Humidity Question

[Cacklin" Hens]

What should the humidity be for hatching eggs in an incubator?? I have gotten conflicting answers from the internet- one says 40% one says 45-55$, and one says 50%. What works the best for you all?

 

[Cacklin" Hens]

anybody!

 

[1mommahen]

I am on day 21 today and my humidity started out at 60% and shot up to 72% when the first one hatched. I would say anything over 50-55 would be fine as it will go up!

 

[Cacklin" Hens]

anybody else?

 

[Ridgerunner]

You might check out this thread for the opinion of a lot of people who have been doing this for years. I think you will find there is no one simple correct answer for all of us.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=113681&p=1

 

[bigstack]

65% is optimum. it will climb a lil or alot depending on the number of eggs hatching and chicks drying. above 50 is minumum for me. I try to maintain 35% during incubation and 65% + during hatch. if it goes over 80% I control with vents. Hope this helps.

Good luck and God Bless!

 

[bigredfeather]

I try to stay between 56%-60% day 1 thru 18 and 65% day 18 until they start hatching, and as others have said, it usually starts climbing once chicks start hatching. After half of them have hatched, I will take out a few of the plugs to allow fresh air to enter and that will start lowering humidity so the chicks dry quicker. I had tried the 35%-50% for first 18 days, but found I had better luck with higher humidity. It really seems to be different for everyone. I would try different things until you find something that works best for you. Hopefully you don't have to expiriement with expensive shipped eggs. You will most likely have the best hatch rate with non shipped eggs, unless you're really lucky.

 

[Lucindahart]

I'm no expert - but I have been taught to keep between 40-50% day 1-19 and then day 20-21 try to get up between 50 and 60%, but remebre to keep good ventilation at this stage - as the chccks will need it when they hatch.

It does shoot up when they hatch as they are wet - but settles down as they dry off and you should be able to tontroll it them opening and closing the ventilation.

Good luck.

 

[Joyryder]

My last hatch was very good, the humidity was mid 40s until day 18, then 60s. It worked for me.

 

[BBK]

Joyryder My last hatch was very good, the humidity was mid 40s until day 18, then 60s. It worked for me.

How good was your hatch?

my last hatch, which was also my first hatch, didn't go to well. i was in the 30%. this time i'm upp-ing it to be in the high 40%-low50s, then bump it up into the 60s for lockdown...

melinda​