Hi,
This is my first attempt to incubate eggs. I have 19 chicks alive in the 7 day eggs but the air cell seems larger than pictures I have seen. It is dry out here and I do add water. I read an article about "drowning" the chicks with too much water in the foam incubators and to try "dry incubation" I am just very concerned of what might happen if the egg dries out to much. Can that happen? Help...
Need advice air cell seems too large in hatching eggs
Don't forget that in the article about dry incubating, they recommend the room humidity to be at 50%.. so that is not dry incubating in my opinion!
Some eggs do dry down quite a bit and are still okay. It is early in the process, to up the humidity if you HAVE to..
What is the humidity in your bator? What kind of bator? Forced air?
How much larger is the air cell in your eggs?
Lots of questions, I know.. :)
If you think the air cell is too big just bring up your humidity and it will slow down the evaporation rate.
Do you have a hygrometer to measure the relative humidity? It should be about 60 during the incubation and 70 during the hatch. You really, really, really can't go by the foam incubator's instructions to keep the different "wells" filled.
You can get a cheap thermometer/hygrometer at Walmart for about $8.00 or a better one for about twice as much online (the ones they sell for cigar humidors are very good).
Like ZZ says--different eggs dry down at different rates--so it is easiest to use a hygrometer.
Thank you everyone for helping. Sorry I was looking at eggs on ebay yesterday and time just flew by....
Well, I bought a hygrometer and guess what? I was drowning the poor chicks. 96% humidity! Oh my gosh! So I have it about 47% to see if I can repair any damage done. I will bring it back up this afternoon. I sure hope they are alright by hatch time. They are still alive and kicking right now.
I should have never started incubating. It is the most addicting hobby. I am going to be eating alot of chicken in the months to come!
LOL You are so right.. hatching is right up there at the top of addicting hobbies.. way up there! Don't ask how I know.. a lil bird told me.. LOL
47% is almost ideal.. That's where I like mine to sit... 40 to 55 is where my last few hatches have incubated..
The short time the rh was that high probably won't do any damage.. That early in the incubation they are expert swimmers.. :)
crossing my fingers and sending hatching dust and good vibes ur way for a good hatch. come on little babies!!!!
zz is right the closer it happened to the begining of incubation the better. i'd not be to worried about it but be prepared just incase, if happened last few days i'd be worried sick but i think most should be fine at that stage.
Thank you Silkiechick! Always so good to see you here! You are a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.
I'm sending good hatching vibes too...
come on lil wut wut babiez!!!
You are both so fun! Thanks, I need all the hatching dust I can get. I am so out of control I want every egg out there.
But my DH thinks it is great and says I can have all the chickens I want. Sweet man.
Of course he loves chicken!
I probably should not have, but I bought some black copper french marans. A bit spendy but they sound like an excellent bird. And a challange with those dark eggs. I won't mention the other ones I got because it will just prove my sickness
Oh you sweet lucky woman you! LOL You have a gem of a hubby that's for sure! You are no longer alone!! You get to be as sick as you want on here, we don't judge you buy the eggs you buy.. LOL If we did, I'd be in a straight jacket already!
Marans are beautiful birds.. I love the black Marans.. they have beautiful eyes! Really nice eggs too. If you butcher, Marans have a lot of dark meat and taste like turkey!
I have a lil secret.. Don't tell anyone, but I am on a major Serama binge right now.. I want every serama egg out there.. Oh wait.. That's right, I have them!!!!!!! LOL
Or was that Modern Game??? Mr Salee gave me Modern Game eggs!!
Then there are the Lavender Ameraucana..
That's it.. Um.. really I'm not buying any more eggs..
for now.. (I cannot tell a lie, so I had to add that)
The funniest thing just happened. ZZ asked if she could drop by. She gave me a nice cold bottle of water that tasted funny....then everything went blurry. I just woke up on the front lawn.
Where did the 40 eggs in my incubator come from?
LOL Hope you didn't bump your head too hard Catsy.. From the sound of that wild story I don't know.. What eggs? I don't even have.. Hey wait!!! You must have gotten struck by the Serama Fairy!
See Rustyswoman?? What did I tell ya? Feel like your in with family here? LOL
lol, i'm a hatchaholic for sure so no worries ur not the only one. yep zz it right we r a big family here at dave's and u will fit in just perfect with the rest of us,lol. i hatched cb marans and cuckoo marans but ended up looseing them to weak stock or preditors. i want to buy more cb marans again eventually. right now my only dark layer is my welsummers. here is a pic of 3 of their eggs next to white and ee eggs. sometimes they r a little lighter with beautiful speckles too. what all breeds do u raise?
