Ideal temperature and humidity

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Mendy60

In the Brooder
Sep 1, 2024
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I had a worst hatch on my first time of incubating Guinea eggs. I had 10 eggs and only two hatched. One hatched by itself and I had to assist the other one to hatch. 7 eggs made it to lockdown. On day 28, 5 eggs externally pipped but died in their shell. One hatched with deformed feet.
My incubator is forced air. The temperature was maintained between 37.1 to 37.7. Humidity for the first 25 days was between 55 to 62%. Lockdown humidity was 65 to 73%.
Can anyone please tell me what I did wrong to have this low hatch rate?
What is the ideal temperature and humidity for incubation?
 
In Fahrenheit that means your incubator temp was 98.78 to 99.86 as Fahrenheit is all I know. That's pretty close to where it should be 99.5F or 37.5C and I doubt that had anything to do with it.

The humidity also was fine. I keep mine to about 70%.

Did you stop turning about 3 days before hatching (lockdown). I stop 5 days before hatching as I have silkies who have hatched two days early at times. They just do that though. Nothing too strange.

I also use distilled water for the humidity.

I clean/sterilize the incubator between hatches with Odoban as that kills just about everything including the possibility of Marek's but not confirmed.

You said this was your first hatch, and sometimes, it just goes that way the first time. Every hatch will improve! Do not give up!

Oh, and I'm a stickler for not opening the incubator any more than necessary, so I only candle day 7 and prior to lockdown. That's it!
 
Debbie292d said:
In Fahrenheit that means your incubator temp was 98.78 to 99.86 as Fahrenheit is all I know. That's pretty close to where it should be 99.5F or 37.5C and I doubt that had anything to do with it.

The humidity also was fine. I keep mine to about 70%.

Did you stop turning about 3 days before hatching (lockdown). I stop 5 days before hatching as I have silkies who have hatched two days early at times. They just do that though. Nothing too strange.

I also use distilled water for the humidity.

I clean/sterilize the incubator between hatches with Odoban as that kills just about everything including the possibility of Marek's but not confirmed.

You said this was your first hatch, and sometimes, it just goes that way the first time. Every hatch will improve! Do not give up!

Oh, and I'm a stickler for not opening the incubator any more than necessary, so I only candle day 7 and prior to lockdown. That's it!
Click to expand...
I stopped turning a day before lockdown. Not really sure what happened as the eggs were all developed and could see movements at lockdown. I have read people talking about having success with dry hatching. What do you think about that?
 
Mendy60 said:
I stopped turning a day before lockdown. Not really sure what happened as the eggs were all developed and could see movements at lockdown. I have read people talking about having success with dry hatching. What do you think about that?
Click to expand...
Nope, I won't dry hatch. These are silkies who have shells like porcelain and they need the humidity. I've heard someone say they dry hatch silkies just fine and I don't believe they have pure silkies then or do something different feed-wise to make the eggs not so hard and the membrane not so thick.

To me, it's like the saying if it's not broken, don't fix it.
 
Debbie292d said:
Nope, I won't dry hatch. These are silkies who have shells like porcelain and they need the humidity. I've heard someone say they dry hatch silkies just fine and I don't believe they have pure silkies then or do something different feed-wise to make the eggs not so hard and the membrane not so thick.

To me, it's like the saying if it's not broken, don't fix it.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I’m about to start my 2nd batch. I have few Rhode Island Red eggs I’m going to incubate. Can you give me the humidity and temperature I should use? I don’t want to ruin this hatch.
 
What you had them set for quail is the same for chickens and ducks, mostly anyway. I'd go with those. I wish you the best!

Edit: 37.5C and 40-50% humidity until lockdown, then shoot for 70%. Lockdown should be 3 days prior to their hatch date. Four or five days works the same in case you rather.
 
Debbie292d said:
What you had them set for quail is the same for chickens and ducks, mostly anyway. I'd go with those. I wish you the best!

Edit: 37.5C and 40-50% humidity until lockdown, then shoot for 70%. Lockdown should be 3 days prior to their hatch date. Four or five days works the same in case you rather
Click to expand...
Debbie292d said:
What you had them set for quail is the same for chickens and ducks, mostly anyway. I'd go with those. I wish you the best!

Edit: 37.5C and 40-50% humidity until lockdown, then shoot for 70%. Lockdown should be 3 days prior to their hatch date. Four or five days works the same in case you rather.
Click to expand...
Thank you. My first hatch wasn’t quail. It was Guinea fowl egg. I will go with 37.5 and 40-50 percent humidity and see what happens.
 

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