- Thread starter
- #11
Thanks Ridgerunner! That makes a lot of sense. Location would make difference. I think I will just read as much as I can and then try it out.
humidity?
- Thread starter Hennyhandler
- Start date
What Ridgerunner said is right . there is no set rule for humidity.. if you ask ten people on here you will get ten different answers . i can remember being right where you are and being dumbfounded from so many different ways to do it.. so its best to just jump in with both feet and do it and dont worry.. i have had eggs hatch from way different humidity.. personally i like my humidity to run about 50% till lockdown then i take it up to about 65 . now this works for me but dont mean it will work for you . so good luck and go for it
tmoore8595
Songster
I have been hatching eggs for years with what I considered to be pretty good success, 60 to 75% hatches.
I was keeping my humidity around 55 to 65% for the first 18 days.
After reading this;
https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html
I started keeping my humidity at 35 to 40% (no added water) for the first 18 days, and then raised it to 75 to 80% for the last 3 days.
This increased my hatch rate dramatically. I now get 90 to 100% hatches.
I was keeping my humidity around 55 to 65% for the first 18 days.
After reading this;
https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html
I started keeping my humidity at 35 to 40% (no added water) for the first 18 days, and then raised it to 75 to 80% for the last 3 days.
This increased my hatch rate dramatically. I now get 90 to 100% hatches.
Yup, humidity is a difficult one. There really is no right or wrong figure for humidity, as it depends on your bator, your eggs, and the climate where you live. What works for one person won't necessarily work for another, and what works for one person with one batch of eggs might not work again with the next batch of eggs.
It helps if you understand the purpose of humidifying your eggs, which a lot of people actually don't. Incubating eggs need to lose moisture as the embryo develops, and they do this by evaporation through the shell. So an egg won't get heavier as the embryo grows, it will actually get lighter. If you have higher humidity in your incubator, your egg will lose weight more slowly, and if you have lower humidity in your incubator, your egg will lose weight more quickly. And what you're aiming for with your humidity is to regulate it so that your egg loses the correct amount of moisture, which there IS an exact figure for.
From beginning of incubation to lockdown at day 18, a developing egg should lose approximately 13% of its starting weight. (Actually, anything from 11-15% is pretty much okay, but the closer you can get to 13% the better.) So you weigh your egg at the start and subtract 13% to get the desired end weight. Weigh another couple of times through the incubation to check how it's getting on. Increase or decrease humidity as necessary to decrease or increase the rate of weight loss, and you should be able to get your egg to the right weight fairly easily. It sounds complicated, but it's not. It's a bit of extra work, as you'll need to number and weigh your eggs and keep some notes, but it removes ALL the guesswork from humidity.
If you want to go with trial and error, you'll get there in the end. It might take you one hatch, it might take you a dozen.
If you want to nail the humidity thing first time and every time, weigh your eggs!
P.S. Some people will tell you they do well with below 20% humidity, and some will say they do well with above 60%. They're telling the truth, but they're in the minority. MOST people get good hatches with humidity that is 30-45% for the first 18 days, then 65%+ for lockdown and hatching. If you're really not sure where to start, somewhere close to there would be a good idea.
Also, the University of Texas has a great guide to incubation which probably explains humidity much more clearly than I've just done.
Check it out here: posc.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf
It helps if you understand the purpose of humidifying your eggs, which a lot of people actually don't. Incubating eggs need to lose moisture as the embryo develops, and they do this by evaporation through the shell. So an egg won't get heavier as the embryo grows, it will actually get lighter. If you have higher humidity in your incubator, your egg will lose weight more slowly, and if you have lower humidity in your incubator, your egg will lose weight more quickly. And what you're aiming for with your humidity is to regulate it so that your egg loses the correct amount of moisture, which there IS an exact figure for.
From beginning of incubation to lockdown at day 18, a developing egg should lose approximately 13% of its starting weight. (Actually, anything from 11-15% is pretty much okay, but the closer you can get to 13% the better.) So you weigh your egg at the start and subtract 13% to get the desired end weight. Weigh another couple of times through the incubation to check how it's getting on. Increase or decrease humidity as necessary to decrease or increase the rate of weight loss, and you should be able to get your egg to the right weight fairly easily. It sounds complicated, but it's not. It's a bit of extra work, as you'll need to number and weigh your eggs and keep some notes, but it removes ALL the guesswork from humidity.
If you want to go with trial and error, you'll get there in the end. It might take you one hatch, it might take you a dozen.
If you want to nail the humidity thing first time and every time, weigh your eggs!
P.S. Some people will tell you they do well with below 20% humidity, and some will say they do well with above 60%. They're telling the truth, but they're in the minority. MOST people get good hatches with humidity that is 30-45% for the first 18 days, then 65%+ for lockdown and hatching. If you're really not sure where to start, somewhere close to there would be a good idea.
Also, the University of Texas has a great guide to incubation which probably explains humidity much more clearly than I've just done.
Check it out here: posc.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf
Quote:
I agree with the other posts. I did a lot of experimenting. Location of the incubator does factor in. I experimented too with my humidity and now I keep my humidity around 35% during incubation (for the first 18 days) then raise it to around 75% for the last 3 days.
My hatches went from around 60% to 95% to 100%.
I agree with the other posts. I did a lot of experimenting. Location of the incubator does factor in. I experimented too with my humidity and now I keep my humidity around 35% during incubation (for the first 18 days) then raise it to around 75% for the last 3 days.
My hatches went from around 60% to 95% to 100%.
So this is my first hatch and the incubator recs said humidity to be set between 50-60 during incubation. I started that, I'm on day three and don't know yet what the right setting should be. I've gone in and removed some water to lower humidity. It's now at 50. Can someone tell me the exact days to raise/lower temps and humidity? Also, when yall say lockdown what levels etc.exactly are yall meaning? I'm super excited for my lil peeps! Thx for all the help!
- Thread starter
- #18
Chicken fever, The humdity should be increased on day 18 for the last three days. That is lockdown. I am not for sure what you mean by levels. Do you mean humidity? If so, it all just depends on where you are at, and if you are doing dry or wet hatch and many other factors. Humidity is hard. I am on day 21 now and have relaxed about it. I upped it for lockdown even though it is fluctuating quite a bit which worries me. I am just trying to keep it stable and hope it works out. It is exciting isn't it?
This does seem to be the concensus on those that dry-hatch. As the rest of you, I've been reading on incubation/humidity/et.al and am more confused than when I started. I went to a breeders today to pick up some roosters for a friend of mine. This guy had eggs from chickens, pheasants and quail all in there together. I asked him about humidity and he smiled. He keeps his at 60% and never changes it. Not during lockdown or any other time. His hatch rate is over 95%. He opened it up (no worries
K so I kept humidity at 20-25% for the first 18 days then raised it to 70. Temp was at 99.5-100 constant. I have 41 eggs n there and NO pips at all no chirps. What did I do wrong?
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