Humidity

[bygalos]

I made a cabinet incubator and I'm seeking advice on humidity rates. I have had 4 hatches and I am getting variable hatch rates but I can not determine if it is from varying humidity. I have tried 40 percent humidity for the first 18 days then raising to 75-85 percent for two hatches and 25 percent humidity for the first 18 days then raising to 75-85 percent humidity for the last three days.

My hatch rates are between 50 percent and 65 percent.

My largest success was with ringneck pheasants at 95 percent.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[sweetbanana]

Hi there wish i could be of any help, i havent hatched any chicks yet but my one sense would be to maybe check the temperature and humidity levels needed for pheasants and check them with those of chickens, maybe there is one variable whick is not just right, maybe temperature or humidity.

 

[kuchchicks]

I made a cabinet incubator and I'm seeking advice on humidity rates. I have had 4 hatches and I am getting variable hatch rates but I can not determine if it is from varying humidity. I have tried 40 percent humidity for the first 18 days then raising to 75-85 percent for two hatches and 25 percent humidity for the first 18 days then raising to 75-85 percent humidity for the last three days.

My hatch rates are between 50 percent and 65 percent.

My largest success was with ringneck pheasants at 95 percent.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

There are MANY reasons why hatch rates vary. What are you running your temp at? Is it forced or still air? Are you certain that your thermometers are accurate/did you check them? Also where are you getting your eggs from? Shipped eggs can sometimes have a lower hatch rate depending on many different factors including Post Office handling. Also it depends on the age of the eggs when they were set and how they were stored prior to setting.

Your humidity seems good. Are you looking at your air cells during incubation and making adjustments based on them? What do your unhatched chicks look like (if you are doing eggtopsies... if not, you may want to they will tell you when the chicks stopped and can help to determine what the issue was).

100% hatch is very difficult to achieve. My highest hatch rate thus far has been 87%. I do keep records on each hatch in a notebook and I note any issues, where I got my eggs from, fertility of the eggs, hatch rates, and things that I have done or would change the next hatch. This may also be something that might help you simply because if you are like me, your memory sometimes gets a little fuzzy over time.

If you can give a little more information on your bator then we may be able to offer more suggestions.

 

[bygalos]

Thank you kuchchicks for the reply. Great advice on keeping better records for myself so I can improve my hatching rates. My incubator is a forced air incubator in which I used two computer fans. This seems to be enough air to keep my temperature constant at around 95.5 to 100 degrees fahrenheit. I have used eggs that have been shipped via USPS and I have found that these hatch rates have been considerably lower than the eggs that I use from my flock. One last determining factor in lower hatch rate is that I have been hatching Araucana eggs with parents that have double tufts (upon doing eggtopsy's, I'm finding nearly developed chicks that didn't hatch).
Again, thank you for your advice and I will have to keep better records and factor in all determining factors (odds for and against successful hatchings) when taking into account my hatch rates.