The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Housing, Health & Hatching
Please help with incubation
Christie Merrill:
Thanks for all the great advice! I think we will set eggs every three weeks to see how it turns out. We are worried about cleaning while there are other eggs incubating. Just want to play it safe until we get the hang of this hatching thing. We have a basement to store our eggs. It's generally between 55 and 70 degrees, and is kind of damp. We are also using our automatic egg turner and have a couple of cartons that we turn three times per day (i.e. morning, evening, and at bed time). Is this enough turning for stored eggs? We are also thinking about using our old Styrofoam incubator for hatching every week after our first three week batch is done. We can always switch back to setting every three weeks.
Finally, we are having trouble keeping the humidity between 50-52%. Most of the time it is between 48-54%, and it has gotten as low as 44% and and high as 58%. Is this okay?
Tailfeathers, how do you keep you humidity at 50-52? We add water about every three days, and I have to place a sponge part of the way in the tray on the second day. How in the world am I gonna get the humidity up to 75%? We won't be as concerned in the spring, because of our climate her in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
Tailfeathers:
Kevin, I don't know if by setting every 3wks you also mean to store eggs for 3wks before setting them but, if so, I don't recommend that. I know I've set eggs as old as 15dys but I usually don't like to set any older than 10dys at the most.
I don't clean my incubator until the end of hatching or just before I start. I do pull the aluminum tray out and wash it after each hatching. But that's it.
I only turn my stored eggs 2-3x a day.
I have my Sportsman in the house. Only way I could find to keep the Temp constant. To keep the humidity between 50-52, I just close off the vents in the back until it holds. I also have the 5gal reservoir sitting on top the incubator. So the water tray stays pretty full all the time. Depending on the humidity there, you may or may not have to leave the sponge in all the time.
I don't think I've ever seen the humidity hit 75% with the possible exception of once when the float stuck and I woke up to 5gal of water all over the floor. I know I've also let the water run dry (nobody's ever accused me of being the brightest bulb in the socket) and seen the humidity dip into the mid-30's. Personally, I don't sweat it. I figure the weather under a broody is never perfectly constant and they get off the eggs at times so as long as it's not prolonged for days, I doubt there'd be a problem. At least I've not experienced one. I get very few quitters. Most eggs that don't hatch are blanks though I will say that I've noticed a higher percentage of quitters of all my breeds in the very porous Ameraucana and Buckeye eggs.
Hope that helps...
God Bless,
John:
Check out some of these older treads for some ideas...
http://ameraucanabreedersclub.org/forum/index.php?topic=2182.0
http://ameraucanabreedersclub.org/forum/index.php?topic=1704.0
--- Quote ---How in the world am I gonna get the humidity up to 75%?
--- End quote ---
GQF Instructions say...
--- Quote ---"Recommended humidity level for most eggs is 45—55% setting and 55—65% hatching. Setting the humidity over 65% is not recommended."
--- End quote ---
The more surface area of water the more humidity, so pans of water in the hatchery room help or a humidifier if needed. A wick in the incubator helps, but making the vent holes smaller will really increase the humidity.
--- Quote ---we turn three times per day (i.e. morning, evening, and at bed time). Is this enough turning for stored eggs?
--- End quote ---
Once a day is all that is needed. A 60 degree room with plenty of humidity works. You can see in the photo I have 3 large water pans on the portable egg storage rack (on casters) to add humidity to the room so the eggs hopefully won’t dry down. There are also some pails and pans with water in the room to boost humidity.
Mike Gilbert:
Here is a handy reference to help troubleshoot incubation and management problems.
http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/trouble.html#RN
I sat 85 eggs on January 4th, candled them twice now and have 75 healthy embryos scheduled to come off Sunday or Monday morning (depends on thermometer calibration). Then I sat 40 more on the 11th, of which 35 are good so far. Pretty fair results considering the time of year, short days, no extra lighting, and the cold weather we had when I was saving eggs. Many of these will go to local kids for 4-H projects. I'll hatch more for myself in late February or March.
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