deerman
Rest in Peace 1949-2012
Quote:
Humidity under broody's body probably has no merit in comparison to artificial incubation.
Reason being, when the hen is sitting on eggs, upper part of them is covered with her body with little or no air access.
Birds do not sweat through their bodies like humans, so there is probably very little moisture available from hens body.
In the incubator eggs are exposed to the air and are warmed by the air without touching the warmth source, eggs in incubator are subject to lose water by evaporation, rate of this evaporation depends on air humidity in the bator.
So the detailed incubation conditions are significantly different under broody as oppose to incubator.
Can't compare apples with oranges.
I have said about the same thing in different threads is the past..
I just got tired of getting shot down and argued with , there is always somebody who knows more about it.. usually because they have just finished hatching out their first batch ever.. I have 40 years of this under my belt..
Agree have to compare apples to apples. I hatch some of my father game chicken when I was in High school. He would let some of the game hens set, let me set a few eggs in an old sear incubator had to hand turn eggs. I got a better hatch rate than any of his hens. Game hens are some of the best setters of all chickens, still the modern incubator will give better hatch rate than nature.
I also have been hatching for over 40 years.
Rather than see how the hen hatches, better to see what works best in your type incubator
Humidity under broody's body probably has no merit in comparison to artificial incubation.
Reason being, when the hen is sitting on eggs, upper part of them is covered with her body with little or no air access.
Birds do not sweat through their bodies like humans, so there is probably very little moisture available from hens body.
In the incubator eggs are exposed to the air and are warmed by the air without touching the warmth source, eggs in incubator are subject to lose water by evaporation, rate of this evaporation depends on air humidity in the bator.
So the detailed incubation conditions are significantly different under broody as oppose to incubator.
Can't compare apples with oranges.
I have said about the same thing in different threads is the past..
I just got tired of getting shot down and argued with , there is always somebody who knows more about it.. usually because they have just finished hatching out their first batch ever.. I have 40 years of this under my belt..
Agree have to compare apples to apples. I hatch some of my father game chicken when I was in High school. He would let some of the game hens set, let me set a few eggs in an old sear incubator had to hand turn eggs. I got a better hatch rate than any of his hens. Game hens are some of the best setters of all chickens, still the modern incubator will give better hatch rate than nature.
I also have been hatching for over 40 years.
Rather than see how the hen hatches, better to see what works best in your type incubator
