Humidity in Bator...EXCELLENT INFO HERE! EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS!

[danielnv]

I believe the concensus I am seeing is that most on this thread report ideal humidity of 35-45% day 1-18, and 50-55% day 18-25. These posters seem to all live at lower altitudes and more humid parts of the country. Most keep the humidity within the entire room at appropriate levels and use water only after day 18.

The exception to this are a few who live at a very high altitude 5000' or so and low humidity typical of the desert, who incubate the entire time from 70% and up.

Personally, I live at around 2000' but in the desert, and would like to see what humidity others that live in the lower altitude desert are using successfully. I'm not sure if we can conclude it is only the high altitude that makes the high humidity work better, or if the low ambient humidity plays a role.

 

[twigg]

Quote:
Well it's not actually about humidity

Managing relative humidity is only a tool we use to actually control weight loss.

Weight loss is the absolute .... use the RH that achieves the objective .... altitude doesn't much matter (within reason), it's just likely that higher RH will be needed at high altitude.

Of course, it's also possible that chickens living at high altitudes might lay eggs with thicker shells

 

[twigg]

Quote:
Not quite.

The RH where you live just makes it easy, or less easy to achieve the correct RH in the incubator.

The RH in the incubator is the same, wherever you live unless another factor determines that you need different settings. Like shell thickness .... or altitude.

 

[Jamie821]

Twigg I agree with you on thickness of egg shell. When I hatch certain breeds I have my humidity a little lower then I do with marans eggs. Marans eggs especially the wheaton marans has a thicker shell. When I am hatching wheatons I raise my humidity a couple of percentages. The only reason I dont have to add water very often is because I keep my hatching room with a humidifier at 50% at all times the bator through the vents gets its air from the room and it is moist so it doesnt dry out as fast. There are times that I dont have to add but a teaspoon of water every few days to keep it where I want it. A dry room I would be adding all the time

 

[greathorse]

I am the first to say I am far from an expert at hatching chicks. I do hatch at over 5000 feet and I run my humidity at the lower end.. I have great hatches on eggs that are produced at elevation and without exception horrible hatches on shipped eggs. All of the shipped eggs have come from near sea level areas. I beleive it has to do with the poracity of the shell.

I hatched some eggs for my neighbor that had them in a basket on her front step for about two weeks before she gavee them to me and hatched almost all of the two dozen she gave me.


Eggs that have been well packed and shipped have been very bad for me. I tried them at both high and low rh. High elevation hatching is a mystery to me. The most successful hatches I have is rh in the 35-45 range and just over 50 for the last 3 days.

I believe elevation has more to do with available oxygen on eggs shipped from sea level. There was a thread on here some time ago that addressed that a bit. May even have been somwhere in this thread. Just my speculation folks I am not an expert.

 

[Chipper]

Jamie,I just finished my first hatch last week and thanks to your advice, along with wheaties,I had a 100% hatch rate with my buff orps. Thank you again and I hope wheaties is feeling better.

 

[Jamie821]

Quote:
Congrats so happy to hear it. Doesnt it make you feel great when all the little fuzzy butts make it I know it sure does me. Wheaties is still having alot of medical issues and his wife is sick also. I just went to his house to deliver newly hatched chicks to him today. I will be talking to him tomorrow to check on our babies so I will pass along your thanks and tell him about your great hatch. Keep up the good work.

 

[danielnv]

Quote:
I believe Buster said he did equally well with shipped or homegrown eggs at around 5000 feet, using the high humidity around 70+%. Check his posts for what he used. I am thinking the thicker shells up at high altitude negates the effect of humidity and doesn't hurt the homegrown eggs, while it is apparently necessary for the shipped in eggs from lower altitudes.

 

[spookychick]

Thanks to everyone for the informative responses. From reading all of them, I think the thing I need to do is increase my room humidity at this point, and let the Sportsman take it from there. I'm also wishing I had put those Wheaten Marans eggs in a separate bator with increased humidity for the thicker shells. Maybe I should move them to one of the Genesis bators and do just that. I have about six dozen eggs incubating right now, including Wheaten Marans, Ameraucanas, Showgirls, Salmon Faverolles, and bantam Salmon Faverolles.

 

[Jamie821]

Quote:
spookychick they should be fine with the others,with that many eggs in the bator they also get moisture from each other. Just try to increase your room humidity up some if you can. Let us know how your hatch goes as I am putting greathorses in tonight getting ready for a sunday hatch. They are black coppers and wheaton marans so we both have wheatons on the way. Good luck