your toughts on keeping the lid on ?

[rooster1969]

thank's for all the great advice. thats why i love this site there no way you could get this much knowleadage from so many great people. i think i'll take the plug out as it seems i need to lower my humidity alittle anyway and try to get it down around 35% and candle the eggs around day 10 or 12 to get the bad ones out ,should be able to see if there good or not by then for sure? i'm using a1588 hovabator with the auto turner so if any one else has any advice it would be a blessing.

thank's again,
rick

 

[swtangel321]

Sounds like your going to be a great chick hatcher with all the info you know !!

 

[Jamie821]

For the first 18 days your humidity is to high. The eggs need to evaporat the moisture inside the egg. If you keep your humidity that high for the first 18 days you run a risk of the chicks getting to big and the air pocket being to small which will cause the chicks to drown when they pip. I keep my humidity at 35 and never add water till it drops to 25. I leave both plug out the first 18 days as the air in your room furnishes some of the humidity the eggs need. I also in winter dry months have a humidifier running at all times in my room and keep my room humidity at 50 percent. I have had hatches this way that for the first 18 days never had to add water until hatch time. On the last 3 days I put one plug the one with the metal back in and raise my humidity for hatch.

 

[Jamie821]

Forgot to mention watch about half way through your hatch when the chicks start creating their own heat you will have a temp spike you need to be watching for it so you can readjust your temps

 

[swtangel321]

Quote:
I understand that we all have our way that works for us but why would you put one of you vents back in ? That would be the time they need more air, as they hatch. Instead of putting one of your vents back in why dont you try adding a wet sponge or a sock to get your hum up ?

 

[Akane]

30-35% is really low. I found going below 40% led to over sized air sacs by the time I candled on day 18 and a tougher time for the chicks positioning and breaking the membrane when it came hatching time. That's despite raising the humidity during hatching. Now I keep mine above 40 minimum and 50 max and hatch around 60-65. Usually that means I can run the incubator dry or near dry and it stays about 42%.

Hens do get off their eggs every day and the eggs do experience some cooling. I think opening the incubator and candling during that time only exposes the eggs to normal conditions and hens have no trouble getting high hatch rates. I kind of like turning my eggs by hand because it means 3 times a day the incubator gets flushed with fresh air. In a forced air I'd wonder how stale the air gets if you don't open it for 3 weeks. Also the temp sometimes gets a little high in the afternoon and opening the incubator then to turn only helps regulate the temp. The last 4 days though I add water with a syringe and tubing and do not open for anything.

 

[silkiechicken]

Everyone has given great info, but the best thing you can do is keep track of what works for you, with the bator you have, the room it is in, and the time of year you're hatching. Conditions in the room its self, if you use gas heating or wood heating, can make a big impact on what works for person a and person b. Good luck!

 

[rooster1969]

man you all don't know how much i enjoy reading all you'alls information and experiances, as i said my first atempt did'nt go well. heres alittle more info about my setup. my room i'm hatching in is about 70 deg and the humidity is around 42% to 46%, i have eletric heat in the house. it's been mentioned about two plugs in the bator but i've look it over several times and i can only find one red plasic plug in the lid that can be removed it is a new 1588 hovabator have they maybe changeded something? i wiped my eggs down with a paper towel with alittle tektrol sprayed on it ,the kind woman at Simith poultry said this realy improved there hatches. I put my eggs in tonight at 12:30am. i got to thinking before i put my eggs in i emptyed all the water out of the plasic tray under the screen as my humidity was alittle high any way because i figured the eggs should add some moisture there self. and when i put the lid back on the humidity jumpt up to around 58% but it seems to be coming back down slowly . i hope i can get it droped back down around 35% to 40%. but when and if it does i wonder how much water i should add to maintain it , i guess i'll try about two ounces at a time and see what it does.
thank's again, Rick

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Quote:
This is really important to candle. It tells you a great deal of what shape the eggs are going to be in when they hatch out and what to expect. It is important to get the eggs out of the bator that are not going to produce a chickie for you.

There is a nice web site about candling.

I will try to find it and edit.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
AGree need to candle do at 10 days for beginers throw all clear eggs out, one bad could hurt the whole lot.

The last three days keep the top on.

Use a human oral thermo. to double check.