What is the ideal humidity for hatching in an incubator?

[LoveMyBirds]

Quote:
BE CAREFUL where cracking the other eggs.. I was doing that and on about the 3rd or 4th hatching I crack one and that thing blew up on me..


STINK... whew...

I had a mess to clean up... Luckily I didn't get to much on the carpet and washed the wood work up pretty good before the little woman got home....

What I was doing was holding the egg in my hand.. Cracking the big end, and peeling the shell back to see what was inside.. But that one just blew up on me..

So now I just wait 2-4 days longer, then just toss the eggs..

 

[hollyandty]

Hi mom2chicksandpups,
I think we have similar incubators.
I bought a temp/humidity gauge at Walmart that is battery operated and stuck it in the bator. It lets me know what the high and low has been on the temp and humidity and is a lot easier to read than most thermometers.
My first sitting I hatched 30 out of 35 (4 not fertile and one premature hatch). My humidity stayed around 55 % until I took out the turner at day 18 and then I added water to get it up to 65-70%. The hatching chicks kept the humidity up after that. One thing I learned is to lay cheesecloth down on the wire after you remove the turner. It makes clean up a lot easier.
Good luck and congrates on your new babies.

 

[walkswithdog]

See? Generally - those rules that came with a commercial bator WORK for the largest percentage of people, in the largest percentage of hatching situations.

That's why they're instructions with the incubator and written rules on websites and in books. Because MOST people will have decent or good hatches IN THAT RANGE.

Then there are the people for whom the rules did NOT work. Their bator, or their house, or their altitude or their microclimate demands a different set of "house rules." And you only develop those with practice and attention.

At my house the rules kill a hatch every time - I can get about 30% to hatch if I follow the rules like religion which is flat icky.

Now I dry hatch and here it works. I rarely worry about humidity at all.

The bad news is you don't live in someone else's house, microclimate, altitude and you don't have their incubator.

So you get to follow the rules until you find out what works and what doesn't. You tweak in small steps until you get what you want. Clean, easy hatches of most or all the eggs that developed.

Hatching is NOT a science - it's part art and part nature, part miracle. Or they'd call it Chickening. Like fishing is NOT catching.

You don't get to count your chickens until they're hatched, dry, standing, walking and eating and drinking.

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

Quote:
I think we also have the same hygrometer/thermometer. I also bought mine at Wal Mart and it sounds like the same one. I just read about using cheesecloth in another thread. You may have suggested it there, also. Where would I be able to buy some? Sounds like a good idea.

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

Quote:
BE CAREFUL where cracking the other eggs.. I was doing that and on about the 3rd or 4th hatching I crack one and that thing blew up on me..


STINK... whew...

I had a mess to clean up... Luckily I didn't get to much on the carpet and washed the wood work up pretty good before the little woman got home....

What I was doing was holding the egg in my hand.. Cracking the big end, and peeling the shell back to see what was inside.. But that one just blew up on me..

So now I just wait 2-4 days longer, then just toss the eggs..

This happened to a relative of mine, also. It blew up all in his face.

I had one that cracked open in the incubator and the whole house smelled horrible until I aired it out a bit. I hope I never have one to blow up on me, but I guess it could happen. Thanks for the warning.

 

[Alex Kwong]

Quote:

You are right Grillo... Coz when I at the day 18 of 2nd 30 eggs took out from the turner candling, move them to the hatching tray and at the same time another homemade incubator at day 10. I changed an new digital hygrometer and found that both 2 of my old non-digital hygrometer (used from my greenhouse) reading too much out from the new one. Three day later I done the salt test for the old non-digital hygrometers, found that one was read 68% and the other read 65%

. That is one of the reason... and by controlling the RH @ ~60-70% (that means actually is 67-77% by using the old meter) cause the air cell not being change biggest from day-to-day and seem still so many clear area during candling @ day 18. In the end none of them is hatched (before the meter test done).

Another reason result the chicks peeped into the air cell but not peep the shells is the air fan I used. That is 3" and I re-do it from one unit 3" fan to two units 4" computer fan for one of the incubator. The other incubator will be re-do later. coz there is eggs inside hatching now...

BTW, I also done the thermometer calibration (ice point method) for the old digital thermometer and the new hygrometer. The old show -0.4 (out) and new one at 0 (correct).

To everyone having questing of your temp. & RH. I suggest you better calibrate your thermometer & hygrometer before your next hatch.


B.Rgds,

 

[shadowpaints]

how to you get the humidity to go UP? my bator is holding around 54 right now... havent put any eggs in it yet, but im worried about humitdity for the last days in the bator

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

Put more water in it. If you don't have any more surface area where you can add water, maybe you could try putting a wet washcloth or something in there.

 

[clairegareth]

Does adding water decrease or increase humidity having my first attempt starting tomorrow xxx

 

[LTygress]

I think the reason we get so many different answers is because everyone's situations are different. I think we have to take into consideration our climate, temp., outside and inside humidity, type of incubator and whether or not they are still air or not. I don't know that all these things are actually factors, but I'm learning and believe that what works for me, may NOT work for you.

I agree. I keep mind around 50% with chicken eggs, regardless of day. But then I also have a rotating incubation schedule. Eggs get laid on day 1, they go in right away. Eggs get laid on day 2, they go in on Day 2. Eggs get laid on Day 3, they go in on day 3. On day 21, the first eggs will hatch, and whatever eggs get laid that day will be put in the incubator. So I am adding eggs to the incubator every day, and I have hatches almost EVERY day as well. There is no "day 17-21" for me, because every egg is on a separate schedule. So I don't try to raise the humidity at the end.

But then again, a mother hen can't exactly sweat a lot heavier at the end of sitting, either. So it almost seems pointless to raise the humidity. HOWEVER, the hatching eggs themselves will help raise humidity as the liquid on the inside becomes exposed and gets evaporated into the air inside of the incubator. But that first chick to hatch under a momma hen still has to deal with the same humidity she had on day 4.

Now during the winter, the air here gets EXTREMELY dry, and I have to either add more water sources (sponges, shallow dishes) or mist it at certain times of the day with a spray bottle. But I still don't try to go too far above 50%.