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Ridgerunner said:
Not sure what "popular opinion" you are talking about. I hatch my hen's eggs, both with an incubator and with broody hens. Some hatches are better than others but generally pretty good. I've hatched shipped eggs twice. One hatch was fabulous, the other horrible. The two averaged out to about 50% but each was way different in the results.

Actual hatching can vary a lot but usually when one hatches it lives. It sounds like you are talking about them dying after they hatch. Not sure what's going on there.
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Popular opinion was a lengthy thread on hatch rates with bresse and that because their eggs are larger they need to be dry incubated to reduce the moisture to succeed.
Not my experience!
 
That's not my popular opinion. Mine is more along the lines that different things work for different people. I try to start with standard recommendations like the incubator manufacturers recommend. See how it goes. If you need to based on what you see, tweak it. I settled on a 39 to 40% humidity for my incubator with my eggs. Took me 4 or 5 hatches to get there. Hopefully you can find what works for you.
 
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full disclosure I "borrowed" this image from google but I like that it shows both chicken and turkey/duck
Track air cells. If the air cell is growing too fast you need to raise the humidity. If its growing too slow lower the humidity. Here in very Dry Colorado I have better luck running 30 to 35% humidity on my own eggs from my backyard, unless they are Very Dark ones then I have better luck at lower humidity, if I "run dry" my humidity runs about 10% and nothing lives.
If I am incubating shipped eggs or very light and porous eggs then I have better luck closer to 50% humidity. It also changes from summer to winter.
 
Ridgerunner said:
That's not my popular opinion. Mine is more along the lines that different things work for different people. I try to start with standard recommendations like the incubator manufacturers recommend. See how it goes. If you need to based on what you see, tweak it. I settled on a 39 to 40% humidity for my incubator with my eggs. Took me 4 or 5 hatches to get there. Hopefully you can find what works for you.
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That is normal humidity on a dry run here for me in Oregon other than getting down to 29% on hot days. Otherwise it’s up at 58% or so using manufacturers requests of filling the tray.
I’m not about to spend another $50 on eggs so we will have to wait for my own lol
 
aliciaplus3 said:
View attachment 2262349full disclosure I "borrowed" this image from google but I like that it shows both chicken and turkey/duck
Track air cells. If the air cell is growing too fast you need to raise the humidity. If its growing too slow lower the humidity. Here in very Dry Colorado I have better luck running 30 to 35% humidity on my own eggs from my backyard, unless they are Very Dark ones then I have better luck at lower humidity, if I "run dry" my humidity runs about 10% and nothing lives.
If I am incubating shipped eggs or very light and porous eggs then I have better luck closer to 50% humidity. It also changes from summer to winter.
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That’s absolutely true. If you are at altitude like most people in Colorado are, your eggshells may be sturdier and less porous than shells from people down in the lowlands. Eggshells from my hens (2400 m or 7500+ feet) require a good whack to break.

From what I’ve read, if you are at altitude with eggs from your backyard or neighboring locations at altitude, your incubator can be run at a little less humidity than standard recommendations.

My experience is almost exclusively with broody hens hatching eggs laid in the nests here at 2400 m altitude. I have hatched one chick from a staggered hatch in a new incubator and was able to graft it on to the hen.

Try to source hatching eggs from neighbors or people who live higher.

Don’t trust eggs from lowlanders. You would need to adjust the humidity very high for those. The shells may be too porous and the eggs will lose water too quickly under normal operation.
 
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To take all the monitor work out of it, here what I did and have been working great. I have Brinsea Octagon 20 with auto turner, no humility pump.

-Fill 1 reservoir with water when temperature < 70F, the humidity around 35-45%.

-Fill 2 reservoirs with water when temperature > 70F, the humidity around 35-45%.

-Add resuable sponge or wick towel to reservoir at 18 days for chicken. This increase humidity to around 70-85%.

-Refill water once a week.
 
speedy2020 said:
To take all the monitor work out of it, here what I did and have been working great. I have Brinsea Octagon 20 with auto turner, no humility pump.

-Fill 1 reservoir with water when temperature < 70F, the humidity around 35-45%.

-Fill 2 reservoirs with water when temperature > 70F, the humidity around 35-45%.

-Add resuable sponge or wick towel to reservoir at 18 days for chicken. This increase humidity to around 70-85%.

-Refill water once a week.
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If someone lives in a climate where their normal humidity is different than yours they will get different results even with the same number of reservoirs filled.
 
Howdie from Haskell, Oklahoma. I'm looking for Bresse hatching eggs. Looks like the last post here was a month ago. I hope you're all just taking a break. I'm recently retired from the glamorous world of public education (thank you, COVID-19), and I'm planning to rebuild my flock from scratch. I currently have a few laying hens (8 and 9 years old) and a 9-year-old rooster of undetermined parentage. I want to establish a flock of purebred Breese. Please initiate a private conversation if you have fertile eggs available. Thank you! Poco Pollo
 
Poco Pollo said:
Howdie from Haskell, Oklahoma. I'm looking for Bresse hatching eggs. Looks like the last post here was a month ago. I hope you're all just taking a break. I'm recently retired from the glamorous world of public education (thank you, COVID-19), and I'm planning to rebuild my flock from scratch. I currently have a few laying hens (8 and 9 years old) and a 9-year-old rooster of undetermined parentage. I want to establish a flock of purebred Breese. Please initiate a private conversation if you have fertile eggs available. Thank you! Poco Pollo
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The best place to buy is locally from Craigslist in your area. I can also find from Ebay if no other option is available.

Oklahoma Craigslist
https://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/ok
 

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