Humidity at 60%

[gdublanc]

Would 60% humidity be okay for day 1-18 of incubation, then above 70-80% for the last 3 days? I am still learning and the R-com Suro says 45% for the first 18 days then 65% for the remaining. From what i have read about incubation is, it needs to be about 55-60% for the first 18 days then 70-80% for the last 3. Can anyone help?

 

[mstricer]

I keep mine between 50-58% for the first 18 days then bump it to 65% for last 3 days. I the humidity will jump up as the chicks hatch.
I think 70-80% is too high. But I could be wrong. Nothing I've read tells to put it that high. good luck with your hatch. Welcome to the site.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Use the Rcom figures, those other figures are *way* to high for chicken eggs.

Ed

 

[gdublanc]

It says 45% and my first hatch I only got 8 chicks. That was why i was asking, I had it 45 % 1-18 days then 65% the last three. I thought maybe I need to increase the humidity to 55-60. I lost 12 chicks:/

 

[Junkmanme]

PERSONALLY, I would "bump-up" the humidity some ...say 50% during incubation and 75% during hatch, BUT I would certainly BE SURE that I had GOOD VENTILATION.

(NOT well-experienced.....but have read MUCH regarding this issue.)

-Junkmanme-

 

[MAllen]

In my Dickey incubator I run 53~58% 1-18, then 75~80% until hatch. Works great!

 

[Akane]

60% is high for incubating. The air sac will most likely not get big enough because the eggs won't lose enough moisture. Most keep their incubators closer to 40-50% with some going all the way down to 30%. Humidity is variable though. At different times of the year or in a dry versus humid climate you will get better results at different humidity levels. Sometimes I hatch at 60% fine with 70% drowning the hatching chicks and other times I've had them get stuck at 60% and hatch fine at 70-75%.

 

[gdublanc]

I live in Nevada, very, very dry here. Maybe this time i will bump it up to 50-55 and see what happens. I had it 45% and 65% at the end, with poor results.

 

[Marrschickens]

New to site and new to hatching chicks. I got 5 out of eight. The 3 that didn’t make it died probably about a week before. I started out at 48-50% humidity. I was worried since I seemed to have trouble keeping it at that level. 3 days before I followed instructions about increasing the humidity. I am trying it again and now fighting high humidity. Not sure what to do. Will I hair humidity actually hurt the chicks?

 

[Ryguy3684]

New to site and new to hatching chicks. I got 5 out of eight. The 3 that didn’t make it died probably about a week before. I started out at 48-50% humidity. I was worried since I seemed to have trouble keeping it at that level. 3 days before I followed instructions about increasing the humidity. I am trying it again and now fighting high humidity. Not sure what to do. Will I hair humidity actually hurt the chicks?

I candle at day 7, 14, & before lockdown. If you candle, mark the air sacs with a pencil, at each candling. If the air sac is too small, decrease the humidity. If it's too big, increase humidity. That said, I normally run at 40% during hatch and 65-70% during the hatch. I normally have 95-100% hatch rates. If your hatch rates are really low, there's other factors that could be effecting your percentages.
FYI, try posting this on a new thread. This thread is from 2009. Good luck