Is it Possible to have " too much" Humidity? (INCUBATION)

[RoosterCogburn7]

What is the lowest humidity should go?

http://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/Humidity.aspx

This should help regarding humidity levels during development and the incubation cycle. A bit technical, but thorough. It is the system we use when hatching.

 

[dawnpel]

http://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/Humidity.aspx

This should help regarding humidity levels during development and the incubation cycle. A bit technical, but thorough. It is the system we use when hatching.

Thank you

 

[bald Rooster]

If you drop your humidity down to 45% it defiantly won't hurt them. keep it there till day 18 then shoot for 65 to 70
every one is different .If you live in Florida and don't have a/c you are going to have wet eggs period. Adding water would be a big mistake.
My bator has 4 water channels in it and you have to manually control humidity.
It was fairly easy to do and I was able to fine tune it also.
I filled the shortest channel all the way up and my humidity was close to 75%. after I let it run for a hour or so.
I did not try to remove any water to get it down. I took tin foil and placed it over the water channel so all I could see was about 2 inches of water. perfect 42%

 

[AmyLynn2374]

What is the lowest humidity should go?

I don't run under 25% BUT I monitor my air cells. No matter what humidity range you choose to try if you monitor your air cells at least on days 7/14/18 it will guide you how you need to adjust humidity for your eggs.

Also, if you are using a hygrometer that has not been checked for accuracy you really don't know what you're levels are. Your hygrometer could say 55% and it could off by 20%. So if you are advising people 50-60% works for you, and you've never checked your instruments you could be doing someone a big disservice. When someone gives you advice, make sure you ask if they've RECENTLY checked their hygrometer. Some people do have success at higher humidity, but many do not. Also, consider the type of incubator. Many I know that use cabinet bators do need to run higher than many of us with table tops, especially styros. And circulated vs fan forced with factor in there as well. Many many factors, that's why air cell monitoring can help greatly to judge what YOUR eggs need.

 

[Grandma's Chickens]

From my very basic understanding one size does not fit all.... the manufacturer can not anticipate every situation that their product will be used in. A lot will be dependent on your local humidity and elevation. Also the individual condition of the eggs you set, more porous eggs need higher humidity and less porous need lower. So there is no one answere. As to your hatch, how do your air cells look? If you shine a light through the fat end you should be able to see how big your air cells are. I personally would lower it some, to around the 40%? Mark and see what happens. Just don't forget to bump it back up for hatch time.

 

[DKFarms]

Ok....I'm done for the rest of the year. I checked the one and only living egg last night, and saw the baby pecking away, I'm guessing to try and pip internally. I could see the membrane moving with its bill. This morning, I checked on it, and no movement. Temps were at 99 to 100, humidity was at 60 m/l. Soooo, I started opening it up around the air cell, and noticed the membrane was white, and drawn in on the poor little thing, but not too far, he had room to move. A lot of goo around its nares, too.

With a white membrane, and goo around his nose, was it too much, or not enough humidity?

 

[Grandma's Chickens]

Thank you

 

[Grandma's Chickens]

Just would like to thank everyone for advice. Hatch is done and I have 12 out of 16 hatched. I had 3 marked as I wasn't sure if they were good. Tossed them. 1 chick had problems so it was culled. Last chick hatched has a bit of umbilical cord still stuck, so it will be separated until it falls off.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Just would like to thank everyone for advice. Hatch is done and I have 12 out of 16 hatched. I had 3 marked as I wasn't sure if they were good. Tossed them. 1 chick had problems so it was culled. Last chick hatched has a bit of umbilical cord still stuck, so it will be separated until it falls off.

Congrats!

 

[rachellea]

Yup.

Most recommendations are too high unless you are in a high elevation, then you do need higher humidity. I run 30% ish for the first 17 days and 70-75% for hatch. (But I monitor air cells frequently too.) I'm a hands on hatcher so I open during hatch so when mine spikes it doesn't stay up long.