How does a hen regulate humidity when hatching eggs?

[Hotwings]

My friend Freebie's buff started to knock over her water dish. Denise didn't know why cause this was her first time with a broody. We finally figured it out that she was trying to regulate the humidity. This was in the spring. So the old saying goes mama knows best.

 

[picklespickles]

bantymom funnyfunnyfunny

 

[Freebie]

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I was was going to add, that she only did this in like the last week of sitting, So it was not something that happened all through the 21 days. And sometimes the dish would not be spilled, but it just looked like she went and sat in the water dish and then went back to her eggs. I just kept changing out the shavings I had in her cage with her.

 

[KKluckers]

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[JaciesCoop]

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I love it!!!

 

[JaciesCoop]

I just couldn't resist this.

This is how mine do it but I have very educated girls!!

 

[skeeter]

A hen does just what comes natural,just like your body knows how to breath ,but to do it artifically in an incubator the humidity has to be controlled,im sure this was learned over time by trial and error,my grandma hatched out chicks using kerosene heat so its humans that have to worry about all the numbers not the hen,plus i dont think the hen comes off the nest the last 3 days or so once they start to peep in the egg thus increasing humidity

 

[seminolewind]

I'm wondering if the humidity has more to do with how much the hen lets out of the eggs. I would think that how far or near her body is to the eggs would regulate how much moisture is escaping.

 

[johnnyjack]

do chickens sweat? if so sitting in a hot nest around 100 degrees might make her sweat i know it would me lol hey bantymum ask her if she sweats tommorow lol

 

[bantymum]

Yep, i asked her about how she copes in the heat,
she grabs one of my dh's beers!
she also thanked me for making her nestbox cool with insulation and putting it in a shady spot.