Humidity Question and help please

[sshannon024]

This may be a crazy question but I am a little confused on humidity. The charts I have found list Humidity as wet bulb. I have 2 digital thermometers in my incubator that show the temp and humidity, my question is are these showing wet bulb humidity or the relative humidity? Here is a pic of the chart I'm referring to.

 

[Rowsdower]

This may be a crazy question but I am a little confused on humidity. The charts I have found list Humidity as wet bulb. I have 2 digital thermometers in my incubator that show the temp and humidity, my question is are these showing wet bulb humidity or the relative humidity? Here is a pic of the chart I'm referring to.

I would assume that you are measuring relative humidity. A digital wet-bulb thermometer is a pretty pricey piece of equipment and they don't just look like a regular thermometer.

 

[sshannon024]

I have hatched chickens before, but this time we are going to try phesants. Anyone have any suggestions for there humidity level or is it pretty much the same as chickens?

 

[brainfog]

Hello,

I'm by no means an expert, although I've hatched lots from a home made incubator.

I believe the chart showing 80-84F is wet bulb temperature. My experience is that if you have humidity sensor, use it. Putting the sensor in a wet towel will likely destroy it. I usually target low 40s% for chickens eggs (although I incubate in cartons, so raising a bit if the eggs are exposed to force air) and for the last few days, 80%+. Each time I'd open in the last days, I'd mist everything since our house dew point is low.

The purpose of controlling humidity for the first few weeks is to create the correct size air bubble at hatching time. At first I would weigh the eggs when I collected them (writing weight on the egg) then later weight them when candleling. I'd target 10-13% weight loss by day 18, but weighting can be difficult, so 40-50% will get what you want.

Here is what I wrote last year:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...for-hatching-in-an-incubator/20#post_13346630
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...for-hatching-in-an-incubator/20#post_13145143

Good luck!
Chris