Should I spray my chicken eggs with water from the 19th day?

[molly1chickens]

The farmer who gave to my chicken eggs said to spray them with water for the last 3 days, however on websites I have found, they say to only spray duck eggs. Is this true? Should I spray my chicken eggs swell?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I never spray my chicken eggs, broody or incubator. With my broody hens I leave it up to them. In my incubator I raise my humidity the last three days by filling additional water reservoirs. I don’t know how you are incubating them or really anything else about what you are doing. Maybe you are incubating them in a way where that might be reasonable, but since I don’t have any details about what you are doing, I can’t say what is right for you.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I would not mist them. By spraying them with water, you could potentially compromise the bloom (the protective coating applied to the outside of the egg by the hen when its laid). This could allow bacteria to invade the contents of the shell, causing all sorts of problems. Incubators have water channels in them for a reason, put your water for humidity there

You *could* mist them, and lots of folks do, but why take that risk if you don't have to? And for the record, I don't spray duck eggs either...

If you haven't read it, the Hatching 101 thread in this section is excellent. Good luck to you!

 

[molly1chickens]

Thanks so much, I won't spray them just increase humidity in the incubator.

 

[sumi]

I agree with the above posters. I've never sprayed duck or chicken eggs. I increase the humidity to around 60% + for the last 3 days and I haven't had issues with sticky or stuck chicks yet. Best of luck with your hatch!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I do mist my incubator. The way my incubator is, its a huge pain to add water to so I just mist the air if I need to bring it up. However, in my hatcher I used the reservoir and, if needed, a piece of washrag in a tupperware lid.