Should I ignore the directions that came with my incubator?

[tabinal]

With all these different ways of incubating, I'm worried I should have not even looked at the directions. This is my first attempt and I'm using a Farm Innovator with a fan and egg turner on 38 eggs. I have 2 extra thermometers and a hygrometer. Temps have been between 99 and 100. The directions with the incubator say to keep humidity at 55-60% bumping up to 65% @ lockdown. After reading a good bit here, I'm afraid I might have a bad hatch. I'm on day 5 now and have been trying to stay 50 or under, but it did sneak up to 60 one night. I've added no water since day one. So should I change anything?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

With all these different ways of incubating, I'm worried I should have not even looked at the directions. This is my first attempt and I'm using a Farm Innovator with a fan and egg turner on 38 eggs. I have 2 extra thermometers and a hygrometer. Temps have been between 99 and 100. The directions with the incubator say to keep humidity at 55-60% bumping up to 65% @ lockdown. After reading a good bit here, I'm afraid I might have a bad hatch. I'm on day 5 now and have been trying to stay 50 or under, but it did sneak up to 60 one night. I've added no water since day one. So should I change anything?

Personally I would never run that high for the first 18 days, but I prefer the low humidity incubation methods. You are only on day 5 so you have plenty of time to straighten it and average it out. The best way to figure out if your humidity is right for your eggs is to monitor the air cells, (this is how I do it) or weigh the eggs to make sure that they are loosing the proper amount of moisture. The low humidity method works especially well with the styro bators (with the exception of being in a high altitude). If you aren't in a high altitude,, I strongly suggest it. I'll leave you a link to some info on it and it has a pic graph you can use to compare air cells.

http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

 

[tabinal]

Thanks.I don't have a scale so I didn't weigh the eggs. Maybe next time. I'm going to try to keep the humidity down till lock down and cross my fingers.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Good luck!!

 

[FridayYet]

Don't forget to mark your air cells so you can follow their progression:

Like Amy said, you have plenty of time to adjust. Hope you have a good hatch!

 

[tabinal]

Thanks! It snowed today and the humidity dropped to 24% for a bit. This is like a roller coaster, lol.

 

[DanEP]

Unfortunately the only way your going to learn what works for you and your incubator is through trial and error. When I first started I ran my humidity at 45-50% for the first eighteen days and bumped it up to 60-65% for lock down. At these levels I had about a 50% hatch rate. But thru trial and error I have found a much lower humidity level gives me a 80-90% hatch rate with my Brinsea eco 20 bator. This works for me but may not work for you all you can do is try different things and see what works for you. I would try to lower your humidity rates a little tho because if you don't your air cells may not grow large enough for your chicks to breath when they pip internally. They need to to breath the air in the air cell till they pip the shell itself.