Lockdown! How high is too high on the humidity???

[AshVal09]

They usually aren't malpositioned when they hatch. These were shipped eggs and they had a rough ride + a couple of the OEG X that I incubated last were malpositioned.

If you want to assist:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

I had a gut feeling that they were going to be difficult. The eggs that didn't develop had a really thick outer membrane, I noticed when I cracked them to cook for the chooks; I had to rip them open. If they weren't so thick I don't think I would have been able to help much because they can tear and make the chick bleed out, this was a problem with every other time I've tried helping.

There wasn't really any way of telling exactly where they were going to pip at first. I just made sure they could all breathe when they needed because of the membrane concern. 11 have hatched with little assistance... 2 didn't make it.

You’re right as well. I got all my shipped and it’s hard to know how long they have been on the road. I think that’s one of the biggest factor as to why eggs don’t make it. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only one.

Lots of variables to consider and hard to control as well. All we can do is make sure to check them and watch their progress.

 

[Blueeyesliz]

We put the little eggs in lockdown this afternoon and the humidity has been a PAIN! If I leave the red plug in (yes, I can only find one of the blasted plugs) the humidity jacks up to 80%. If I pull it out, it drops to about 50%. If I kind of half cover it, I can sort of get it around 60%, but that plug seems to like migrating. I have no idea when those plugs grew little legs, but they never seem to stay where I put them unless I wedge them in place. Danged aggravating, that.

I also noticed that if I perform a short tap dance, the humidity will fluctuate with the tapping of my shoes. Clever, no?

Seriously, I wanted to keep it at 70%, and I'm bit worried 80% is too high. Is it?

Tape I tape mine and remove accordingly

 

[Blueeyesliz]

We put the little eggs in lockdown this afternoon and the humidity has been a PAIN! If I leave the red plug in (yes, I can only find one of the blasted plugs) the humidity jacks up to 80%. If I pull it out, it drops to about 50%. If I kind of half cover it, I can sort of get it around 60%, but that plug seems to like migrating. I have no idea when those plugs grew little legs, but they never seem to stay where I put them unless I wedge them in place. Danged aggravating, that.

I also noticed that if I perform a short tap dance, the humidity will fluctuate with the tapping of my shoes. Clever, no?

Seriously, I wanted to keep it at 70%, and I'm bit worried 80% is too high. Is it?

Taper little holes

 

[Portugal Muscovy Novice]

I'm not sure about lockdown humidity but I can tell you what's worked (for me). Im in Portugal in the Alentejo region (south) and it regularly gets above 30C in summer and humidity is quite low at around 20 - 35% during the day. The nights can be around 80-90%) and I'm not even joking. I'm telling you this because you cant just blindly follow the 40 - 60% rule for incubation and 65 - 70% for hatch. The ambient humidity will vary so much you need to compensate for this somehow.

First of all I highly recommend dry incubating and weighing the eggs on a weekly basis to ensure that they will loose 13 - 15% in the three weeks they are in the 'bator. I've lost quite a few eggs because I was told to keep humidity between 40 and 50%. if they are under weight you add humidity and if they are over weight you remove humidity or just don't add water. You have to know your eggs. Some are more porous than others. You can see this for yourself when you candle them. I'm currently doing 15 Orpingtons and the guy I bought the eggs from clearly has issues with feed as they were calcium deprived and extremely porous. (I felt so sorry for the hens). For the first time in my life I had to incubate at 50% humidity from week one almost. They are now pipping and I'm keeping the humidity between 65 and 70% but this is because the shells are already so very brittle due to the porousness I mentioned before. If they were "normal I would hatch at 80%

I'm not brave enough to try dry hatching as I've only seen issues if the humidity drops below 60%. This includes eggs not unzipping, getting stuck in the membrane with me trying to save a poor chick with a tweezer and cotton wool before the membrane gets "baked on". On the flip side if the humidity is above 80% I often get the dreaded yellow goo, of which I don't know the actual scientific cause, but it doesn't happen at lower humidity during hatch. This also requires clean up and care and attention. you will notice that none died, it just means different remedies for healthy chicks. You can't go wrong in my opinion during lockdown if they are at the right weight.

Summary:
1) I dry hatch and add water as needed after they all get weighed.
2) Depending on how much humidity I introduce during incubation, I adjust the humidity level during lockdown / hatch. Less moisture (65 - 70%) for porous eggs and more (<80%) for solid eggs.

Hope this helps although this was some years ago so I assume all went well. Would love to hear your experience.

 

[JennieLamb]

We put the little eggs in lockdown this afternoon and the humidity has been a PAIN! If I leave the red plug in (yes, I can only find one of the blasted plugs) the humidity jacks up to 80%. If I pull it out, it drops to about 50%. If I kind of half cover it, I can sort of get it around 60%, but that plug seems to like migrating. I have no idea when those plugs grew little legs, but they never seem to stay where I put them unless I wedge them in place. Danged aggravating, that.

I also noticed that if I perform a short tap dance, the humidity will fluctuate with the tapping of my shoes. Clever, no?

Seriously, I wanted to keep it at 70%, and I'm bit worried 80% is too high. Is it?

From what I have been reading everywhere it seems that 70 to 80% is the norm, most places recommend 70% to 75%. However, anything over 80% is bad because it increases the chances of splayed legs and below 65% is bad because it increases the chances of shrink wrapping the chick in the egg. If it makes you feel any better or just had to open my incubator because my chick has pipped but

We put the little eggs in lockdown this afternoon and the humidity has been a PAIN! If I leave the red plug in (yes, I can only find one of the blasted plugs) the humidity jacks up to 80%. If I pull it out, it drops to about 50%. If I kind of half cover it, I can sort of get it around 60%, but that plug seems to like migrating. I have no idea when those plugs grew little legs, but they never seem to stay where I put them unless I wedge them in place. Danged aggravating, that.

I also noticed that if I perform a short tap dance, the humidity will fluctuate with the tapping of my shoes. Clever, no?

Seriously, I wanted to keep it at 70%, and I'm bit worried 80% is too high. Is it?

Anything over 80% increases the chance of legs play anything under 65% increases the risk of shrink wrap most places recommend 70 to 75%. Right now one of our chicks has picked and my humidity is at 84% I just had to open the incubator to lower it to 78%. Unfortunately my humidity was too low and I lost track of the days because something went wrong with the counter on the incubator and our first wound up dead in the shell and our second wound up shrink-wrapped. So this is number three of our first set of hatching. Hopefully third time is the charm, good luck with yours

 

[Niki3002]

My first hatch - When I went to bed, humidity was around 70-75, and overnight 16 chicks hatched and jacked the humidity up to 99%! (All 3 of my hygrometers agreed, which they never had before) and there was condensation on the windows. I broke the rule and opened the lid only long enough to wipe the one tiny window with paper towel, and took an eggshell on the way out. I was trying to lower humidity without affecting temperature too much. After a few minutes I wiped the other window, but humidity remained above 80 for the remainder of the hatch. 30/32 hatched - one having pipped and died early on (when humidity was lower) and the other never pipped at all. So I had no complications due to high humidity and nobody “drowned”. To the person who said his whole batch “apparently drowned”, I’m super curious as to how you arrived at this conclusion. Currently in my 2nd batch, they are hatching much more slowly this time, and just checking them now at 4 am, I see humidity dropped below 70, and I now have one shrink wrapped I’m raising it as best I can. Just thought I’d share some more anecdotal evidence for high humidity hatches (after appropriately low humidity incubating, as others have mentioned above.)