lockdown humidity?????

[mandelaykay]

I have my humidity at 75% is that too high??? I was trying for 65 and I could not get it past 50 so i put a wet paper towel in and now it is 75 there is condensation on one of the windows.. Any thoughts????

 

[Arielle]

For chickens I would bring it down a little; 70% is about the highest I have read. You can adjust it slowly. Or see how fast it dries itself down.

I hatch chickens and turkeys together and the humidity is 90%. Mine don't dry very fast! LOL

GL

 

[yinepu]

the only problem I have ever run into with an extremely high humidity at lockdown is that some of the chicks wont dry (i just toss them into the brooder while still wet)... I've had a lot of hatches over the years.. so to me the high humidity is MUCH better than if its too low

 

[cherylcohen]

65 - 70

 

[Ridgerunner]

Different humidities seem to work for different ones of us. I normally try for humidity in the range of 65% to 70% for lockdown, but once they start to hatch, the humidity goes up, maybe somewhere arount 85%. I would not worry about 75%. Like Yinepu, I'm more worried about low humidity.

In addition to them not drying, too high a humidity during hatching can cause rough unhealed navels, so you can look for that and maybe try to adjust next time if it is a problem. But they will heal when they go into the brooder. There are many more things that can happen to them due to low humidity during hatching, and many of those can be fatal. I'd be happy with 75% during lockdown.

Since you are using a paper towel to get there, be careful it doesn't dry out. I put a couple of those straws with the accordian bends in them together and use a syringe to put water in the incubator through a vent hole so I don't have to open the incubator during lockdown.

Good luck!