What humidity for the last few days in the bator?

[drowe005]

How high of a humidity do you run your incubator at for the last few days of incubation? Since day one through now, I've had about a steady 50% or so. Also was wondering how long you leave your birds in the incubator after hatching before removing them? Just until they are dry? I've got both ringneck pheasants and Chukars waiting to hatch and are due starting this weekend.

 

[deserthotwings]

During the last 3 days of incubation, stop turning your eggs, lower your temp to 98.5 and use about 55 to 60 humidity and DON"T OPEN YOUR BATOR. Leave the chicks inside for at least 24 hours and things should be fine.

 

[mrgreenjeans53]

deserthotwigs,

I am assuming the lowered temp to 98.5 is for a forced air bator? What should the temp and humidity be for a still air?

I incubated 39 ringneck eggs at 99.5* in a forced air LG with an auto turner. I transfered the eggs to a still air LG for lockdown on day 20, I set the temp at 99* not realizing at the time that the temp in a still air is different and needed to be set slightly higher. My humidity during lockdown was at 73%. I did not check humidity during incubation but kept the water troughs full.

I had one chick externally pip at day 21 but it didn't hatch until day 24. 5 chicks pipped at day 24 and 4 of them zipped and hatched in a matter of hours. The 5th took about 24 hours before it made it out of the shell and then suddenly died about 20 minutes later. The 5 that hatched are healthy and happy.

Today is day 27 and there has not been any kind of activity going on at all with the other 33 eggs. Since there hadn't been anything happening for the last 2 days and having 7 turkey eggs that needed to go into lockdown today I decided to call this hatch a failure. I cleaned out the hatcher and put the remaining 33 eggs in a plastic bag to throw out. Being curious about whether these eggs had even started to develop, I decided to open a few of them to find out. I opened the first egg and found a fully developed chick that had died. The second egg was a dud. When I opened the third I was suprised to find a chick that was alive. Its yolk sac had not been completely absorbed and was about the size of a pencil eraser. The chick died in a mater of seconds.

I rushed back to the hatcher and put the remaining 30 eggs back in it and plugged the hatcher in. It didn't take long for the temp to reach 100* and the humidity reached 70%. I raised the temp to102* and humidity to 75%.

Do you think there is still a chance for these eggs? They weren't out of the hatcher more than 10 minutes, but they were in lockdown when I removed them. If there is a chance for them, and since the one live chick I found when I opened its egg had almost absorbed its yolk, how long would you guess that it will be before the others will start to hatch?

Thanks for any info, if even a guess, you can give me. I hope I haven't killed them.


Tim

 

[fried green eggs]

I'm no expert but, I think a broody would get off eggs at least once or twice a day for a few minutes regardless of what day it was. Hope you get some more to hath for you.

 

[greymane]

The best you can do is hope and wait.

Wishing you good results!

 

[deserthotwings]

deserthotwigs,

I am assuming the lowered temp to 98.5 is for a forced air bator? What should the temp and humidity be for a still air?

I incubated 39 ringneck eggs at 99.5* in a forced air LG with an auto turner. I transfered the eggs to a still air LG for lockdown on day 20, I set the temp at 99* not realizing at the time that the temp in a still air is different and needed to be set slightly higher. My humidity during lockdown was at 73%. I did not check humidity during incubation but kept the water troughs full.

I had one chick externally pip at day 21 but it didn't hatch until day 24. 5 chicks pipped at day 24 and 4 of them zipped and hatched in a matter of hours. The 5th took about 24 hours before it made it out of the shell and then suddenly died about 20 minutes later. The 5 that hatched are healthy and happy.

Today is day 27 and there has not been any kind of activity going on at all with the other 33 eggs. Since there hadn't been anything happening for the last 2 days and having 7 turkey eggs that needed to go into lockdown today I decided to call this hatch a failure. I cleaned out the hatcher and put the remaining 33 eggs in a plastic bag to throw out. Being curious about whether these eggs had even started to develop, I decided to open a few of them to find out. I opened the first egg and found a fully developed chick that had died. The second egg was a dud. When I opened the third I was suprised to find a chick that was alive. Its yolk sac had not been completely absorbed and was about the size of a pencil eraser. The chick died in a mater of seconds.

I rushed back to the hatcher and put the remaining 30 eggs back in it and plugged the hatcher in. It didn't take long for the temp to reach 100* and the humidity reached 70%. I raised the temp to102* and humidity to 75%.

Do you think there is still a chance for these eggs? They weren't out of the hatcher more than 10 minutes, but they were in lockdown when I removed them. If there is a chance for them, and since the one live chick I found when I opened its egg had almost absorbed its yolk, how long would you guess that it will be before the others will start to hatch?

Thanks for any info, if even a guess, you can give me. I hope I haven't killed them.


Tim

Just wondering how your hatch went. Hope you had a good one.

 

[Mohammadarshad]

I use a seperate hatcher and shift eggs on day 21st to hatch chukar eggs instead of incubator.
Humidity is more than 65% and it goes sometimes to 90% and i have a good hatching result.
here is a picture of hatching chick in hatcher and you can observe the hygrometer (humidity) while the door is open for taking picuter.
I leave the chicks in hatcher until they dry out for about 4 - 5 hours and then shift into a brooder.
THis pics are fresh and chiks hatched 6 days ago.....

 

[mrgreenjeans53]

It didn't go well at all. None, except the original 5, hatched and I ended up throwing the remaining eggs out. I had set 51 pheasant eggs all together, none except the 5 hatched. Such a waste!!

Can't give up though, gotta set some more. It's getting a bit expensive but it's just money, right??....lol. We all waste money on our hobbies. I think those of us who indulge in the hobby of hatching and creating a precious new life don't mind the cost or we wouldn't be doing it.

Good luck to everyone and happy hatching!!!