Humidity and egg turner?

[ShellyBear]

My eggs have had a humidity of around 46 for 10 days and now they went down to 43 will that damage them? when day 18 comes around do I take them out of the egg turner and turn the egg turner off or do I just turn the egg turner off and not move them?.

 

[feedman77]

The lower humidity won't hurt them.

I prefer dry incubation 25 to 30 percent.

Then raise 65 to 75 for lockdown and hatch.

I remove my turner.

 

[ShellyBear]

25 humidity for chicken eggs?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

My eggs have had a humidity of around 46 for 10 days and now they went down to 43 will that damage them? when day 18 comes around do I take them out of the egg turner and turn the egg turner off or do I just turn the egg turner off and not move them?.

The lower humidity won't hurt them.

I prefer dry incubation 25 to

XS 2 I run my humidity at 30% for the first 17 days. If I can do that dry, I do, if not I add a sponge.

You should pull the turner out and either lay them down to hatch or put them upright in cut down cartons.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

25 humidity for chicken eggs?

Uh huh. Many of us have found low incubation humidity works much better (especially in the styro bators) than humidity above 40% Here's a little about it: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

 

[ShellyBear]

Has the dry incubation worked with you guys? Has it had successful hatches?I have a R-com bator not styro.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Has the dry incubation worked with you guys? Has it had successful hatches?

I usually run 90% + hatches. (With my own or local eggs of course.) My last hatch last season was 100% from lockdown. (One early day 4/5 quitter). But...monitoring the air cells is important to know how and when to adjust if neccessary.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Some people let them hatch in the turner- turned off. I've had one inscedent where a chicks leg got between the turners. Anymore I take the turner out and lay the eggs down on a paper towel for easy clean up.

You ca monitor your humidity via candling. If way off track from the model you'd lower or raise humidity and run that until day 18 when you get it up to 70-75% RH. If you never calibrated your hygrometer there really is no way of knowing the actual RH, you only know if it's going up or down. Salt test hygrometer so you have a calibration # for true RH readings.




Above photo is of the salt test I did prior to setting eggs Saturday. You can take yours out and test it, it takes 4 to 6 hours.

Salt test:

Milk or juice or soda cap with salt in it and add drops of water until saturated. I pour off standing water.

Put in sealed container. Tupperware or Ziplock bag for 4 hours minimum. I provide small pillow of air in bag.

Subtract your reading from 75 for a calibration number. Write it on masking tape and stick to incubator as reminder.

Let's take an example of person that started incubation same day I did. His reading was 65% RH after being in bag overnight. Was 2% lower before going to bed. A salt environment is 75% RH +/- a fraction of % at a large range in temp.

75-65= 10. Positive number so will always add 10 to any reading of hygrometer for true RH.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I'm running 29% RH currently. Took a few days to find the right size container that would fit in front of turner. Ended up being an old salt shaker. That little bit of surface area jumps my RH in incubator from 20% with only eggs to 29%RH, perfect. I'll up it to 70-75% day 18 or 19 when taking out the turner.

If you've got a fan in incubator a tip to have better air flow is to arrange the eggs in shape of doughnut. The air flows down through center and up the corners for more stability of temp throughout incubator.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm running 29% RH currently. Took a few days to find the right size container that would fit in front of turner. Ended up being an old salt shaker. That little bit of surface area jumps my RH in incubator from 20% with only eggs to 29%RH, perfect. I'll up it to 70-75% day 18 or 19 when taking out the turner.

If you've got a fan in incubator a tip to have better air flow is to arrange the eggs in shape of doughnut. The air flows down through center and up the corners for more stability of temp throughout incubator.

During early spring and late fall and winter my humidity inside dry is usually about 16%. I add a wet sponge and it holds it right around that 30%. So much easier. Using a small container or sponge sure beats playing with those water wells.