Air cell incubation question

[carlaashdown]

Long story short, I have 3 turkey eggs in my incubator that were originally under a hen that got killed. Not sure of the exact incubation day they are at but appears to be maybe 15ish days. The air cell in one of the eggs in much smaller than the others and looks to be at about 7 days. The size of this air cell has not changed since I got the eggs a week ago. The chick, however, is active and has continued to grow, appears to be the same age as the others. The air cells in the other 2 eggs are progressing normally.

I have a Nurture Right 360. Humidity is 50-52%. Temp at 99.5. Room temp says about 73-74 with humidity of around 50%. We live in a hot, humid, coastal area, so our outside humidity is high. The eggs were originally under a hen outside for approximately one week.

I opened the vent more this morning after candling to reduce the humidity some, hoping the smaller one will improve.

Any other suggestions?

I've never hatched turkey eggs before. Everything I've read says humidity at 55%. And a friend of mine who hatches turkeys keeps hers at 50-55% with a strong success rate. Yet, on here, I see others saying they use lower humidity.

 

[R2elk]

Everything I've read says humidity at 55%. And a friend of mine who hatches turkeys keeps hers at 50-55% with a strong success rate.

I don't know where you are reading this but it is bad advice. I incubate my turkey eggs at 30% to 35% humidity.

The other thing is Don't use the vent to control the humidity. The vent needs to be open, especially during lock down.

Control the humidity by controlling the surface area of the water in the incubator. To lower humidity, decrease the surface area of they water. To raise humidity, increase the surface area of the water.

Use a salt calibrated hygrometer to check the humidity in the incubator. Do not trust the hygrometer that comes with the incubator.

If your ambient humidity in the room the incubator is in, is 60% and you haven't added any water to the incubator, the humidity in the incubator will be in the mid 30% humidity range.

 

[carlaashdown]

I don't know where you are reading this but it is bad advice. I incubate my turkey eggs at 30% to 35% humidity.

The other thing is Don't use the vent to control the humidity. The vent needs to be open, especially during lock down.

Control the humidity by controlling the surface area of the water in the incubator. To lower humidity, decrease the surface area of they water. To raise humidity, increase the surface area of the water.

Use a salt calibrated hygrometer to check the humidity in the incubator. Do not trust the hygrometer that comes with the incubator.

If your ambient humidity in the room the incubator is in, is 60% and you haven't added any water to the incubator, the humidity in the incubator will be in the mid 30% humidity range.

Thank you for replying!

Every turkey hatcher on the web that I've read says 55% and the incubator's manual. I do appreciate hearing the real-life stories and experiences here. Definitely more accurate!

I've had the vent half open for the duration of incubation that I've had them (one week today). Opened it to 3/4 this morning, per the manual's instruction on reducing humidity. I have not kept the water reservoir full only adding water when it gets really low. I have found in the past that the hygrometer with my 360 tends to be pretty accurate, but I will get another one to test it again.

Hopefully I can get it down to 30-35% today. What % at lockdown?

I'm still only guesstimating at number of incubation days at this point.

 

[R2elk]

Thank you for replying!

Every turkey hatcher on the web that I've read says 55% and the incubator's manual. I do appreciate hearing the real-life stories and experiences here. Definitely more accurate!

I've had the vent half open for the duration of incubation that I've had them (one week today). Opened it to 3/4 this morning, per the manual's instruction on reducing humidity. I have not kept the water reservoir full only adding water when it gets really low. I have found in the past that the hygrometer with my 360 tends to be pretty accurate, but I will get another one to test it again.

Hopefully I can get it down to 30-35% today. What % at lockdown?

I'm still only guesstimating at number of incubation days at this point.

I have no idea why the incubator manufacturers all seem to be pushing the 50% humidity during incubation but they all seem to do it.

I use 65% to 70% humidity at lock down and the vents wide open.

Depending on your ambient humidity you may not need to be putting any water in during the incubation phase. If your ambient humidity is 60% you should not need any added water.

My ambient humidity is 20% so I have to add water to get it up to 30% to 35% humidity. Later in the summer my ambient humidity is 60% because of running a swamp cooler. I do not add any water during incubation at that time.

 

[carlaashdown]

Great information! Thank you for your help!