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

[Jamie821]

As wheatie said I am totally serious have already moved the broody to a house and pen by herself and have been out there today working on a way to make sure she cant move the hydrometer. I think I have found a way to keep her from tossing it out and in the next few days will start taking the reading 3 times a day.I plan on trying to catch her when she comes off to eat and drink and then as soon as she gets back on i want to see what the humidity is after she has been off. Am also going to get reading after she has been on eggs all night. So will do reading first thing in the morning also. I already have calibrated this hydrometer so I know how much it is off so will correct it with plus six from what the reading is. All of my hydometers are calibrated every six months but I still have 3 of them in the sportsman. Calibrating them is very easy and I have never yet bought one that was accurate so dont trust them calibrate them then you know.If all goes well will start have reading in a couple days and will post them here once i am sure she cant push it out. Then at hatch time will let everyone know what humidity is the last few days. I am very lucky also as this broody trusts me totally so at least I will stay in one piece. But this poor hen is going to be confused she has two rir eggs 3 br 4 ameracauna and 2 glw eggs. should be a interesting group to say the least

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Quote:
Yep...me too. Except I typically don't add any water unless it gets below 20%. If the humidity is very low...which it has been for a while...I put a very small 2 inch bowl of water in which brings it to about 30%. I don't increase my humidity until the first pip. But I live in Florida where our ambient humidity is high most of the time.

I, too, say...to each his own. I just know that when I started not paying too much attention to humidity, my hatches went to 100%...from our own eggs.

 

[Wheaties]

Thanks for the input oldtimegator! Why worry over something that God has under control? I understand that we need to know it to some degree, but continually trying to keep it perfect will run you silly~!

 

[jvls1942]

I can tell you what the humidity will be when your broodie is off the nest.. It will be whatever the outside air is at the time..

I believe the hen looses a lot of body fluid during incubation.. have you ever lifted a broodie after the eggs are hatched?? They are nothing but skin and bone..

Of course the chicken knows nothing about humidity.. That is taken care of by nature..

And don't worry about the eggs cooling off when mamma is off the nest.. we had hens hatching turkey eggs up until two weeks ago.. the temps were in the single digits. the coop is unheated but the temps were a little higher in there.. we were convinced several times that the clucks were off the eggs too long.. we were wrong and have 8 turkey keets in the brooder right now.. had 14 out of 20 eggs hatch.. lost some because the power went off out in the garage during one night.. that is why we have the 8 in the house..
It is minus 10 today..

....jiminwisc........

 

[Moodene]

If I just need to add little bit of water and not open my bator, I use my handy thingy here I made. I just stuck up some warm water thru my syringe w a tube taped to it,open 1 vent hole,stick the tubing down in between the turner racks, and push little bit of water in until my humidity goes back up as needed. I can leave it there until I see that the humidity is at the correct temps...I don't lose any of my warm air or make the humidity go down farther..then pull it back out and close the vent back up..

 

[kinnip]

O.K., I have two questions.
1) Has anyone tried the dry method with duck eggs? I'm on day 7.
2) Do I need to pull a plug in a forced air bator if the humidity in the room is in the low teens? There's nothing I can do about the ambient moisture here. We're having one helluva drought and most of my house is one large room with a wood burning stove. I've been trying unsuccessfully to keep the hum at 55%, as per the instructions that came with the bator. Keeping it that high requires constant adding of water, even with the plugs in. I don't open the lid to add water, btw, I just pop out a plug and use the marinade injector method. Frankly, I feel like a slave to the bator. I can get the hum up to about 53-54 and it's down to 43 within an hour. On the up side, my temp stays between 99 and 99.5.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Kinnip...my opinion is this: Keep the plugs open...and add water once or twice a day. It really doesn't matter if the humidity fluctuates some IMO. I add water in the morning before leaving for work (if the humidity is in the upper 20's) and again in the evening...if needed. I'm sure it goes up and then back down again...but that does not seem to affect my hatching percentage. The ONLY time I'm particularly diligent is after the first pip. Then I don't want it to drop below 50% for any period of time. I usually keep it 50-60%...no more than that...but again, it does fluctuate within that range.

 

[Suellyn]

Wheaties said: By the way Suellyn, in describing that Mandrill, you reminded me of a girl I use to date! LOL!

Do you mean the physical description or the personality???? Ummmmm.... Sorry about the fangs &/or aggression

I am having fun, too...! Have been off work for a few weeks (due to surgery, I'm fine though), so this is like a daily dose of my "animal fix"!!!! I'm not a chick-a-holic, I'm an absolute Animal Junkie, since early childhood!!!

Jamie821, thank you so much, and that is sooooooooo exciting! From what I have read through various "searches", the humidity debate rages on...!!! What info could be more valuable than seeing what a broody is ACTUALLY incubating at!? Pretty hard to argue with mother nature!! Aside from being an animal nut, I am also a research nut, again thank you SO much for trying, please, please, let me/us know what happens, readings, etc.!!!!!

Hey Kryptoniteqhs... Since you started this thread, you are the one who can "edit" the title... IF per chance the hygrometer/broody thing works out to the point of some informative readings, I bet a LOT of people would be interested!!! Could you edit the title in a few days if Jamie821 gets some readings, to reflect that someone has a BROODY on a HYGROMETER, holy heck!!!!!!! ?????

!!!​

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! When I put a hygrometer under a broody hen, it always read right around 55%.

Merry Christmas!
Lisa

 

[Suellyn]

Cool, thanks! Is that thru days 1 - 18, or during last 3 "hatch days" , or both? Hey, I saw some hatched-out chix that "Youdontknow32" (in PA) has from your lines... Took all I had not to throw myself at her feet & beg for a few! *SMALL FLOCK* SMALL FLOCK* SMALL FLOCK* !!!!

!!