What is the ideal humidity for hatching in an incubator?

[Intheswamp]

afarrell1982 , you might give your location/climate and maybe some of the experienced hatchers in your area will give you some guidelines to work within. Starting out without personal experience or some type of guideline is somewhat like throwing darts blindfolded...you know the general direction but can't see the dartboard, much less the bullseye.

Also, you might add your location to your profile so that when someone looks at a post of yours they'll know about where your located...doesn't have to be an exact location, like me...south Alabama.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[gbartha]

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.

I couldn't agree with you more. With my eggs, I had mixed colored eggs. The darker eggs lost less water mass than my lighter eggs so I would adjust my humidity every couple of days based on their weight.

 

[Bernadine503]

I think humidity is the most difficult thing. And it changes so much! You put water in and it rises and then slowly goes down. And you have to open the bator which everyone says NOT to do.

My husband made something for me to help with humidity. A funnel with clear tubing attached. I can put it through the hole and add water that way. I am going to try it for my next hatch.

I hope SOMEONE has some sort of answer for this question on humidity.

I live in Oregon and live about 30 minutes from the Coast, elevation at about 500 ft. I have a Hovabator 1602N (with fan) and kept my temp at 99-100*, and humidity at 65-70 the entire hatch, all 21 days. The humidity will rise a bit with the first pip...but that's okay.

I never opened the bator. I used a clear tube attached to a funnel and added water throught the vent holes on top of the bator. I kept the vent holes unplugged the entire hatch. I only candled on the 17th day when they went into "lock down" to make sure they were viable.

On the 21st day I got the first pip. By the 22nd day all 6 out of 7 eggs hatched, White Frizzle/Smooth Cochin chicks!! They are now 6 wks old, healthy and happy. I never had any problems with them, not even pasty butt.

 

[jophus]

I've started dry-hatching with very good results. I try and keep my humidity under 40%, which is sometimes difficult in late spring and early summer. When it gets too high, I add rice in a small bowl to drop it where I want it.

I look at my air cells once a week and make sure they are developing like I want.

Last 3 days I go up as high as 75%, depending on my air cells and how well the chicks are getting out of the shells. Last hatch of the year I went 15/15.

I've hatched bantams, large fowl and turkeys this way.

 

[losttexan]

As several others have posted here, I became much happier, less stressed, and more successful once I just started ignoring humidity levels completely and added/subtracted water based on weight loss of the eggs. For rare or difficult eggs, I weigh every 3 days, and adjust water accordingly. Much better way to go!

 

[kjscortez]

As several others have posted here, I became much happier, less stressed, and more successful once I just started ignoring humidity levels completely and added/subtracted water based on weight loss of the eggs. For rare or difficult eggs, I weigh every 3 days, and adjust water accordingly. Much better way to go!

Hi, I'm curious about weighing for air sacs. Do you weigh each egg individually or the entire group? Tuesday will be 7 days, I"ll take out infertile and thought I might try this for the remainder of the hatch. Thanks!
** also, I'm in Texas, too...our humidity has been horrendous the last few days. So we probably have similar climates. (northeast texas)

 

[losttexan]

If I'm doing a specialty batch (less than 10 eggs), I weigh individually. If a large batch (40 or so) and the parentage is similar, I'll do an average.
Sometimes, I have a large batch, but with disparate breeds sizes (bantams, silkies, seramas, etc.) - I will take the time and weigh individually. That way, if I have different adjustments that need to be made, I can always move them to separate incubators.

 

[Bantu]

Still no pip at day 22.I followed my incubators advice for 55% humidity and their air cells weren't as large as they should have been. I'm assuming I drowned my black copper marans.

My welsummers are doing great since I read your advice on here and lowered the humidity to 40%. They are on day 13 and live and well.

 

[WVduckchick]

Still no pip at day 22.I followed my incubators advice for 55% humidity and their air cells weren't as large as they should have been. I'm assuming I drowned my black copper marans.

My welsummers are doing great since I read your advice on here and lowered the humidity to 40%. They are on day 13 and live and well.

BCMs from what I've read, do much better with really low humidity. Like 20's! I would think welsummers would be similar with such dark shells.

 

[jophus]

Still no pip at day 22.I followed my incubators advice for 55% humidity and their air cells weren't as large as they should have been. I'm assuming I drowned my black copper marans.

My welsummers are doing great since I read your advice on here and lowered the humidity to 40%. They are on day 13 and live and well.

55% is, in my experience, way too high. It causes to chicks to be too large, and unable to get turned so they can pip. I've hatched BCM's at 35-40% with great results.