Lockdown temps and humidity

[Curtisclan]

Hi all!! Newbie here. My first time incubating chicks and tomorrow begins lockdown. I wanna make sure I e got everything just right.
Temp should be at 100?? And humidity should be around 55-60?? Thanks

 

[CindyinSD]

People have various ways of doing incubation, many of which work very well for them. I keep the temp at around 99.5° Fahrenheit on my forced air incubator all through incubation including lock-down. During lock-down I keep the humidity between 60 & 80%--in practice, around 70%. I have good hatch and survival rates with eggs from my flock. Shipped eggs are unpredictable, so it's hard to judge from them.

 

[Curtisclan]

People have various ways of doing incubation, many of which work very well for them. I keep the temp at around 99.5° Fahrenheit on my forced air incubator all through incubation including lock-down. During lock-down I keep the humidity between 60 & 80%--in practice, around 70%. I have good hatch and survival rates with eggs from my flock. Shipped eggs are unpredictable, so it's hard to judge from them.

Thank you. These are not shipped eggs. They came from a flock that I lost to dogs a few weeks ago. How do I increase temp and decrease humidity ? What if it goes to high ( like 90%) how long can it safely stay that high?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Get the temperature down at least to 99' F try to keep humidity around 65%. If it goes a little out of that range it's still fine, but don't let it get above 75% or you will drown the birds in the shells.

 

[CindyinSD]

Thank you. These are not shipped eggs. They came from a flock that I lost to dogs a few weeks ago. How do I increase temp and decrease humidity ? What if it goes to high ( like 90%) how long can it safely stay that high?

During incubation your humidity should be between 35% and 55%. Some people swear by hatching dry. A lot depends on your local climate. I try for 35-45% during incubation.

Depending on where you live, I'd think 90% humidity would be hard to reach indoors. Most incubators have grooves/channels/canals in the bottom trays. You put water in them to regulate your humidity. If your humidity is too high, sop up the water from the outside (biggest) channel with a towel or whatever you want to use. On mine I usually keep the second largest channel only full during incubation. During hatching I use the outside (largest) channel and sometimes add the second largest one, but it's usually winter when I hatch, and very dry inside.

Humidity is controlled by the surface area of water. Depth doesn't matter in the immediate picture. What depth does is add longevity to the humidity levels. So, if you're doing well with filling a certain channel and want to make sure the humidity will hold through the night or while you're away, fill it all the way. Don't add another channel. That would give you too much humidity.

When you're incubating eggs, it's important that they dry out a little bit each day. The air cells should be growing as the days go by. If your humidity is right, this will happen. You can trace the air cells with a pencil, etc. when you candle. That will let you know whether they're growing. If chicks get too much humidity during incubation, they'll grow too large and may be "mushy".

Don't worry if the humidity spikes for a night or similar. It is the consistent pattern that matters. Try to keep your measurements stable, but don't panic if they get wonky once in a while.

The temperature is more important. Ideally you'll have several thermometers in the incubator and at least one that's been calibrated that you can use to check the others. If you don't know how to callibrate a thermometer, do a search. Lots of info out there. Keep your incubator in a room with stable temperature, ideally 70-75°. Short periods of cooler or warmer temps won't damage your eggs, but if they go on long enough to spike or significantly cool the inside temperature of the eggs, this could kill the embryos.

 

[CindyinSD]

BirdsBeesTrees is right about chicks drowning in the shell. This happens during hatching. If the humidity has consistently been too high the eggs will not dehydrate. Dehydrating is necessary in order for the air cells to grow.

During hatching the chick will first break through the inner membrane surrounding itself and into the air cell. (This is called the "internal pip".) Its circulation changes when this happens and it now needs air to breathe in order to oxygenate its tissues. The contents of the air cell supplies that oxygen until the chick breaks through the outer shell ("external pip"). If the air cell is too small, the chick cannot breathe and will drown.