Hatching Humidity and Elevation Question?

[MHallum]

Hello everyone, After about a 13 year break from incubating I am back at it. After moving back to the country we are getting chickens again. I have been reading around on BYC and I often see mentions of incubator humidity and elevation. I am located in the high desert of New Mexico. We are about 4,500 feet above sea level. A dry climate. Just curious if I need to adjust anything due to my elevation. Thanks for your help!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

We are about 4,500 feet above sea level.

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Keep all your air plugs open.

If you are hatching from your own flock at the same elevation, the challenge is reduced already as the chickens have adjusted to the climate and so have the egg shells on the eggs they're laying.

I think 4500 ft is still mostly normal considerations. But higher gas (oxygen.etc) exchange is reduced

One of my favorite hatching resources for your review..
Incubation guide

More links regarding altitude speifically..
https://thepoultrysite.com/articles/incubating-eggs-at-high-altitudes

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scien...85a0ae5&pid=1-s2.0-S0032579119339264-main.pdf

Best wishes and happy hatching!

 

[MHallum]

Thank you EggSighted4Life, appreciate your reply. I have kept all my plugs removed. Currently I am using a few Genesis incubators. My flock is just now starting to lay so I have been hatching shipped eggs with not great hatch rates. I wonder if that could be partially due to the altitude difference? I have a batch of 40 eggs hatching right now that I picked up a few hours away. They weren't shipped. They looked good going into lockdown. Have about 8 pipped now.

 

[Kimi BK]

Thank you EggSighted4Life, appreciate your reply. I have kept all my plugs removed. Currently I am using a few Genesis incubators. My flock is just now starting to lay so I have been hatching shipped eggs with not great hatch rates. I wonder if that could be partially due to the altitude difference? I have a batch of 40 eggs hatching right now that I picked up a few hours away. They weren't shipped. They looked good going into lockdown. Have about 8 pipped now.

Update? Have you been successfully hatching chicks? We are also in NM, but at 7000'. We just got our first chicks since moving here, and are hoping that we'll eventually be able to breed, but we have a lot more reading up to do to see if it's doable at 7000'... we probably have about a year before we "go there," as our hands are a bit full at the moment.

But I'd love to hear how your 4500' chicks are doing!