Incubator Humidity, High or Low?

[KathadinXlover]

Hi everyone! Okay so I have started mating my speckled Sussex chickens(2 male and 1 female all of them 1 year old), and I finally got an egg yesterday

I have my homemade incubator all set up and ready but I am not sure if the humidity is to high or to low, could I get some help please?! Okay so the current humidity in the incubator is 51%, the highest it has been is 62% and the lowest it has been is 31%. The temperature is currently at 99 degrees Fahrenheit and the highest it has been is 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the lowest is 82 degrees Fahrenheit. If you guys could give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it

 

[txcarl1258]

I would say it's too high but that is my opinion. I live in a very humid climate and I dry hatch all of mine with the humidity steady at about 30%. This works for me, but I believe the norm is around 40% with it being raised to 60% at lockdown.

 

[KathadinXlover]

I live in Florida, I am new at this and I'm not sure how everything works yet. Thank you soooo much for the help. Do you have any tips on how to lower the humidity?

 

[txcarl1258]

I don't put any water in my bator and have all the plugs out. Mine is forced air so I believe that helps. I have never tried to lower it, but I wonder if a small bowl of plain rice would help?

 

[donrae]

I'm new on the whole incubator thing myself, so can't really advise on the humidity. I can, however, give completely unsolicited advice

You should not add eggs to the incubator as they're laid, that will result in a staggered hatch with is problematic with humidity levels during lockdown. You should collect the eggs and store them until you have the desired amount, or the eggs are 10ish days old, whichever comes first, then start them in the incubator all at once so they hatch in the same time frame. There are great stickies on storing eggs for hatching, and on the lockdown procedure to guide you through those things.

 

[Pbjamjam]

Please help me.. I think the humidity in mine is too high, it's day 23 at 3 am and there are chicks peeping loud and visibly moving the shell but the membrane is too thick (egg shell is gone but a brown layer remains) for them to break! Another has been stuck in the same size dime sized hole for the last 6 hrs.

 

[dominiquePL]

If they are zipping they should be ok. You can remove/break the membrane where the shell has been knocked off. The other which hasnt started zipping might need more time. Mine waited whole day.