Humidty during hatching, and how hens do it....

[cluckers&quackers]

Okay, I have my 1st batch of eggs in the bator, and of course have been following the discussions about temp & humidity on here very closely with the hopes I will have a good hatch

Now I just have to ask this.... If a hen sets on her eggs, at the point that we go into lockdown and up our humidity way up, how in the world can hens possibly hatch their eggs, when they can't up their humidity, they just continue to set on them the same way they have for all of the other days?

Now I realize by setting on them the hen is mantaining constant warmth on them, the same as we do in a bator, but we focus so strongly on humidity, the hen has no water reservoir to fill up, no wet sponge, and no hiked up humidity in the end, but her eggs hatch.

Am I missing something or is this just one of those "I wonder why it works that way" questions?

 

[jerseygirl1]

Yup, been wondering that myself.................

 

[horsejody]

I think that the humidity comes from the hen's skin. That's why the hen often plucks the feathers on her own belly. It makes better contack with the eggs. During the last few days of hatching, the hen doesn't normally leave the nest like she used to. She just sits there in her broody trance so no humidity is released. I would guess that metabolic changes in her body might also increase humidity.