Why do we need to keep humidity at a certain level?

[ohnoicantfly]

Hello all! I've been genuinely curious about this for a long time. How come we have to monitor humidity in an incubator, when a broody hen hatches her clutch without even having an idea of what humidity is? Does she somehow regulate humidity for the eggs? Really just curious here!

 

[cmobley]

I only dry hatch never watching humidity until day 18 for chickens and 25 for turkeys I raise it to 65 so the shell and membrane get soft for them to punch through.

 

[ohnoicantfly]

I only dry hatch never watching humidity until day 18 for chickens and 25 for turkeys I raise it to 65 so the shell and membrane get soft for them to punch through.

What level is the humidity in the incubator for the first 18 days?

 

[cmobley]

Whatever it is outside it varies from 20s to 50s

 

[ohnoicantfly]

Whatever it is outside it varies from 20s to 50s

I've considered doing a dry hatch myself, I just think the humidity is a bit low where I live. Might wait until June or July to start, when I know humidity will be higher.

 

[cmobley]

I've considered doing a dry hatch myself, I just think the humidity is a bit low where I live. Might wait until June or July to start, when I know humidity will be higher.

I’m in south Alabama mine usually holds steady in the mid 30s range the whole time but it will fluctuate when storms come through. I added a humidikit to one of my farm innovators 4250 to see if it makes a difference. I got the same results as dry incubation. I only use it now for a Hatcher I can put the eggs in and it keeps the humidity at 65 the whole time and I don’t have to add water. Makes for a lot cleaner hatches also.

 

[cmobley]

But the main reason for the whole humidity thing is a egg is supposed to lose so much liquid in so many days so the chick can pip and have a big enough air cell to breathe while it’s trying to break the shell. Also lubes the membrane so the chick can turn and unzip. If it loses to much liquid to fast it’s called shrink wrap and when the chick pips the shell open the membrane dries on the chick like glue the chick can’t move and breathe and dies.

 

[ohnoicantfly]

If humidity in my house is about 30-35%, why does it read 15% in the incubator? Which humidity do I trust? I've heard to trust the outside temp, but I've also heard that the heat being produced by the incubator dries out the air in the incubator.

 

[cmobley]

Use a calibrated hygrometer/thermometer in the incubator never trust the incubator gauges. inside that incubator is gonna be a different environment because it’s closed off and hotter in there.

 

[cmobley]

2 incubators sitting sidexside in my garage the old farm is off but closed the new farm has 40 Turkey eggs in it. A storm came through 30 minutes ago. The new farm dries out that wet air.