not new to chickens, new to incubating

[Pork Pie]

Hello and welcome to BYC. You have some great advice that I hope will help.

 

[Kiki]

@treslilbirds How did you get the humidity level up in your recent hatch?

 

[treslilbirds]

@treslilbirds How did you get the humidity level up in your recent hatch?

Hi!! Oh I’m sorry I didn’t see this earlier. We’re in the middle of moving and I havent been as active online lately bc it’s been so hectic.

When I was hatching, I just ran it dry up until lockdown. So I didn’t have any water in the first half. I technically did try putting water in at first but my air cells weren’t growing like I wanted bc the outside humidity was so high (spring rains). So I removed all water up until I noticed the eggs were rocking right before they hatched. Then I added enough just for a thin layer on the very bottom. The humidity was running about 35-40% up until that point and every time a chick hatched, the humidity shot up to over 50%. All 5 hatched successfully (minus my one dud egg that died before lockdown)with no shrinkwrapping or dry/sticky chick issues.

Again, I apologize for not seeing this message sooner. Please let me know if I can help more, I'll be sure to check my messages!!

 

[Kiki]

No worries.
I was trying to help someone with the same bator figure out how to raise their humidity.