Can humidity be too high during hatch?

[groundpecker]

From my personal hatching experience, high humidity only drowns chicks if the humidity is high the first 18 days. 3 days of high humidity during lockdown should not drown the chicks. Matter of fact, the last hatch i had 6 of 8 eggs to hatch and humidity was over 80% during lockdown. I would not worry about it, unless your humidity was high during the first 18 days.

 

[misslady]

For dry incubation humidity at lockdown is best kept at 65-70%. It is natural for the humidity to spike when eggs begin hatching. Here is a link that might be helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html

 

[hmlongino]

Okay. I feel a little better.

I know I shouldn't have, but with so much action and then NONE (and with my humidity plenty high), I cracked the lid and candled one. Temp dropped down to 71%, which is better than the 83% that it had crept back up to.

I saw a good sized air sac and movement.

I figured that checking the air sac is really the best way to tell what is really up with the humidity.

My humidity never dropped lower then 65% at hatch, but is it back to swing, even if it stays at a good number? (Like, if I was really high, like 85%, then is it bad to drop to 70% quickly?



And--- Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU to all the replies! Maybe all is well after all.

I have found that leghorns usually hatch a tad early, but maybe orpingtons / marans tend to hatch a day late... never read that before, just a personal theory!

 

[eggdd]

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thank you. x2.

 

[nurse_turtle]

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You may know for sure if you do eggtopsies of each unhatched egg when you're certain no more will hatch. i think it's rather important to open all unhatched eggs to see what the problem may have been.

 

[hmlongino]

Is there an egtopsy 101 thread?

I'll give it a good long while and make sure any left are goners first, but I probably should try to figure it out!

 

[1234duck]

I have also hatched with humidity high at lock down.

but its not good for temp and humidity spikes. Humidity will go up as they pip and hatch. * What humidity is best for days 1-18 ? Mine had been at 40. Good luck, ~Julie~

 

[hdowden]

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if they were shrink wrapped then the humidity wasnt high enough.

 

[Gypsy07]

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Yup, this is exactly correct. I usually lockdown and hatch at 75-80%, and have occasionally had hatches get as high as 90% without any problems.

If your egg has lost the correct amount of moisture by day 18, it won't regain that moisture during lockdown. That just doesn't happen.

If your egg hasn't lost enough moisture, your chick will most likely still be alive. It physically can't drown until it tries to start breathing air, it doesn't start breathing air until it breaks through the membrane into the air cell, and this won't happen until lockdown. At this point, if there is too much moisture still in your egg, the chick will inhale the moisture and drown. Because the drowning happens during lockdown, people get confused and blame it on a too-high lockdown humidity, when actually the real culprit is a too-high humidity throughout the first 18 days of the incubation.

If you're having problems with figuring out humidity and moisture loss, get yourself a cheap digital kitchen scale and start weighing your eggs. Chicken eggs should lose 13% of their starting weight by day 18, and with a set of scales, you can ensure that this happens. No more humidity problems, as you can check on moisture loss throughout the incubation and adjust your humidity up or down as required to make sure that your eggs lose the correct amount of moisture. No more guessing. No more worrying. It really is that simple and I can thoroughly recommend it.

 

[hmlongino]

My air sacs were just fine ... and I even candled one last night and the air sac is still fine.

So.... what on earth is the problem, I wonder????


Why would 16 chicks not come out of their shells, when they were alive and kickin' 3 days ago when I candled?

This is so flippin' hard.