Humidity Concerns

[MaconMommy5]

Yea I like the dry hatch method I had a major loss and had nothing but old eggs here I went with the methods of dry hatch and I did get an amazing 25% out of month old eggs out of the refridgerator that was amazing and with my recovery of the cold eggs of my Dutch hen I places 11 eggs in lockdown with about 17 eggs already in I now have 5 perky little chicks and 2 are piped so a great save there so I'm hooked with the 30-35% before lockdown then juice it up at lockdown at 65 - 75% it works for me here I'll start a little changing to suit me here but airsacks are my indicators and they are my final determination as to wether to raise or lower humidity. I'm hoping by next year to be able to get a 80% or more hatch rate if not sooner!

Sorry about the loss, But that's awesome that you got 25%!

 

[MaconMommy5]

Honestly I never concern myself too much with humidity and I do fine. I live in Canada and it's very dry right now. I had to add 4 sponges just to bring the humidity up to the minimum... My humidity throughout the process was 30-55%, and at the moment I'm in lockdown at around 70%.

That's where I plan to say. I'm not experienced enough to just be relaxed about it yet though. Lol.. So we're going to do 30-35% during 0-17 and 70-75 during 18+.

 

[MaconMommy5]

It sounds like most success is close to my figures. I run 40% till the second day of lockdown, then raise to 60%. When chicks start haching the humidity will climb to over 70%, from all the wet chicks. That is OK. When hatching 20, it only climbs to 62%, but they still almost all hatch. I have had good success from 30% to 45% for 19 days, and 50% to 70% for lockdown. I just settled on 40 & 60 but 35 & 70 probably would not see much difference. Run 50% or more and you can expect lots of piped eggs with chicks not getting out, wet sticky chicks, deformed curled toes, and low hatch rates, but this is what incubator manufacturers recommend. I will never understand that. I am in South Dakota at 3200 ft elevation, in a dry climate. My incubator holds 288 eggs, and I have set from 18 to 200 with similar results. Always over 90%.

That's awesome! So everyone pretty much says 30-35ish for incubating and 60-70 for hatch. I'll be hatching quite a few, But still less than half of your 288. Lol

 

[MaconMommy5]

For standard eggs I run 30% days 1-17 and 70-75% for hatch. I monitor air cells to know I'm on target. This is my method: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

Awesome, Thank you!

 

[MaconMommy5]

I always run 30-35% until day 18, then 60-65% until hatch. Works great for me...never had any drownings (from high humidity) or shrink-wrapping. I live in east Texas...so it's always humid. lol And I keep my bator in my bathroom.

Alright. That's where I plan to keep mine. Seems like the numbers all fluctuate a lot but they're fine if you stay Around 35 for incubating and 65 for hatching. So that's what I'll use.

 

[lilwildrabbit]

Alright. That's where I plan to keep mine. Seems like the numbers all fluctuate a lot but they're fine if you stay Around 35 for incubating and 65 for hatching. So that's what I'll use.

Being from around the same area I think it would be a great starting point you can vari it as you go but that's about what I so 30-35% until lockdown then put the juice to it and bring it to 65-70% that way at night I like 70 just because it lowers a little bit and when I get back up it's not too low my temp is at 100 for forced air I think next batch I'll lower it a degree but stay with my humidity oh by the way I Will gather eggs for you today and try to mark date and as best I can breed so you have a little idea as to what hatches out

 

[MaconMommy5]

Being from around the same area I think it would be a great starting point you can vari it as you go but that's about what I so 30-35% until lockdown then put the juice to it and bring it to 65-70% that way at night I like 70 just because it lowers a little bit and when I get back up it's not too low my temp is at 100 for forced air I think next batch I'll lower it a degree but stay with my humidity oh by the way I Will gather eggs for you today and try to mark date and as best I can breed so you have a little idea as to what hatches out

Awesome! Thank you! We like surprises too, so don't fret if you don' have a chance to mark them

 

[lilwildrabbit]

​Sorry about the loss, But that's awesome that you got 25%!

Being the eggs were well out of date and refrigerated 25% was amazing!! I was thinking about 2 % at best if any at all so 25% was a total success!

 

[MaconMommy5]

Being the eggs were well out of date and refrigerated 25% was amazing!! I was thinking about 2 % at best if any at all so 25% was a total success!

I completely agree! That was fantastic!

 

[lilwildrabbit]

I completely agree! That was fantastic!

Now this hatch this weekend is from eggs that were laied after the attack so I'm not lookig at best results but anything is better than nothing and I'm happy that I have 8 chicks from the rescue! My Easter hatch should give me more than I had hoped for and as of now I'm happy I got an incubator each time I look into all the little biddy eyes each time I check in on my chicks