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Thursday, 5 April 2018

More eggs. Day 5 of incubation

Sadly Chesney didn't make it, but we have more eggs in the incubators (did you notice that... not incubator... incubators!)
The one on the left (Novital) doesn't manage the humidity, we replaced it with the one on the left, but as we were having problems with batches I have put both on so we can compare. They are each (approx) half full of our eggs and ones I bought (10 White Legbar, 4 Marans 10 tricolour sussex).

For the Brinsea (right hand) it is easy to weigh all the eggs together as they are in a tray that lifts out. In the other one it is more difficult as you have to take each egg out individually. I just weighed 5 of them together and hope it is evenly spread. They are being weighed throughout the incubation process to assess whether humidity is correct. We are looking to lose between 10% and 13% over the incubation period. This creates a correct sized air cell in the egg for the chick to use while hatching.

Starting weights were
Novital - 254
Brinsea - 1717

After 4 days we have
Novital - 245
Brinsea 1666

Percentage loss
Novital - 3.54%
Brinsea - 2.97%

Extrapolating from 4 days to 18 days (incubation is actually 21 days but humidity much higher in final 3 days so not much weight loss)
Novital - 12.74%
Brinsea - 10.69%

So broadly humidity is good. Might turn it down a fraction in the Brinsea. The Novital is much less adjustable as there is just a pot you will with water. Hard to change the surface area of it. I could add another pot or remove water for a few days if required...

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