Hello, I am a first time hatcher, I'm on day 8 and of course I worry about any and everything. My humidity has been steady around 45-50% and now I'm on day 8 and the humidity has been 54-59%. I know humidity is a widely debated factor in hatching and that isn't why I am posting... I want to know about changing humidity levels mid-hatch. I have been incubating 8 days at 45-50% but I'm wondering if there would be detrimental effects for dropping a 55% humidity hatch down to 25%. Should humidity remain the same level throughout the hatch or is it okay to fluctuate levels?
With chicken eggs I always maintain about 50% humidity, although the humidity levels can fluctuate slightly and not have too much effect on the developing embryos. As where just a half a degree in temperature fluctuation can change your hatching success! This website shows a picture of an egg with the size the air cells should be at the corresponding incubation period, http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/166/care-and-incubation-of-hatching-eggs Just candle the eggs and see if the air cell is increasing properly, if it doesn't seem to be decreasing enough, just lower humidity slightly, if it is too large, increase humidity. Also, the depth of the water has no effect on humidity, it's all about surface area. So, the more surface area of water you have the greater your humidity will be. =Happy Hatching!!
