

[klf73]

Quote:
The instructions are pretty clear about the vents. Air flow will be sufficient if they are followed. Unfortunately, RH might not be, and may require the use of additional wicking materials.

did I miss something? I have been reading instructions on hatching for months and everything I have read said to increase ventilation in the last 3 days......
RH is no where near as important as you make it. Myself and quite a few others tried it last year and had great success with keeping the humidity in the 30's for day 1-18 and then bumping it slightly to the 50's or so for the last 3 days.
I stressed horribly to make my humidity *perfect* and all I got was a mess, and I wasn't the only one. Which is why we started doing it differently.
Your humidity could be *perfect* but if there isn't an exchange of fresh air it doesn't matter.........

 

[deerman]

I run mine with vents all the way open, raise humidity by add more water surface. Reason you can never get to much fresh air, maybe using the vents will work. What if they dont get enough fresh air,more chicks hatching need more fresh air.

 

[SoccerMomof7]

Quote:
Could I ask what brand? Mine are also from walmart.

 

[SoccerMomof7]

Okay maybe I am having a blonde moment but what is RH? Did I miss something?

 

[millebantam]

I'm in your camp KLF. When I stopped freaking out over "recommended" humidity and just kept it in the 30's for the first 18 days, my hatch rates went way up and I had cleaner, less complicated hatches. Been doin' it ever since. I also agree that there can't be too much fresh air flow as long as 60% or so humidity can be maintained in the last three days.
Quote:
The instructions are pretty clear about the vents. Air flow will be sufficient if they are followed. Unfortunately, RH might not be, and may require the use of additional wicking materials.

did I miss something? I have been reading instructions on hatching for months and everything I have read said to increase ventilation in the last 3 days......
RH is no where near as important as you make it. Myself and quite a few others tried it last year and had great success with keeping the humidity in the 30's for day 1-18 and then bumping it slightly to the 50's or so for the last 3 days.
I stressed horribly to make my humidity *perfect* and all I got was a mess, and I wasn't the only one. Which is why we started doing it differently.
Your humidity could be *perfect* but if there isn't an exchange of fresh air it doesn't matter.........

 

[Ryu]

RH is realtive humidity. It is a combination of temperature and humidity. The Mississippi State poulty hatching article has a handy table for calculating RH using temperature and humidity readings.

You can also buy certified thermometers (pre-tested to be within a certain amount of error of actual temperature) from scientific supply companies (Fisher Scientific, VWR)--I borrow one from work to check out my cheap digital Temp/humidity monitors that I get from Walmart.

You can check the humidity readings by using the salt+water in a ziplock bag.

Best of luck!

 

[Ryu]

Quote:
did I miss something? I have been reading instructions on hatching for months and everything I have read said to increase ventilation in the last 3 days......
RH is no where near as important as you make it. Myself and quite a few others tried it last year and had great success with keeping the humidity in the 30's for day 1-18 and then bumping it slightly to the 50's or so for the last 3 days.
I stressed horribly to make my humidity *perfect* and all I got was a mess, and I wasn't the only one. Which is why we started doing it differently.
Your humidity could be *perfect* but if there isn't an exchange of fresh air it doesn't matter.........


From what I've been reading on this forum, it seems that location has a lot to do with humidity requirements. It seems that one of the constants is that the higher the elevation, the higher the humidity required.

I'm at 1000ft above sea level, and 43-45% for 1-18, 65-70% for 18-21 works best where I'm at.

 

[Jamie821]

Air flow is extremely important. The more the eggs hatching the more oxygen is needed. Hatcheries in higher elevation have to blow oxygen across their eggs to make sure there is enough for the hatching chicks. The lower elevations do not have to do this. If all your plug where in you cut off the circulation of fresh air and it could well be there wasnt enough oxygen for the chicks to survive. Also if your chicks hatched that early then your temp was to high. High temp causes the chicks to develope faster.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

Quote:
i would bet money that a hen went broody and was sitting on those a few days before you collected them.....