humidity in incubator

[Speedpacer]

I have seen to keep it 45% in the incubator. and i have seen keep it 60% until day 18 go to 65-70% ? i would like to know. Thanks for the help in advance

 

[Pyxis]

What are you hatching? The humidity level you need will depend on your area, but 60% for the first 18 days is too high anywhere. 45% is a good starting place, and you can watch the air cells and adjust as needed. In my area, 30% is what I need, so it really does vary from place to place and the best thing to do is to try and see what works and make adjustments as necessary.

 

[Speedpacer]

I have four hatching one four this morning next at seven have two coming out now. the first one is almost like he doesnt have enough fuzz. took him al day too dry out. second one out of shell 60 secs dry in thirty? What now? thanks for help in advance.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Congrats on your hatch!

If your birds have all hatched and fluffed up, then you can remove them to your brooder... and get ready for your next hatch!

Just kidding, don't let chicken math get ya, it's addictive!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

What are you hatching? The humidity level you need will depend on your area, but 60% for the first 18 days is too high anywhere. 45% is a good starting place, and you can watch the air cells and adjust as needed. In my area, 30% is what I need, so it really does vary from place to place and the best thing to do is to try and see what works and make adjustments as necessary.

Hi. Can ask you you to elaborate on this please?

Ok, so... I read "it depends on your area"... but I don't get how that effects the evaporation inside the incubator. For example, my house is about 75% humidity. But I keep my incubator around 40% regardless of the house goes down to 50 or up to 80%. If I let the water evaporate from the wells humidity inside the bator drops to more like 20%. And I can see the difference when we are baking breads of dry verses humid days.... so are you saying in theory my humidity in the incubator would go up as it does in my house even without adding water or vice versa that it could be lower even with both wells full?

This is my first hatch and decided to keep it quite dumbed down and not weigh or mark air cells as it was my basic intent to get practice handling and turning and getting the basic process down then increase my things to keep track of on the next go around... This is a major thing for me because I am a giant over thinker who keeps track of everything... with 48 birds, still write who's name and date the egg was laid. Became to time consuming to write their weights on the eggs everyday.

So far I have 17 out of 18 heading to lock down tomorrow. The other one was not fertile.

And to the OP, they said dark eggs like Marans need even lower humidity.

TIA

 

[feedman77]

Hi. Can ask you you to elaborate on this please?

Ok, so... I read "it depends on your area"... but I don't get how that effects the evaporation inside the incubator.  For example, my house is about 75% humidity. But I keep my incubator around 40% regardless of the house goes down to 50 or up to 80%. If I let the water evaporate from the wells humidity inside the bator drops to more like 20%. And I can see the difference when we are baking breads of dry verses humid days.... so are you saying in theory my humidity in the incubator would go up as it does in my house even without adding water or vice versa that it could be lower even with both wells full?

This is my first hatch and decided to keep it quite dumbed down and not weigh or mark air cells as it was my basic intent to get practice handling and turning and getting the basic process down then increase my things to keep track of on the next go around... This is a major thing for me because I am a giant over thinker who keeps track of everything... with 48 birds, still write who's name and date the egg was laid. Became to time consuming to write their weights on the eggs everyday. 

So far I have 17 out of 18 heading to lock down tomorrow. The other one was not fertile. 

And to the OP, they said dark eggs like Marans need even lower humidity.

TIA

Too keep humidity that high in your house do you run humidifiers?

But the humidity in your house should effect the moisture in your Incubator.

During the winter I heat with wood and the humidity in my house can get down to less than 10 to 15 percent. When I walk across carpet and get a shock it's too low. So I add some water to the stove. When I incubate in the winter I have to monitor air cells as they can lose too much water with they dry air in the house. I may have to add water to the incubator as well.

Come late spring or early summer If I have the windows open and we are getting rain or the humidity outside is 70 to 90 percent for days I may even have to put rice in the incubator to help the eggs lose enough moisture so the chicks don't drown when they pip.

So in my opinion the relative humidity in the house will have an impact on the eggs your incubating. So that's why area is important on humidity ranges.

 

[LLranch]

I have a couple of different ideas about why there so much discrepancy in the opinions of what the perfect humidity is for incubation. The first has to do with the in accuracy of humidity gauges I personally have three gauges That Vary as much as 15% between each other. The second thing is some eggs are thinner or more porous and allow for more at evaporation there for needing a higher humidity in the incubator. The breed of hens you have the feed the receive and the age of your flock can all cause variances in eggshell porosity and thickness. people that have the best luck hatching chicks will tell you to watch the air cell grow when it grows right amount throughout the incubation. Whatever your humidity gauge says is what you need to go with

 

[Pyxis]

Hi. Can ask you you to elaborate on this please?

Ok, so... I read "it depends on your area"... but I don't get how that effects the evaporation inside the incubator.  For example, my house is about 75% humidity. But I keep my incubator around 40% regardless of the house goes down to 50 or up to 80%. If I let the water evaporate from the wells humidity inside the bator drops to more like 20%. And I can see the difference when we are baking breads of dry verses humid days.... so are you saying in theory my humidity in the incubator would go up as it does in my house even without adding water or vice versa that it could be lower even with both wells full?

This is my first hatch and decided to keep it quite dumbed down and not weigh or mark air cells as it was my basic intent to get practice handling and turning and getting the basic process down then increase my things to keep track of on the next go around... This is a major thing for me because I am a giant over thinker who keeps track of everything... with 48 birds, still write who's name and date the egg was laid. Became to time consuming to write their weights on the eggs everyday. 

So far I have 17 out of 18 heading to lock down tomorrow. The other one was not fertile. 

And to the OP, they said dark eggs like Marans need even lower humidity.

TIA

Others have chimed in and helped answer but I will also say that elevation plays a role in what your humidity needs to be. For example places in high elevation can have a lot of trouble hatching eggs, especially if they are shipped in from places near sea level. This happens because of decreased air pressure and lowered oxygen content. So, depending on your altitude, you will need different humidities to get the same amount of moisture loss in the egg. All I can tell you about my area is that if I don't incubate at 30% humidity and go higher, my embryos will drown. That may have to do with altitude, local climate, or other factors that I am not aware of. This has been verified with multiple humidity gauges, so it's not just one being inaccurate or something like that. That's why I always say it's better to pay attention to what the air cells are telling you than to focus on what the number on your hygrometer says until you've got a few hatched under your belt and know what works.

Here's a page about hatching at high altitude, it might help better explain some of what I said.

 

[HARRY47264]

I think you need to look at the accuracy of your hydrometer . I no longer trust the readings on my incubators including the temps. My Little Giants 3 of them, hydrometer reading is usually the same as the room humidity and temps are as much as 2-21/2 degrees off.
I use two Incu Therm Plus from incubator warehouse humidity only has a 5% difference and temp is within 1/2 degree
The fan should dry the inside pretty quick.My house humidity stays around 50% I find myself adding about 1-2 ozs daily to keep humidity at 30-40% then 2-4 ozs at lockdown.

Keep searching for 2 or 3 temp. + hydrometer combos that are close to each other I had to buy 4 and returned 2 .Then your hatch is the most accurate indicator early hatch too hot late hatch too cold.

These are all my personal observations I don't have the definitive answers I am not an expert all I can say is experiment instrument accuracy is first and foremost.

Some little old Chinaman makes $2 a day he must turn out 1000 a day he thinks quantity not quality and if he doesn't produce there are 100 more waiting outside waiting to take his Job and promising to turn out 1200 a day.

Good luck and have a nice nite and as grandmother use to say don't let the bedbugs bite

Harry

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Thanks all!

That is the true humidity... I am at sea level, couple miles from the beach in the PNW and this is indeed the rainy season. Anything left outside even under shelter will have a nice layer of moisture on it. I often tilt my patio chairs so they will be dry when I am ready to use them. It changes throughout the day though when it isn't raining, evenings and mornings are the most humid. When we lived in So Cal, humidity was almost always less than 15%. We also got shocked to the point my dog refused to get in the car from the static electricity created from his tail wagging.

That is what makes this a test hatch... big learning curve. I learn something new every day, if I can. I didn't realize you could go that low on humidity. And I didn't trust myself enough to judge the air sacks by candling. Plus I was afraid of having them out to long or the top open too long and them cooling down too much if I tried weighing them, (didn't know to weigh at lay either) since I am also hand turning.... So basically I over thought it.

Still hoping for the best.... I will candle this evening and head into lock down...

I will take notes and make adjustments as needed like you recommend. And go much lower humidity when I try to hatch my Marans. I already realized my girls & boys aren't quite a year old yet and hatching before that was not what I meant to do... I can see some changes still taking place in feathering on my cockerel, and the eggs are probably not quite their fullest size yet (which will equal smaller chicks and the ripple effect)....