Humidity question

[snaffle]

I bought a new incubator. A Genesis.
first hatch was pretty successful.

My humidity was 21% for most of the hatch.

I moved the eggs to a 'hatching" incubabor on the 18th day.

After the 1st hatch someone told me the humidity should always be close to 50%
I raised the humidity close to that in the hatching incubator and only had
1/2 the eggs hatch. The remaining eggs had full sized chicks in them.

In the genesis I have made sure the humidity is close to 50.
Is that wrong? Have I killed all the chicks?

 

[cochin44]

50% is not that bad, so I don't think you killed anything. As a rough guideline, humidity shoud be 40-50% for 18 days then about 75% therafter. I live in a very humid location, so I dont use any water till day 18.

 

[BantamBabesFarm]

My family has been using a 55% humidity level this season and its causing their eggs / chicks to pip once and then die in the shell. I read that when this happens the humidity level is making the chicks too big for the shell, hence not letting them have enough room to turn and zip.


Now we are trying humidity levels at 39-40% in one and 30-35% in another as an experiement to see if this is indeed why we are having a terrible time.

Good luck and just type in the search bar "Humidity" and you will have so much to read your brain may melt... but its worth it!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

They day 1-18 humidity percentage can vary widely by the individual doing the hatching. The final three day (lockdown) percentage should be in the 60-65% range unless you have good reason to know better.

At 21% humidity for days 1-18 and only 50% for the last three days it sounds like you were running too dry.

 

[yinepu]

it's also possible that your hygrometer is off...

the best thing to try at this point is to go with a dry incubation and monitor either the egg weight or the air cell size.. then add water as needed (if needed at all during incubation).. just remember.. not every humidity % works for every person.. so forget what you were told about the whole 50% thing... you need to figure out what the humidity needs to be for YOUR bator in YOUR home.. and yes.,. it will change as the seasons change since parts of the year will be more humid than others...

 

[SierraView]

I've been getting perfect hatches with silkies and bantam cochins running 30% to 35% days 1 - 18 and 60% at lock down. I think having a accurate hygrometer is the key. I got the new hovabator this year with the digital temp humidity its very accurate and improved my hatches being able to get my humidity where I wanted and know its accurate.