Humidity questions

[chicken4prez]

hi there! Yesterday I got my first incubator so if these questions sound dumb it’s because I’m very new to all this!

My incubator has 6 water tunnels in the incubator for humidity and it says that I should fill them up but when it comes to the actual number for the humidity, it tells me that I should ask my local library and see... I was a bit confused so I was hoping someone would know here.

It also doesn’t allow me to shift the numbers for the humidity (I’m not sure if that’s normal or not) but I’m confused on how I’m supposed to adjust the humidity if it’s too low or high because the water tunnels are a bit hard to reach without taking apart the actual incubator.

Thank you!

 

[cmom]

Do you have a picture of the incubator you're using? During incubation I don't put any water in the reservoirs. The eggs need to loose some moisture during incubation. I try to keep my humidity around 35% during incubation. When I set the eggs for hatching I up the humidity to around 75%.

 

[chicken4prez]

Do you have a picture of the incubator you're using? During incubation I don't put any water in the reservoirs. The eggs need to loose some moisture during incubation. I try to keep my humidity around 35% during incubation. When I set the eggs for hatching I up the humidity to around 75%.

I’ll send a link. So on lockdown the humidity is around 75% and when they’re incubating it’s around 35%?

So to get it at those temps I should add water till it shows the percentage I want?

 

[chicken4prez]

https://www.tscstores.com/CIRCULATED-AIR-INCUBATOR-P45124.aspx

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My incubator has 6 water tunnels in the incubator for humidity and it says that I should fill them up

Which incubator did you get?

When you start it up... leave all the wells completely dry and SEE where the humidity runs at before you add eggs or water. This will vary a bit depending on your ambient humidity. Here on the coast my ambient humidity is often above 80% and so completely dry my bator runs around 35% humidity. Get external thermometer/hygrometer that you can calibrate and do NOT rely on anything built into the bator for those numbers as they are notoriously inaccurate and can be the difference between life and death.

Humidity is determined by the SURFACE area of the water you add and NOT the depth. The depth of the wells just makes the water (humidity level) last longer. So if you need to raise the humidity fill one well at a time and let run in between to see how much it brings it up. I also find them difficult to adjust and often use another container of water added in instead of the wells... also because I don't like cleaning the wells out and they can get yucky. My added containers have proven to be dangerous to chicks during hatch so I use the wells... all filled completely usually.

I also remove ALL plugs from my bators at day one... in very humid environments, leaving one plug in (depending on bator) can help to lower humidity if needed. If humidity is too high, the air cell stays too small allowing the chick to much space to grow too large to turn into position for pipping and can result in drowning. The darker the egg, the lower the humidity. I have gone as low as 17% the first 18 days with Marans eggs. I would NOT go that low if they were white though as too much evaporation can also effect the embryo.

Your ambient humidity only effects how many wells you need to fill to reach your desired incubator humidity... and not the humidity at which you should incubate. I like the 35-45% range for the first 18 days. And 65-70% for lockdown.

If you don't have a good humidity gauge... weighing the eggs is a good alternative to candling air cells. I believe the aim is to loose 12% weight before lockdown.

One of my favorite hatching resource links...
Incubation guide

 

[cmom]

These may help you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/little-giant-incubator-tricks.601352/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubating-and-hatching-chicken-eggs.64195/

 

[cmom]

I’ll send a link. So on lockdown the humidity is around 75% and when they’re incubating it’s around 35%?

So to get it at those temps I should add water till it shows the percentage I want?

Yes, check out this thread it should help you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/little-giant-incubator-tricks.601352/

 

[chicken4prez]

Which incubator did you get?

When you start it up... leave all the wells completely dry and SEE where the humidity runs at before you add eggs or water. This will vary a bit depending on your ambient humidity. Here on the coast my ambient humidity is often above 80% and so completely dry my bator runs around 35% humidity. Get external thermometer/hygrometer that you can calibrate and do NOT rely on anything built into the bator for those numbers as they are notoriously inaccurate and can be the difference between life and death.

Humidity is determined by the SURFACE area of the water you add and NOT the depth. The depth of the wells just makes the water (humidity level) last longer. So if you need to raise the humidity fill one well at a time and let run in between to see how much it brings it up. I also find them difficult to adjust and often use another container of water added in instead of the wells... also because I don't like cleaning the wells out and they can get yucky. My added containers have proven to be dangerous to chicks during hatch so I use the wells... all filled completely usually.

I also remove ALL plugs from my bators at day one... in very humid environments, leaving one plug in (depending on bator) can help to lower humidity if needed. If humidity is too high, the air cell stays too small allowing the chick to much space to grow too large to turn into position for pipping and can result in drowning. The darker the egg, the lower the humidity. I have gone as low as 17% the first 18 days with Marans eggs. I would NOT go that low if they were white though as too much evaporation can also effect the embryo.

Your ambient humidity only effects how many wells you need to fill to reach your desired incubator humidity... and not the humidity at which you should incubate. I like the 35-45% range for the first 18 days. And 65-70% for lockdown.

If you don't have a good humidity gauge... weighing the eggs is a good alternative to candling air cells. I believe the aim is to loose 12% weight before lockdown.

One of my favorite hatching resource links...
Incubation guide

Thank you for the help! I linked the incubator in a post above.

See the problem is that my broody died while sitting on the eggs and my backup broody got sick and now is no longer wanting to sit on the eggs. So I’ve been keeping them warm and they’ve been doing fine (one is hatching at the moment actually) but I know that it’s not going to work for much longer probably. I went out and got the incubator yesterday evening and it says to wait for 24 hours so that’s what I’m doing. The temp is still fluctuating so I don’t think it’s a good idea to put the eggs in yet. But at the same time I’m getting a bit worried about the eggs because they haven’t had the proper humidity and things for a while.

The humidity in the incubator is reading at 48% with no added water yet.. should I just leave the water then for now?

 

[chicken4prez]

Also I will try to find an accurate thermometer.

 

[cmom]

I wouldn't put any water in unless you are now going into lockdown. I would put the eggs in the incubator. The eggs will help to stabilize the temperature.