Got your Eggs?
Your
eggs need to settle for at least 24 hours if they came through the
mail. This allows the air-cell inside the egg to return to it's normal
size. Eggs should always be stored with the pointy end down while they
are "in the hold". It's a good practice to follow and it will help your
hatch!!! If I receive eggs that are getting old, I may only let them
settle overnight.
Incubator ready?
By
the time you have gotten your eggs your incubator should have been
running at least 24 hours. A week is even better. This gives you time to
learn what's going to happen in your incubator and allows you to make
any necessary adjustments before setting your eggs. A sure-fire way to
ruin hatching eggs is to put them in the incubator without having it
properly adjusted. If the eggs reach an internal temperature of 105
degrees you can kiss them good-bye. Take note that I said "internal"
temperature. Don't confuse internal egg temperature with internal
incubator temperature. The temperature in an incubator changes
constantly, rising and lowering. The temperature inside the egg will be
an average of this temperature swing in your bator.
This is plain and simple, yet the MOST important part of hatching.
Still-air incubator (no fan):101.5 degrees measured at the TOP of the eggs.
Fan Forced incubator: 99.5 degrees measured anywhere in the incubator.
You
can sneak by with humidity numbers that aren't very accurate, but the
combination of poor humidity and temperature will definately cause
problems at hatch time. If your temperature is not accurate you will
DEFINATELY have problems at hatch time. The bigger the deviation from
the proper temperature, the bigger your problems will be!
I'm
willing to bet that it isn't. Thermometers go bad. Keeping the
temperature accurate can be a struggle, even with very good
thermometers. I've thrown away many thermometers in past years that I
had considered reliable.
A
nice part about running a big incubator over an extended period is that
you can tweak the temperature regardless of what thermometers tell you.
After the first hatch, you can raise or lower the temperature by what
the hatch tells you. If they hatched early the temperature needs to be
lowered. If they hatch late the temperature needs to be raised.
You
can check your Thermometer this way. Keep notes on everything you do
during the incubation period. As you learn you'll have these notes to
look back on. They will be the most valuable tool that you can have. It
won't be long until you can say "I know what happened, all I need to do
is change this one little thing". Soon you will be able to make
adjustments by knowing what to do, instead of guessing!!!
Humidity
is checked by way of a hygrometer (wet-bulb thermometer) in conjunction
with a regular "dry-bulb" thermometer. A hygrometer is simply a
thermometer with a piece of wick attached to the bulb. The wick hangs in
water to keep the bulb wet (hence the name "wet-bulb thermometer").
When you read the temperature on the thermometer and hygrometer, you
must then compare the readings to a chart to translate from
wet-bulb/dry-bulb reading to "percentage humidity".
From the relative humidity table, you can see.....
60% humidity reads about 87 degrees on a wet-bulb at 99.5 degrees.
60% humidity reads about 89 degrees on a wet-bulb at 101.5 degrees.
80% humidity reads about 93 degrees on a wet-bulb at 99.5 degrees.
80% humidity reads about 95 degrees on a wet-bulb at 101.5 degrees.
Getting
your humidity to become as accurate as your temperature is nearly
impossible. It is almost completely impossible with a small incubator.
Try to get your humidity as close as you can, and you'll be fine. Just
being aware that humidity is important, and trying to get the numbers to
come in close will be a huge help to your hatch.
If you can hold within 10-15% things should turn out fine.
Temperature
on the other hand, is CRITICAL!!!!! I hate to beat this point to death,
but a small deviation in temperature (even a couple degrees) can and
will ruin a hatch. Or, at least turn a potentially great hatch into a
lousy one.
An important point about incubator humidity...
As
seasons change, so goes humidity. When you are incubating eggs in
January and February it will be very difficult to maintain a humidity
that is as high as you like. That's because the outside humidity is so
low. By the same token, when you are incubating in June and July the
outside humidity is usually much greater and the humidity in your
incubator will most likely get much higher than you would like. Hatching
problems will change as the season progresses. If you are doing things
the same way in July as you were in January, you have to expect
different results. All I am trying to say here is that your incubator
humidity changes directly according to the outside humidity. Low
outside, low in the bator. High outside, high in the bator. To adjust
for these problems, you need to change the surface area of water in your
bator.
Surface area?
Surface
area is "the amount of surface of water exposed to air in your
incubator". The depth of water has absolutely no bearing on the humidity
in the incubator (unless the depth is zero). If the humidity is too low
in your bator, add surface area. Place another pan of water in the
incubator, or some small, wet sponges. This will help. To decrease the
humidity, remove surface area. Use smaller containers of water, or undo
some of the things you've added.
The
incubation period for chicken eggs is 21 days. You should turn your
eggs at least twice a day for the first 18 days, and stop turning after
the 18th day. This allows the peep time to orient itself inside the egg
before pipping.
After
day 18, KEEP THE INCUBATOR CLOSED except to add water. This will help
bring the humidity up to help the peeps hatch. I know it will kill you
not to open the incubator 1000 times when it's this close to hatch time,
but it's not good for the peeps. If you haven't bought an incubator
yet, invest the extra couple bucks in the picture window model. Then you
can "see it all" without causing harm to your hatch.
Check
out our page on incubation periods of different fowl to determine how
long it will take your eggs to hatch. The page is named "How Long Does It Take???"
On Thermometers...
Good
thermometers can be found at a few places. Camera stores carry reliable
thermometers. Refrigeration parts/supply stores/warehouses and
Scientific supply outfits carry reliable thermometers as well. The best
investment you will ever make in your hobby is a good, accurate
thermometer for incubation.
Tip...When
picking out a thermometer from a batch of them, you should look at them
all to see if they are reading exactly the same temperature. If not,
save your money, or make sure they can be calibrated.
We also offer a the Water Weasel system that helps controlling and understanding the temperature in your incubator. Read up, you'll be happy you did!!!