What is the ideal humidity for hatching in an incubator?

[technome]

Put it in a room with a dehumidifier?

never thought about it. Let's see what happens, if nothing hatches I'll check Amazon for a cheap dehumidifier.

 

[gbartha]

I also read somewhere about putting rice inside the bator to decrease humidity.

 

[PD-Riverman]

never thought about it. Let's see what happens, if nothing hatches I'll check Amazon for a cheap dehumidifier.

Check craigslist, or for sale sights---I have several I bought used working great de-humidifiers. I would put the dehumidifier in a single room with the incubator----that will bring the humidity down for sure. Yes a container of rice inside will bring it down some too.

 

[bluenosechicken]

Now stable at 55% will take it back up to ^0-65% at day 18 weather hard to deal with here.

 

[rebellover]

I had the same problem when I started out. My humidty was to low and it cause the chicks to shrink wrap, which is where the membrane drys and draws up around the chick suffocating it. So I raised my humidity which was 70% and the chicks drowned because it caused to much fluid build up in the eggs. Plus I had problems keeping my temp correct so I had some to freeze. Finally got help. The ideal temp is between 100&101.. the ideal humidity is 60-65% no more than 68. You don't want the temp below 99.5 or they can freeze inside the egg. The outside temp (outside of your incubator or hatched should stay between 60 and 80 degrees F... the outside temp and humidity can effect the inside. Which it does depend on what kind of incubator and hatched you are using. Mine is a GQF cabinet incubator/hatcher combo. I hope this helps. I went through 3 batches of eggs before I finally got everything straightened out.

 

[technome]

This guy just popped out today. Thanks for your help!

 

[Bantu]

at what point should I see air cells in my hatching eggs?

 

[afarrell1982]

I have a an incubator and its manual is saying humidity needs to be between 55-75%.Forums that i am reading is stating it needs to be much lower but i dont seem to be able to adjust humidity how can i lower it myself. Thanks in advance.

 

[gbartha]

I have a an incubator and its manual is saying humidity needs to be between 55-75%.Forums that i am reading is stating it needs to be much lower but i dont seem to be able to adjust humidity how can i lower it myself. Thanks in advance.

Personally that seems very high for the first couple of days. I have had chicks drown in their shell from too high of humidity. To lower it, you can run it dry (add zero water) to the wells. That gave me about 35%. If you are in FL or a place with High Humidity, then add rice to the incubator. That should bring the humidity down. Do you have a calibrated hygrometer?

 

[junebuggena]

Bottom line, humidity is something that you need to constantly be assessing and adjusting. It's not a fixed number. That's why candling or weighing you eggs is important. You need to be keeping track of air cell development or weight loss. And then you adjust accordingly. What works for one person in the spring, might not work in the fall. What works for one incubator will not work for all. Climate and even elevation are factors as well. There is no one 'magic' number. You have to figure out what will work best for your particular situation, at that given time. And it is a lot of trial and error.