Incubator question

Tahir · **Posted:** Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:11 pm

hi everyone,
is it alright if you have eggs that are about 7 days old with a batch about 18 days in the incubator and raise the humidity for the other eggs :?:

any help will be greatly appreciated

bunyanuternie · **Joined:** Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:31 pm **Posts:** 2903

It's probably not the best Tahir , I try to put all mine in on the same day or over a few days , It will only become a problem when the first ones start to hatch , Although I have done it in the past .I do try to avoid it now,

Tahir · **Posted:** Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:35 pm

thanks ian

thats all i wanted to know :-D

pjh · **Posted:** Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:21 pm

I try to set eggs every 9 days so then have one batch at whatever day and another group 9 days ahead----I do have a seperate hatcher though and move the eggs to that at day 18 and up the humidity :lol:

I do know people though that have different batches in the one incubator----the eggs at different stages loose different amounts of moisture, the idea being that the different groups will balance out the moisture requirements :-D

I have been told it is the overall humidity that counts over the entire incubation---and it will balance out---but you should up the humidity when a batch is due to hatch----cheers pam

greenaus · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:35 am

I think Tahir's already indicated this his question was answered, but I'll throw my hat in the ring, too.

I added 8 new eggs on day 16 of the batch from which my original four chickens hatched. From day 18, because I was hoping more would hatch from that batch, I kept the humidity at around 75-85% for a total of about 7 days.

I then dropped the humidity to around 50% as I recall.

Five of those eight went under a broody on day 19 and four hatched.

So, the early humidity didn't seem to hurt in my case.

I am heading for a similar situation now.

Fingers crossed...I have two of my own eggs due to hatch in around 5 days (ooh...that soon...hope I remember to stop turning), another 2 due to hatch 5 days after that and then the ones from Ian two days later.

I've had the humidity too high (70s) for most of the past week so I'm in for one hell of a test. I have the humidity at 60% now and intend to leave it between 50 and 60% for the earlier hatches so I don't put the big batch at risk.

As much as I don't want to lose any eggs, I'm not going to risk 40 to save the four.

Egglive · **Joined:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:58 am **Posts:** 267

I set every Friday, and have a batch hatching every week. I hatch in the main incubator and have excellent hatch rates. I keep the water trays full and don't worry about changing it at all. Everything just keeps hatching. When I check the humidity it ranges between 60 & 70% most of the time, which I think is a bit more than required for the early stages, and a big less than sometimes recommended for hatch time. If I think the chicks look a bit stuck, I just give them a spray, put them back, and they come out no worries.

County Lodge · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:20 am

I have had chicks hatch at all differnet times with my new incubator because I am impatient and want to hatch everything. NOw I hope to behave myself.

As my incubator has an auto turn I take the eggs that are at day 18 and put them in a basket (on that non slip matting that PJH out me onto, Thanks Pam) in the incubator to stop that lot of eggs turning and I up the humidity to 70% for the last three days. All the eggs in the incubator are subjected to the high humidity. Once the eggs in the basket hatch I take out the basket with the chicks and put the chicks in the brooder (agian on the non slip matting Pam recommended). I then lower the humidity for the other eggs to 50% for about 5 days then put it back up to 60 to 63% until day 18 for the next batch of eggs.

Everyone of my chicks have hatched and survived to date.

I think the temp is much more important than the humidity as long as the humidity is quite high at hatch time.

Egglive · **Joined:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:58 am **Posts:** 267

Yep - I would agree totally CL - my experience is the same.

Tahir · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 1:10 pm

thanks everyone

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