Author Topic: IDEAL humidity for lockdown  (Read 24539 times)

dixieland

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« on: November 26, 2011, 11:39:33 PM »
I have read and heard so many different theories on this topic...Some say 60-70%, others say nothing above 30%.....
It seems like my Cochins will hatch out no matter what the lock down humidity is...... They usually average a 95-100% hatch....
I have just done my first Ameraucana hatch.....3 eggs that were all alive and viable went into lock down, only one hatched. At day 27, a necropsy (performed in my kitchen with my vet running the show) showed 2 fully formed chicks that never pipped. Humidity was maintained at about 60- 65% during lock down. Temperature was between 99.5 and 99.9.

Can someone shed some light on where I went wrong and what I can do to improve my hatch rate in the future??

Mike Gilbert

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2011, 08:50:38 AM »
I don\'t even use a humidity indicator ( is that called a hygrometer?), but I don\'t believe Ameraucanas need much extra humidity.   They are distantly related to Araucanas; I used to raise them too and they are the same way - a lot of them drown in the shell.  Keep trying until you see what works, but I would say don\'t over do it on the humidity with Ameraucanas.   More important, however, is breeder health and diet.   If you have vigorous breeders who have been on a proper breeder diet for at least a month, their eggs should hatch very well.   Inbreeding depression is another issue that can dramatically lower hatchability.  

faith valley

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2011, 01:07:33 PM »
Using a feed that has animal protein verses straight plant protein will also help in hatchability. We use a Hubbard game bird breeder pellet during hatching season.

John

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2011, 04:23:00 PM »
Quote
lock down humidity

I\'ve never heard of \"lock down\" associated with hatching, but think I\'ve figured out that means during the time from pipping to hatching from the context.  I think Michael (not Mike) has had good results with dry hatches, but I haven\'t experimented with that at all.
Here are some of the numbers I shoot for.
In the egg storage room I try to keep the temperature around 55 to 60 degrees with as much humidity as possible...the goal is 75% on the hygrometer.
I try to keep the keep the temperature in the hatchery between 75 and 80 degrees with lots of humidity...50% or so.  The room temp is much easier to regulate than the humidity.  I use many water pans to increase the room humidity, but the outside weather affects it a lot.
In the setters I would like 57% humidity, but early in the hatching season it may only be 45 to 48%.
In the hatchers I aim for 75%, but there again I may settle for 66% when snow is on the ground.
Higher humidity in the rooms and incubators is much easier obtain after the spring rains come.    

dixieland

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2011, 04:46:12 PM »
Thank you so much!!!

@ Patty- We have our first delivery from Hubbard on Tuesday. I am excited to hear that someone else is using it with great results. The sales rep encouraged me to get the game bird breeder pellets, so I got 3 bags to try.......

These eggs were not from my own flock. They traveled home from Indy with me, so temperature variables might be part of the issue..

Thank you for your encouragement and support!!! What a blessing it is to be associated with such a great group of people.

Jess

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2011, 06:37:10 PM »


Good evening,
Jes, I incubate my eggs @ 99.5 degrees and as close to 50% RH that I can. On the 19th day I \"lock down\" place them in the hatcher, which is 99.5 degrees and as close to 75% RH as I can keep them. Once you lock down your eggs don\'t open the hatcher for any reason other to add water to the pan, if the RH drops.
My incubators and hatcher is in my basement and the Temp and RH is fairly stable.
My hatch rate now is 90%+.
What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for anybody else. So try and see what works for you. The more you incubate the better your hatch rate will get as you learn more about what works and what don\'t.
Jess

bantamhill

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2011, 10:15:40 PM »
John is correct that I add little to no humidity to incubators for most of the year. I have a few eggs currently in the incubator and they are right on schedule for air sac development. I lost many, many dozens of eggs until I learned that where I am and our heating system does not require any extra humidity. We have enough here in Central Missouri. I aim for an air sack that is about 25% of the egg at day 18. I never add humidity after day 18. The following picture is helpful. It is at the bottom of the page at this link.

http://bevsmarans.com/hatching_eggs.htm

I also tend to incubate at about 100 degrees. I have found a rapidly developing embryo is a healthy one.

Forced air and lots of circulation also works best for me.

I qualify all of this by saying incubating is as much an art as it is a science and only the hens really know how to do it perfectly every time! :p

Also, as Patty suggested, you have to have a healthy egg before you start. For chickens that do not get to forage much a layer feed will just not produce viable embryos. If it is a feed issue you will see lots of burn-outs between days 14-18. Micro and macro nutrients should be considered for non-foraging birds. Everybody has their favorite, I like Kelp meal, but other things work well.

Beth C

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2011, 02:07:34 PM »
I found out the hard way about breeder nutrition. My first year I got EEs to \"practice\" with. I had wonderful hatches. The following year I couldn\'t hatch Ameraucanas to save my life. The few that made it past day 18 were weak and more died than lived. I was beside myself - I couldn\'t imagine what I was doing wrong. I couldn\'t think of anything that was different from the first year. Then Michael mentioned embryo burnout and the light bulb came on. The EEs had been loose, but the more valuable breeder birds were penned. I added catfish pellets to up the protein and the difference was night & day! I think I\'ll look into the kelp meal, too.

As for humidity, I gave up and threw out my hydrometer. I monitor the air sac and I\'ve found I rarely need to add water before day 18. But I have had a problem with chicks drying out during the hatch, no matter how high the humidity, so I\'ve gone to using a still-air incubator as a hatcher and they seem to do better without the air blowing down on them.

Sharon Yorks

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2011, 10:19:19 PM »
As an experiment, I brought 7 eggs home from Indianapolis to see if I could get them to hatch. They traveled over 12 hours to get there. They stayed in the vehicle for several days with weather dropping pretty low. They warmed back up on the 5 hour trip home. I set them the next day (Oct 31st) and hoped for the best. I like to keep the humidity around 45-50 for the first 18 days, (65-70 for the last 3 days) but twice I noticed the humidity had dropped to around 25-30 (my fault). On the morning of the 22nd day, a strong little blue Ameraucana had hatched from an egg that was dated 10-10. After a few more days, I broke the others open and found only yolks. Little “Indi” is now a week old and is thriving in my office with her/his pet moose and can hold her/his own with the family dog.  
Sharon Yorks
Mark 11:23

(Don't tell God how big your problem is, tell your problem how big your God is!)

Sharon Yorks

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2011, 10:22:52 PM »
Indi and Sophie.
Sharon Yorks
Mark 11:23

(Don't tell God how big your problem is, tell your problem how big your God is!)

dixieland

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2011, 10:54:47 PM »
Awesome! We have a Buff that hatched from eggs that we brought back from Indy, so maybe he\'ll be Buff Indy----since you have Blue Indy!!!

vanalpaca

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2012, 09:43:00 PM »
My lockdown is Weds, small cabinet 3 shelf bator, egg turners, temps are somewhere between 101.5 and 99 according to my 5 thermometers....Humidity has been 45-50%.
39 eggs set, now looks like only 23 have chicks. Weighed several and they didn\'t change weight AT All. These are the Wellie eggs as I don\'t have Ameraucanas of my own to hatch until next season. They are super dark and difficult to candle (so middle of the night went down and did the flashlight and got some kind of an idea of which ones might make it).

Now it sounds like FEED might be the issue? I use DUMOR Layer Crumbles, 16% and get in the \'all natural\' Kalambach Layer Crumbles 20% most of the time. So what else should I be feeding my hens? And how much a day? They are penned.
This is just to get really good hatching eggs......

Christie Rhae

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2012, 12:39:25 AM »
I am far from a pro compared to the veterans on this board but....  I have hatched a fair amount of eggs.  I only use the styro incubators so far.  Can\'t wait to justify buying one of those big daddy incubators!
Anyhooo..  I add nearly no water at all the first 18 days.  I just let the incubator run.  Those eggs need to lose weight. If I see the humidity at 10% for a day or so I will add a teaspoon of water.  Then when it gets close to hatch day I put water in the channels (styro incubator) and add a jar of water with a sponge half immersed.  This gets the humidity up to about 65%.  
With this method I have never had a chick die in the shell.  All eggs that start to develop will hatch.  The only ones that do not hatch are eggs that never started to develop for one reason or another.
Shipped eggs of course have dismal hatch rates just because they never even start developing.  Eggs from my own pens have near perfect hatch rates.

vanalpaca

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2012, 10:15:43 AM »
These are my own fertile eggs. All had bull\'s eyes when I broke them open prior to saving eggs for hatching.

I added no water whatsoever and cabinet runs at 45%-50%. It isn\'t a big cabinet, about 24 inches high, 2 bulbs for heat and 2 fans for circulation. This is my second time trying to hatch from it. Last time I had 36 rockers and only 10-12 hatched.

I am a bit concerned that the eggs didn\'t \'dry down\' at all. They should have lost weight. But with electronic variables, it\'s just as possible that the digital scale is variable between weighings when we are talking grams. It just weighs to the nearest gram or 10th of an ounce depending on the switch. So just like the thermometers having a variance, I guess.

My next setting won\'t be until April. Unless I find some high quality Ameraucan hens to put with my Black, Splash, and Blue roos I\'m picking up in Indiana, I won\'t have any eggs to set this year of Ameraucana. I don\'t mind a short drive of 2 hours or so to pick up a nice quality hen while my chicks grow up......

angora831

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IDEAL humidity for lockdown
« Reply #14 on: March 20, 2012, 10:18:49 AM »
[If it is a feed issue you will see lots of burn-outs between days 14-18. Micro and macro nutrients should be considered for non-foraging birds. Everybody has their favorite, I like Kelp meal, but other things work well. ]

Michael, where do you purchase your kelp meal at?  The sources that I have found online are all on the east coast and their shipping costs are pretty steep even for small amounts.