Worried About My Hatch - Air Cells Not Big Enough!

[shandiane78]

Hi, my eggs are due to hatch in two days (Wed the 31st). After candling, I am pretty certain that my air cells are nowhere near as big as they should be. Too much humidity in the first couple of weeks, apparently. I've been running the incubator without water since the 14th day, but I don't think the moisture is evaporating quickly enough. Is there anything I can do? It probably doesn't help that the humidity inside my home is 58%. I'm almost wondering if I should have run them dry for the whole incubation period!

If you scroll down and look at the diagram here:

http://www.poultryhelp.com/hatch.html

My eggs are on the 19th day today, but the air cells are more like the size they should be for the 14th day. Some of the eggs even have cells as small as the recommended size for the 7th day! This is in the small eggs, and especially in my blue eggs.

Is there anything I can or should do to improve their chances of hatching rather than drowning?!

Thanks so much.

 

[clothdiaperingmom]

I cant give any advice. I know someone that can help will come along.

My 1st 2 hatches were the opposite problem as yours. I did the dry method, and its dry here and in our house, but I kept it higher then 25% but below 35% and upped it to the 50's for hatch. The air cells were way to big! And the hatches were not good 0/13 & 1/13.
I switched from dry method and my next hatch was 5/6!

Good luck!

 

[bigdawg]

dont worry up the humidity to 60+ percent and leave the door closed until hatch is over. i have had big and small air cells, they will be fine. get the humidity up for hatching, and open all vent holes. my last batch of duck eggs had huge air cells they did just fine. a dry hatch will cause them not to hatch. they will be shrink wrapped, riase humidity last three days and let them be........

 

[shandiane78]

Thanks clothdiaperingmom. This is my first hatch, and I'm using a homemade incubator. Everything I read talked about adding water to the incubator, so I did. Maybe I should have known better, living in the Pacific Northwest! Or I should have candled earlier, to detect the problem, because I don't have any device in there to measure humidity. I didn't candle until the 14th day, which is when I removed the water dish. But it may have been too late...Coulda woulda shoulda, I guess.

Should I put a dehumidifier in the room where the incubator is? Of course going out to buy special equipment kinda defeats the purpose of a homemade incubator imo, but I don't want my chickies to drown trying to hatch!

 

[shandiane78]

Thanks bigdawg. Should I really add to the humidity in there? Right now I'm running it dry and with vents open, because the air cells are so small. Outside humidity is 85%. Humidity in the room where the incubator is, is 58%.

 

[shandiane78]

Another thought. If the heat causes water to evaporate from the eggs, won't that add enough moisture to the air in the incubator?

 

[bigdawg]

you got me there. all i know with other hatches is when the chick pips the egg and is starting to zip all moisture inside the egg starts to dry out, witch will cause the chicks to stick to the shell and die if there is not enough moisture in the bator, if your eggs are small like banty eggs the air cell will be smaller, this is a tough call to make, do you have a fan inside the bator, that will dry them out quicker, if only you knew what the humidity level was inside the bator, walmart has a spring field temp/hydro combo for 6.00 that would be a big help knowing what the humidity is inside the bator, you may or may not have to add any water. now i would hate to tell you whitch way to go not having any idea what the humidity level is inside. humidity is just as important as temps. i so wish i could be more help. my feelings would be if you cant get the humidity checked leave them be and if the first few stick to the shell then up the humidity...... good luck

 

[shandiane78]

Thanks, bigdawg. I was kinda thinking the same thing. Maybe even wait to see how they're doing with the hatch, and if it's too dry, lightly mist in some warm water, and add a wet sponge? I do have a fan running in there. For most of the incubation, I had it pointed away from the eggs (pointed at the water dish...maybe that's why my humidity was too high), but now I have it running right at them. I just don't know...I guess I need to wait and see how it goes.

Thanks again!

 

[bigdawg]

sounds good. be ready with the sponges and water bowl. good luck....................