Day 19 silkie incubation, humidity issue

[Ladybird CA]

I once had my humidity go to 80% and a few chicks drowned in the eggs. There was condensation though (small water drops on the windows of the incubator). 65-70% is probably best and yes keep the vent holes of the incubator open

 

[Welshies]

The best humidity for incubation.

 

[JaeG]

I once had my humidity go to 80% and a few chicks drowned in the eggs. There was condensation though (small water drops on the windows of the incubator). 65-70% is probably best and yes keep the vent holes of the incubator open

Chicks don't actually drown - they run out of oxygen before they can make an external pip if the air cell hasn't grown big enough. The only way they could drown is if you tipped the egg up the wrong way after the chick had internally pipped and only if there was still enough fluid left in there to suffocate it. A chick ready to hatch, who has lost all the moisture it needs because of appropriate humidity during the first stage of incubation has very little fluid left and certainly not enough to drown in. They don't hatch out in a big puddle of goo do they now? It's one of those weird myths that bug me no end.

And just for the record I had a Button quail chick hatch in 87% humidity here yesterday. I had to set up the incubator really quickly as its siblings had all hatched and were getting restless so their mother was torn. Our weather is incredibly humid at the moment (we are in for a good tropical storm) so my humidity went way up, but I knew it would be fine because it had a lovely big air cell to keep it going.

 

[Welshies]

Chicks don't actually drown - they run out of oxygen before they can make an external pip if the air cell hasn't grown big enough. The only way they could drown is if you tipped the egg up the wrong way after the chick had internally pipped and only if there was still enough fluid left in there to suffocate it. A chick ready to hatch, who has lost all the moisture it needs because of appropriate humidity during the first stage of incubation has very little fluid left and certainly not enough to drown in. They don't hatch out in a big puddle of goo do they now? It's one of those weird myths that bug me no end.

And just for the record I had a Button quail chick hatch in 87% humidity here yesterday. I had to set up the incubator really quickly as its siblings had all hatched and were getting restless so their mother was torn. Our weather is incredibly humid at the moment (we are in for a good tropical storm) so my humidity went way up, but I knew it would be fine because it had a lovely big air cell to keep it going.

Quail are a bit different though- something I will add. Their shells are very tough.

 

[Altfrizzle]

Did it spike and settle or has it stayed near 90%?

I think as long as you don’t have raindrops on the eggs it’s fine.

 

[Angie McMahan]

I managed to get it down to 75%. We have 4 chicks so far, and one more has pipped! They are doing amazing!

 

[AlleysChicks]

Congrats on the babies!

 

[Angie McMahan]

Congrats on the babies!

Thank you so much! Such an amazing experience!

 

[Ladybird CA]

Congrats on the chicks. The chicks that I was incubating that died about 15 years ago had condensation build up were chicken eggs and they looked wet with a bit of water around them. I don't know if that meant drowning or not, just using the term that I read about when chicks die in the shell due to too much humidity.

 

[JaeG]

I managed to get it down to 75%. We have 4 chicks so far, and one more has pipped! They are doing amazing!View attachment 1239768

Congrats!!! It's so exciting when they start hatching, after all those days of waiting. Remember: we love photos!