Incubating chicken eggs...Humidity???

[Trapper Luke]

Goin to set some chicken eggs in the incubator here in the next few days and was curious about what the humidity is suppose to be for chicken eggs?

Was also curious am i suppose to increase the humidity in the last three days before they hatch if i am by how much?

Thanks,
Luke

 

[NancyP]

Hi,

read up on this link it should answer most of your questions.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=48726
Nancy

 

[Katy]

I run mine about 30% and then bump it up to 65% for the last 3 days. Everyone has to figure out tho what works best with their incubator and for the area that they live in. What works for me isn't going to neccesarily work for someone else. That's why it's a good idea to do a few "practice" runs with the bator with cheap eggs until you find out what works for you.

 

[bigredfeather]

Like stated above, everyone has their own method. I keep humidity between 55%-60% for first 18 days, then 65% for last 3 days. I've had a great hatch rate since doing this. I used to run low humidity (35%-40%) for 1-18, then up it at the end. I was getting a lot of fully developed chicks that didn't hatch. The higher humidity has eliminated this. Last hatch, I had 23 out of 26 hatch. They other 3 pipped, but never made it any further.