Zoe Barker

Hatching
May 24, 2017
3
0
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I am new to incubating chicken eggs, and I thought I would do really well, until none of my eggs seemed to want to hatch. I have them in a homemade incubator where the temp stays between 99 and 102 (no fan). I flip them once or twice a day up until day 18, and i candle them on day 18 where they are still alive, yet they do not hatch around the 21st day. there is one in right now that is on day 25 with no movement or pips or anything, and it was alive on day 18, but now i cannot tell. sometimes during the night the temp dips down to 97, but i did not think it would affect them that much. The humidity stays between 55% to 65% through out the 3 weeks. Is there anything I am missing? any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Ok lets do a example and let you decide. My incubator is home-made. It has fans. My temp stays at 99.5 for the 3 weeks---might move a few tenths back and forth and its even throughout the incubator---top to bottom and side to side.. My eggs are turned about 5 times a day. Most of the time My eggs are Only candled on day 18. My humidity is in the 30's% during the 18 days of incubation, 75+% the last 3 to 4 days---95 to 100% of my eggs hatch and those all hatch late day 20 early day 21. Do you see any difference?

Also How the eggs are gathered, stored, etc can make a difference.
 
I am new to incubating chicken eggs, and I thought I would do really well, until none of my eggs seemed to want to hatch. I have them in a homemade incubator where the temp stays between 99 and 102 (no fan). I flip them once or twice a day up until day 18, and i candle them on day 18 where they are still alive, yet they do not hatch around the 21st day. there is one in right now that is on day 25 with no movement or pips or anything, and it was alive on day 18, but now i cannot tell. sometimes during the night the temp dips down to 97, but i did not think it would affect them that much. The humidity stays between 55% to 65% through out the 3 weeks. Is there anything I am missing? any advice would be greatly appreciated!
55-65% for the entire incubation...unless you are in an extremely high elevation, I'd put money on the fact the egg did not loose enough moisture and drowned at hatch time.
http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity
 
Ok lets do a example and let you decide. My incubator is home-made. It has fans. My temp stays at 99.5 for the 3 weeks---might move a few tenths back and forth and its even throughout the incubator---top to bottom and side to side.. My eggs are turned about 5 times a day. Most of the time My eggs are Only candled on day 18. My humidity is in the 30's% during the 18 days of incubation, 75+% the last 3 to 4 days---95 to 100% of my eggs hatch and those all hatch late day 20 early day 21. Do you see any difference?

Also How the eggs are gathered, stored, etc can make a difference.

How are you able to keep the temp. so consistent?
 
In a still air where you measure temp is important. The air temp is very layered without a fan. Measure the temp at top level of eggs, if they are on end then the temp should be (average) 101.5 F.

Your humidity is high but I also think your not reading the correct temp. Where you read it in a still air means everything. Temp at top of incubator or below eggs don't mean anything, it's the level of egg temp that matters.
 
How are you able to keep the temp. so consistent?
The design of the incubator and air movement. I can put a thermometer any where in it and it will be almost dead on. When you build a incubator that's one big thing---even temp. If you are 100 in one area and 97 in another. The warmer eggs will hatch on time say but that 97 degree eggs will be late probably 2 or more days, plus the temp being way off(yes 2 degree's is way off) can cause chicks to be born with defects or problems. Study your design and see if you can figure out how to eliminate hot spots and increase cool spots. Really you need a steady temp at the center of the eggs and make that where you read the temp---that's what's important.
Humidity----I would not even think about setting up at 55 to 65% for the incubation(first 18 days for chicks) the chicks will probably drown inside the egg and never pip.
 
I'd look at temp control first, being too hot can cause growth and positioning defects that can interfere with hatching. Being too cold slows development, shifting the balance between physical size, coordination, yolk supply, etc to mess up the biological timer that starts the hatching process. I think they have a much greater tolerance for humidity range during incubation as long as there are no drastic changes during lockdown and hatch.
 
I'd look at temp control first, being too hot can cause growth and positioning defects that can interfere with hatching. Being too cold slows development, shifting the balance between physical size, coordination, yolk supply, etc to mess up the biological timer that starts the hatching process. I think they have a much greater tolerance for humidity range during incubation as long as there are no drastic changes during lockdown and hatch.

I have to disagree. Yes, ups and downs of humidity during incubation is not going to compromise the eggs, because humidity is important as an average in regards to moisture loss, high humidity during incubation, especially talking 55-65%, in most cases is a death sentence.
If you compare the tolerability of eggs due to temp spikes or constant lows against humidity spikes and dips, yes, temp is the dangerous factor and humidity is not.
But running 99-102F is less dangerous than running humidity so high the egg doesn't loose enough moisture. Of course the steadier the temps the better and tweaking to get steadier temps is always recommended, especially if it's dropping to 97 at night regularly.
For two years I used an old lg. As long as it stayed above 99.5 and below 101 I was happy. Had awesome hatches with it. I agree, definitely that temps/heating should be tweaked for better control, but I would be more concerned about humiditybeing that high.
I strongly recommend doing eggtopsies and observing the state of the chick. Deformed/irregular growth or development is going to push more toward a improper heat casualty, fully formed chicks, excess fluid, excess wet chicks/overly large mushy chicks and malpos scream humidity. Of course the two factors together can also be in play.
 

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