Topic of the Week - Temperature and humidity in incubation

[ZoomiesMom72]

My husband made me one we found online.
He is a electrician so he pulled it off.We have it set up did everything as Instructed.
I can not reach higher than a 80 degree temp with a 40 watt incandescent bulb as told to use
And my humidity is staying at 70 with the amount of water instructed. What do I need to do to get tha 40- 50 humidity and at least 100 degrees? I have pics if that can help in assessing?I would appreciate any help so I can eagerly put in my 5 eggs .we set it up at 10 pm last night at the current time I'm still only at 80 degrees.And when there actually was NO water initially at all we got a 40 humidity? I'm so not good at this.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

My husband made me one we found online.
He is a electrician so he pulled it off.We have it set up did everything as Instructed.
I can not reach higher than a 80 degree temp with a 40 watt incandescent bulb as told to use
And my humidity is staying at 70 with the amount of water instructed. What do I need to do to get tha 40- 50 humidity and at least 100 degrees? I have pics if that can help in assessing?I would appreciate any help so I can eagerly put in my 5 eggs .we set it up at 10 pm last night at the current time I'm still only at 80 degrees.And when there actually was NO water initially at all we got a 40 humidity? I'm so not good at this.

If the humidity is too high, remove some water and leave it for a bit then check again, then if it's still too high remove more.
Pictures of the setup will definitely help (post on my thread so we don't spam this one)

 

[Silexian]

I have a room in my basement, that I have my incubators set up in. It is back away from any exterior windows and doors. There are also no heat or A/C vents in the room. I run a dehumidifier that keeps the basement humidity at 55%. All of my incubators are forced air. So I set the temperature at 99.5 in all of them. I set the humidity between 50 and 55%. I have better hatch rates. By not increasing the humidity in my cabinet and Marsh/Lyon brand incubators at lockdown. I do increase the humidity at lockdown in my Genesis styrofoam incubator. As stated in previous post. No matter the brand or type of incubator you use. Go by the manufacturers recommended settings the first time using it. Study what is happening in your own situation with your incubator. Make adjustments for what is happening from your own observations. Don’t get caught up and overwhelmed by all the suggestions you will receive. If you ask for advice.

 

[AwareWolf747]

I'm looking forward to hear everyone's thoughts. My first attempt to incubate eggs was a failure. Started with 5 eggs and am down to 2 which I don't think are any good either. Will be trying with another 3 or 4 in the next day or so.

Will be watching this post to see everyone's comments, tips, and tricks.

Good luck on your next hatch! I've done 2 my second hatch I only had one lone olive egger hatch had to find her 2 bresse friends I had attempted a dry hatch but I think it's do to fluctuating temps

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

Hm so… I had an incubator this year and the humidity thing broke. So my friend said to empty it out and let it dry hatch, she also did dry hatches. My hatch was very successful other than two chicks not being able to get out in time which I later on found out was due to that hen have VERY thick skinned eggs. So I won’t be hatching her eggs until that goes away, it’s even hard to cook with her eggs due to the thickness of the skin. I now have 7 out of 9 live and fine chicks (not to mention gorgeous and super sweet. One even being the color I’ve been trying to get!), one egg wasn’t fertile the other two had the thick skinned eggs. I’m testing this again to see if it works again but from what I’ve been looking into and testing turning and humidity don’t seem all the important.. maybe just more of a risk of shrink wrapping? I’ve never had issues with that so far. I am worried my eggs will end up not hatching or injured of course I really want these chicks, but if it’s fine this time again maybe I won’t need to worry about constantly checking and refilling or finding a bigger turning incubator. I’ll try to remember to update how it goes I only started my incubator a few days ago

Oh and this incubator does this weird thing where it won’t go above 37.7(I think 37? It’s in my basement I’d have to check) for temperature but I’ve had multiple good hatches at that temperature

 

[Ponypoor]

Not sure what my teacher niece is using at her school, but she just hatched out 11 of the dozen eggs I gave her! Waiting to see if the 12th will hatch.

I feel this is practically unheard of to have an almost 100percent hatch success with incubator eggs. Just glad I didn’t give her the whole 2dozen eggs she wanted to put into the bator - I holds 24 chicken eggs apparently! Having 10 additional chicks here is bad enough!

Yes 10. Alas one of the chicks died at 24hrs. It was doing fine and then suddenly passed away.

 

[mcdze]

first step and most important for high hatchrate is just healthy, fertile eggs that were handled well .. critical, is a good rooster, alot of problems can originate with a less than top performing rooster .. also the hens need to be reasonably young and in good health .. next, how the eggs are collected is important, it needs to be daily, conditions need to be clean and peaceful for the birds and that includes being on a stable routine where theyre not constantly anxious and on edge .. collecting eggs needs to be gentle, and they shouldnt be cleaned at all ..

.. as far as temp and humidity ive found again, stable 'routine' is the most important factor ... you can say, well, 60% humidity and 99.5F is the most ideal BUT, if youre constantly messing with it trying to get it perfect day after day with temps and humidity up and down, the incubator open 5 times a day, candling incessantly blah blah, it just stresses the embryo .. literally it kills alot of them ... no, just get the incubator STABLE within the good parameters and leave it alone ..thats the key concept that will increase hatchrate given the eggs were good to start with as per the first paragraph .... if humidity seems to just be 70 in your bator and temp holds well at 98.5, then leave it the frick alone lol ... that humidity 'number' in itself wont hurt a blessed thing .. playing with the bator non-stop is gonna kill your eggs though .. once again, try to keep it as STABLE and consistent as possible throughout, this includes putting the bator in a stable, non-drafty ambient environment, so that outside factors arnt creating huge swings ..in other words, in the middle of the room on a hard kitchen counter under the AC vent probly is not the most ideal place for the bator, neither is right next to a window that leaks frigid air at night and gets baked by the sun in the day .. so just use your head ..

 

[CabritaChicks]

I keep the temp about 99.8-100 (I have a fan built into the incubator)
I like to keep humidity around 40% for the first 18 days, then bump it up to about 62% during lockdown (because that is where this damn incubator wants to be).

(That’s just my go-to for chickens—other species get different settings.)

I use a budget-friendly incubator, but I also keep a reptile terrarium hygrometer/thermometer inside to double-check accuracy. And yes… that incubator currently has some jungle fowl—or at least their descendants—tucked in there too. They were dropped off outside my gate, and I couldn’t resist giving them a shot. I’ll candle them in a few days to see if they’re viable.

(Edit, I forgot the decimal point)