Humidity readings vs. egg cell development

[JCat98]

Hi all. I incubated a bunch of chicks last year and didn't have a great hatch. The humidity in the house was high and I kept my bator at approx 50% humidity. The egg cells did not get very big and I imagine that the chicks that didn't hatch drowned. This hatch is going much different. I have low humidity in my house and have run with a dry bator. The humidity is reading 15% (before lock down) and the egg cells are right on target, if not, leaning on the smaller side. I want to know if I should be setting the humidity according to what is recommended or can I trust that what I am doing is right because I'm happy with the size of the egg cell. Will 15% humidity be detrimental to my eggs if they are developing normally? I am in lock down now and have increased the humidity to 67%. I plan to maintain 65% humidity or higher.

 

[Smileybans]

For the first two sets of eggs I incubated I followed the recommendations for humidity that I saw everywhere on the internet. Then I read about dry incubation. Where you add little to no water to the incubator and keep humidity between 15-30%. Instead of getting a 30% hatch rate from shipped eggs my hatch rate went up to about 60%. Much better for using shipped eggs. Now the dry method is all I really use. Only adding water the first day the eggs are in and then again if it reaches 15%. When day 18 hits I up the humidity to 65 or above. So the 15% humidity is not detrimental to your eggs as long as the air cell doesn’t get too big.

 

[JCat98]

For the first two sets of eggs I incubated I followed the recommendations for humidity that I saw everywhere on the internet. Then I read about dry incubation. Where you add little to no water to the incubator and keep humidity between 15-30%. Instead of getting a 30% hatch rate from shipped eggs my hatch rate went up to about 60%. Much better for using shipped eggs. Now the dry method is all I really use. Only adding water the first day the eggs are in and then again if it reaches 15%. When day 18 hits I up the humidity to 65 or above. So the 15% humidity is not detrimental to your eggs as long as the air cell doesn’t get too big.

Amazing. Thank you so much for your help. I'm feeling a lot more positive about this hatch. Will keep you posted.

 

[JCat98]

For the first two sets of eggs I incubated I followed the recommendations for humidity that I saw everywhere on the internet. Then I read about dry incubation. Where you add little to no water to the incubator and keep humidity between 15-30%. Instead of getting a 30% hatch rate from shipped eggs my hatch rate went up to about 60%. Much better for using shipped eggs. Now the dry method is all I really use. Only adding water the first day the eggs are in and then again if it reaches 15%. When day 18 hits I up the humidity to 65 or above. So the 15% humidity is not detrimental to your eggs as long as the air cell doesn’t get too big.

So I ended up with an 89% hatch rate in a little giant! I'm pretty stoked. Now confident in my ability to monitor and gage egg air cell size and adjust my humidity accordingly. With the low humidity in my house this will probably mean running dry until lock down. Thanks so much for your advice!

 

[Smileybans]

You’re very welcome. Glad I could be of help. I’m glad you got such a high rate. I have eggs in my incubators now and I’m so anxious to candle them. I’d love to see pictures of the new hatchlings. Cute chickens are always fun to look at.

 

[JCat98]

You’re very welcome. Glad I could be of help. I’m glad you got such a high rate. I have eggs in my incubators now and I’m so anxious to candle them. I’d love to see pictures of the new hatchlings. Cute chickens are always fun to look at.

My boys with our Bresse Chicks. Best wishes with the hatch. I started a second one. It’s fun.

 

[Smileybans]

So cute! My boys love watching the chicks hatch. So far out of my 14 silkie eggs I have 11 that are developing. That’s the most I’ve had out of any of my sets but these are the first set of eggs I didn’t have shipped in. I picked them up from a local farmer. I’m so excited they hatch in a couple days. Lockdown is tomorrow.

 

[JCat98]

So cute! My boys love watching the chicks hatch. So far out of my 14 silkie eggs I have 11 that are developing. That’s the most I’ve had out of any of my sets but these are the first set of eggs I didn’t have shipped in. I picked them up from a local farmer. I’m so excited they hatch in a couple days. Lockdown is tomorrow.

That's fantastic. Best of luck with the hatch! The best is when they realize the first chick has hatched and they get so excited. Awwww.