What happened?

[CobraFnD]

Hmmm... well my water goes in the bottom, and it has 4 chambers that can be filled. I filled only the middle one for the first 18 days, and got 50-60... wonder how I can make it less? I wonder if one of the other 3 are smaller than the middle one... I will have to check on that... it says to fill 2 during lock down, but from what I am reading, may could just go with the middle one for lock down? Seems like once eggs started hatching, it went up... I guess maybe from all the egg fluids, and wet chicks?

I will have to research this more... thanks for all the input!

If you want to see the first 11... here they are!!

http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h384/Knaakk/?action=view&current=Bitties.mp4

 

[mrslb333]

Quote:
They are so cute congrats

The humidity issue is a night mare at certain times of the year when the external humidity is high I have to use dehumidifier pads to get it down to less than 55% its a matter of trial and error unfortunately. It will rise naturally during hatch as the eggs release moisture which can be a pain if you are doing a staggered hatch.

 

[Barbedwirecat]

What I have learned from others, to do a dryer incubation---don't fill any of the trays with water when starting. I did this at first like you according to the incubator directions and it held at 65% which IMO is too high. I sucked out the water with a straw completely after I saw it wasn't going to go any lower and have done dry (which your normal air humidity depending on where you live may be like mine about 30%) and just supplemented it with a tiny bit of water the past few days to the middle tray. It's day 13 here for me and I only had to add just a little water for the first time yesterday.

I would say it would do no harm when you go INTO lockdown to fill ALL of the trays you can, because it's not the amount of water you have in the tray, but the amount of surface area you have. That's why a lot of people recommend sponges because it gives you more surface area.

It's a lot of fiddling at first, everyone recommends running your incubator a few days before you add eggs so you can get it level. I would recommend doing that every time before you start eggs because the outside (the incubator) temp/humidity comes into play quite a bit. It could be different each time of year and depend on if you have the AC/Heat running in your house and the placement of the incubator in the house as well (mine sits on the floor in a draft free room with curtains on the windows) and also even the weather conditions. You try to keep it in a location that is as consistent as possible so you don't have too many fluctuations.

It helps to have 2 temp/humidity gauges and to calibrate them before using (that way you know if one is off a degree to add a degree when you read it). I have a probe and one right inside the incubator sitting on the turner. My probe also tells me what it temp/humidity is outside the incubator so I can tell the room fluctuations.

Hope that makes sense?

 

[Barbedwirecat]

To add, I don't think I have heard of chicks drowning because the lock down humidity was too high, more often I see where people have had the incubation humidity too high and them drowning because there is not a large enough air cell created for the chick to breath before piping. So they just don't make it to pip and suffocate. I would highly recommend doing an eggtopsy after you are FULLY sure they are not going to hatch and see exactly what happened. That will tell you a lot more than anything. Quite a few people will post pics on here (with a graphic warning of course) and you can tell a lot by where the development stopped.

 

[CobraFnD]

Could I tell if I had any humididty related issues from candleing? I have 13 still in the bator, and they look the same as they did to me... The air sac is still there, and takes up a little less than 1/4 of the inside of the egg. I had read somewhere about fluid in the air sac, and I held the light on the air sac end, and rotated the egg side to side, and there was nothing moving at the bottom of the sac, just you could see the lining move where it starts the chick, and it only move slightly... It is only day 22, and I do not want to start disecting eggs just yet, but is it normal to get half of them to hatch in an 8 hour period, and then be several days later before the rest hatch? Also these were shipped eggs, and I started with 52, with only 23 making it to lockdown. Sorry for all the questions... just want to get more out of this if there is still a chance. If I need to post pics, let me know what you need to see!?