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

[william9792]

I want to thank all for the info i got from this post, i want to say that i tried it Wheaties and Jamie821 way and have had the best hatch that i have ever had so hats off to them and thank you so much! william9792 ps pic's are posted at chicks are here by william9792

 

[j.luetkemeyer]

In case anyone is still participating in this thread, I have a couple questions to add. Would the humidity recommendations change between a still air and a forced air? The reason I ask is with the forced air it seems as if it would allow more evaporation at a higher level of humidity due to the movement of the air around the eggs. I have a still air and did not have much luck on my first hatch. I maintained a level of 60% humidity until the last couple of days and I increased it 5-10%. I believe my temperature was a little low. It hovered between 99.5 and 101. The 101 was due to the humidity dropping below 50% on a couple of occasions. I am adjusting my temperature to 101 - 102 on the next hatch. Other factors are wood heat and I live in Mid-Missouri. Any suggestions for my next try? I was thinking of using the dry method. Anyone else in Missouri have any recommendations?

 

[william9792]

you need to have your humidy at 35% for days 1-18, and on day 18 after last turn of the morning stop turning and bring huimdty up to 50-55% not to get over 65% at anytime for over will kill the chicks at pip ( when they break air sack), keep temp as cloast to 100-101 with a still air as you can. as for wood heat move to room that heater is not in this will help. for i have a LG forced air and a LG still air and this is the way i do it and on the last hatch had 100% hatch, in the still air, to make the forced air get a PC FAN and install it, they cost about 10 to 20 $ on e-bay. it makes it easyer to work with. good luck

 

[ninjapoodles]

I have been following the "dry" incubation advice this time around, and so far ALL of my eggs have made it to day 18--including shipped eggs! If I don't mess it up at this point, I'll be completely converted.

What I'm wondering about is the increase in humidity for the last days. Going back to the "mother hen model," obviously that mother hen doesn't increase her personal humidity when it's close to hatch time.

So, just out of curiosity...why do we?

 

[william9792]

her humidty goes up because she does not get off the nest the last three days for any reason, that is why we bring it up, and it helps the chicks get out of the egg so they don't stick to the egg

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Thanks! Makes sense, and reinforces the "DON'T OPEN THE INCUBATOR" mantra!

 

[Bammony]

Quote:
Funny that you say that. My broody hens get off everyday including the last 3. I had a broody set two clutches of eggs in a row. Interesting.

 

[Suellyn]

I wonder if it has to do with ambient humidity at the time? I see you are from Utah, though... would actually think it's pretty DRY there, though (????), would make more sense to me if you were from a HUMID climate...
Lots of discussion on this thread about how altitude impacts evaporation rate/air cell size, too.

If anyone ever TOTALLY figures this one out (who ISN'T a

), they will go down in alltime "Hatchin' History".....

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Katie Jo]

Thanks to those who posted on how to calibrate a hygrometer! After spending 2 or 3 hours last night studying all 19 pages of this thread, I figured it might be a good idea to check. Today's results indicated that my hygrometer is low by 6%....which is pretty considerable in my opinion! I started incubating 23 eggs on Jan 9th....trying to keep the humidity in the 30's or 40's, only to discover that the humidity has been much higher.

I also discovered something else (which I hope is atleast SOMEwhat relevent to this thread) in talking with my husband about the location of the vent plugs on my LG forced air bator. I didn't give much thought to the difference in pulling one plug versus the other, but in mentioning that one plug is directly above the fan (which happened to be the plug I had pulled out), my husband insisted that replacing that plug and pulling the one farthest from the fan would keep a steadier, more even temperature and humidity in the incubator. Well, I gave it a whirl this morning, and discovered that the humidity has been climbing (albiet slowly) from 34% (actually 40% when adding the 6% difference) to 42% (actual 48%). Knowing this, I'll have to suck up some water out of the bator using the handy dandy syringe/tube invention I saw on here....which, although simple, was a stroke of genius in my opinion!! Okay, I'm done yapping now!

 

[Wheaties]

Hello All, I'm sorry for being out of the loop for a while! I have been terribly sick and have not felt like doing anything. I am glad to see that this thread is still going! For those who would like to contact me with questions or comments, the email I check daily is [email protected] BTW, Jamie821 and I have go chicks going everywhere and more on the way! YIPPPEE!!!