Humidity Level Poll

[casportpony]

I keep mine between 35-45%

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Thank you so much. The "Google" answer led me to believe that 55%-60% is the right answer. However, I began to question that as I searched these threads and have lowered my humidity to 45%-47%. I will continue to adapt as I learn here. I appreciate your input (and levity).

Same here. The incubator directions say one thing, but multiple threads here have such a variety of answers.

I'm so glad you started this poll thread because I was about to do something similar. I know so much depends on all the variables, but one thing I don't see a lot of people mention is what the humidity may be in their house or their area in general. Or their elevation. Both seem to have quite the impact on hatch success.

I live high enough to need adjustments to baking and canning and canning, but not high compared to what people consider a higher altitude. My home humidity is about 50% this time of year and my incubator wants to stay above 50% with half the recommended water and vents open. I'm feeling like it might be a bit too much. I'm only on day 2 so nothing to measure yet.

 

[TheBajan]

Same here. The incubator directions say one thing, but multiple threads here have such a variety of answers.

I'm so glad you started this poll thread because I was about to do something similar. I know so much depends on all the variables, but one thing I don't see a lot of people mention is what the humidity may be in their house or their area in general. Or their elevation. Both seem to have quite the impact on hatch success.

I live high enough to need adjustments to baking and canning and canning, but not high compared to what people consider a higher altitude. My home humidity is about 50% this time of year and my incubator wants to stay above 50% with half the recommended water and vents open. I'm feeling like it might be a bit too much. I'm only on day 2 so nothing to measure yet.

I'm on day 14 and will be candling and marking the air sacs to determine if I need to raise or lower my level. I am grateful for the more experienced commenters regarding how to decide what level is right for my situation. Best of luck on your hatch! Is this your first hatch?

 

[SnapdragonQ]

I'm on day 14 and will be candling and marking the air sacs to determine if I need to raise or lower my level. I am grateful for the more experienced commenters regarding how to decide what level is right for my situation. Best of luck on your hatch! Is this your first hatch?

It is. My incubator is much smaller, but has good reviews. Yours is a cool incubator by the way.
I've always relied on broody hens in the past but happen to be starting a younger flock presently and they are not typical broody breeds. Current events have me thinking about moving back to a more self sustaining flock and the incubator will hopefully be a helpful tool.

If I remember right (from many years ago) MI is neither super dry nor super humid in the spring and summer, and I'll be following how things go with your hatch and how humidity works for you. Also like you I'm very grateful for people here sharing their experiences.

 

[TheBajan]

I wanted to come back to this thread and update where I am with humidity and how i got there. During my test hatch, I began with humidity around 55%. I was following guidelines I found online. Reading so many posts here and in other forums, I began to question if that was a good range. Around the middle of that hatch I lowered my levels to between 45% -50% and then raised it to 65% during lock-down.
Today is day 21 of my second hatch. This time around I weighed all of my eggs prior to setting them. I created a graph of their total average start weight and set the target weight at 13% less for day 21. Drawing a line between those two points, I was able to weigh them anytime during incubation and determine if they were losing enough weight or too much. I also decided that to start out, I would begin with 45%-47% humidity since my first batch seemed to have smaller than average air cells. This proved to be a good level for me. When I weighed them on day 7, they were all spot on! I would love to say thanks to the BYC member who suggested this method. I was having a very hard time seeing inside the eggs to measure air cells and I found this to me a very accurate method of monitoring progress.
Thanks to all who took the time to participate and especially made comments and suggestions. It is much appreciated!