Humidity Levels

[Lee KZN]

Hi all

Firstly thanks for the warmest of welcomes in the introduction forum. Feel life I've been here for years
Have searched through the posts but can't really see an answer to my query so thought I'd post my first question...

I have a surehatch incubator. Relatively easy to control humidity.

However. I've read that humidity needs to be at 45% for the first while then a few days before hatching increase to 65%.

This obviously would not work if you have multiple batches in hatching at different times.

So I'm wondering. Is it at all possible to set humidity to a constant middle level of at 55% from beginning to end or will this cause issues?

For those who have big incubators how do you control the different humidity requirements in one incubator or do you have several small ones running

Interested to read everyone's opinions.

Thanks all. About to crawl in bed. Late here in South Africa

Chat soon

Lee

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

Hi! It's not a good idea to keep humidity at 55% from beginning to end. Eggs need more humidity towards the end. Humidity depends on how you want to hatch, dry hatching or "regular" hatching. Dry hatching is where you keep the humidity at 45% so humidity will create itself naturally, and changing humidity to 65-70%, depending on who you ask. This works best for people that live in places where it's hard to keep humidity up. Everyone can have different results, though. "Regular" hatching is where you keep humidity at 50-58%, with 55% being the most common, again depending on who you ask, and in the final 3 days, bumping up the humidity to 65%. Again, everyone has different views on the best humidity, so keep in mind that there will be a lot of different recommendations.

 

[MGG]

Hi all

Firstly thanks for the warmest of welcomes in the introduction forum. Feel life I've been here for years
Have searched through the posts but can't really see an answer to my query so thought I'd post my first question...

I have a surehatch incubator. Relatively easy to control humidity.

However. I've read that humidity needs to be at 45% for the first while then a few days before hatching increase to 65%.

This obviously would not work if you have multiple batches in hatching at different times.

So I'm wondering. Is it at all possible to set humidity to a constant middle level of at 55% from beginning to end or will this cause issues?

For those who have big incubators how do you control the different humidity requirements in one incubator or do you have several small ones running

Interested to read everyone's opinions.

Thanks all. About to crawl in bed. Late here in South Africa

Chat soon

Lee

Hi!
It's best to not do staggered hatches unless you have 2 different incubators.
All of the eggs should be set at the same time. It's best to incubate at around 30% for the first 18 days, and then up the humidity to 70-75% at lockdown. Humidity will of course vary from climate to climate, you'll have to weigh your eggs and watch the air cells of course to figure out what humidity gets the perfect results, but the above is what works best for me.
55% is too high from the beginning, and too low for lockdown. And turning can become a problem if some eggs need to not be turned (are in lockdown) and some eggs still do need to be turned.
Good night!