Humidity fluctuation obsession!!

[La Ferme de Sarah]

I'm currently on day 7 of incubating with a ChickCozy and have been struggling with the temperatures and the humidity since day one! Ugh! This is my first time incubating so really trying hard to do everything by the book! However, it's been frustrating and an obsession!

By Day 3, I ended up having 2 Govee thermometers in the incubator with one of them being WIFI so I could monitor it at work! To get my temperature to where it needed to be, I had to set my incubator to 101.5 to get both Govee's to read between 99.5-100.0 daily. I also used the styrofoam that the incubator came in and put it around the incubator along with covering it with a towel and blanket. To date, my average temperature is now 99.8 F degrees.

The first several days my humidity was running on average of 44.6% which is below the recommended 45-55%. This was with water in Tray A. I would add water to the other trays and it would spike to 58-59% but would never average out. So...I bought a Govee Humidifier that is WIFI and can be monitored on the same App has my Govee thermometer (I can turn it on/off while at work and control the mist level.) I do believe the humidifier has helped as my humidity is now averaging around 49%. (I live in Kansas.)

I really question if I'm going to have a good hatch rate now because of the early issues with the temperature and the humidity. If I do get some to hatch they are going to be the most expensive chicks with all the new equipment I bought just to incubate them! Ha..ha..

Good luck! Hope you have a good hatch rate!

Good Luck, I am in same boat. Day 20 today. Trying to work out if Govee is right or Chick cozy. Govee on ledge says 99 or 98.1 but CC reads 99.5 as it should. I will change position of Govee as another poster said to see what its reading down near eggs but all the egg slots filled, I don't think it will fit unless I take them out for a bit.

 

[NatJ]

Are you taking them in and out regularly to weigh them? I did not weigh them before as I had not heard this info before they went in so it’s too late for that now. However, I thought once they go in you don’t want to be opening it a bunch. What humidity do you run for the incubation period?

You can also look at the size of the air cell. It is supposed to get bigger as incubation continues, and be a certain size by the time the chicks hatch.

I would give the eggs a week and then check the air cells in some or all of the eggs. If the air cells are way too big, you need to increase humidity. If they are way too small, you need to decrease humidity. If they are roughly the right size, go another week the same way you have been doing. A week later, check again, adjust again if needed. Then when you reach lockdown, raise the humidity for hatching, no matter what size the air cells are.

There are usually charts all over the internet, and in many books, showing how the air cell is supposed to get larger during incubation. They usually have lines or colored sections, labeled with specific days of incubation.
Here is one example that has both chicken eggs (21 days to hatch) and duck eggs (28 days to hatch):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/air-sac-is-way-too-small-need-advice-please.1099126/

And here's one that has lines instead of colors:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/day-11-weighing-eggs.739394/#post-10343555
(2nd post in that thread)

 

[Toothpick]

As you've no doubt seen by now you'll get 90 different answers on this. None are exactly right and only what people have experienced themselves. You'll just have to get somewhere close and be happy with it. That's my advice. Get somewhere close to "ideal" humidity and be happy.

I have the Harris Farm Nurture Right incubators that tractor supply sells. I have one old one and one new one. Both are running 99.5 degrees and 56-59% humidity right now. Days 1-18. This brand has always ran closer to 60% humidity during days 1-18 for me. I've had about a 95% hatch rate. Fine by me. It will likely be closer to 75-80% on days 18-21+

I don't worry about it. The chicks hatch and are healthy. So what's ideal...45-55% humidity? 50-60% humidity? And my 2 incubators have ran closer to 60 for the entire incubation...so...hmmm who's right, who's wrong?

Just find a happy medium.

 

[Slothinc]

Hi Slothinc,
Thanks for answering my post. I am reading all the Chick cozy posts LOL.

What happened with the hatches that were terrible? Do you mean, eggs that didn't grow or stopped growing or disabled or deformed chicks?

I will do what you said and put the Govee down near the eggs but that will be hard as I have 24 and don't want to take the eggs out too long.
Sigh.... Oh dear, should have done this before they came.

Im glad I could help lol whenever I see a chickcozy thread I like to post a warning on it because of my bad experiences! But you said you are on day 20?? So how are the eggs looking when you candle?

 

[Slothinc]

Hi Slothinc,
Thanks for answering my post. I am reading all the Chick cozy posts LOL.

What happened with the hatches that were terrible? Do you mean, eggs that didn't grow or stopped growing or disabled or deformed chicks?

I will do what you said and put the Govee down near the eggs but that will be hard as I have 24 and don't want to take the eggs out too long.
Sigh.... Oh dear, should have done this before they came.

It was a combination of eggs not developing (that could be attributed to how they were mailed - however my most recent hatch in there was mailed eggs and with the temp and humidity taken to the correct levels, only 2/20 didn’t develop.)

Then I ended up with many blood rings (again could be due to shipping but my recent batch only had one)

Then I ended up with a bunch of shrink wrapped chicks. Chicks that developed but never pipped internally. Chicks that did pip internally but had the membrane shrink to them and needed assistance. Chicks with deformations like cross beak and splay legs.

But yes comparing to my most recent hatch where I finally had all the settings adjusted to the correct levels, they were shipped eggs and I had very few not hatch, and all of the ones that hatched didn’t need assistance, and were very healthy. A night and day difference between all of the hatches that I struggled so hard with and had to assist constantly. Knowing what I know now, I think I would rather err on having the temp and humidity slightly too high, rather than too low.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What we're doing is artificial incubation. I try to either replicate nature, or take into consideration how nature deviates from artificial.
Chickens hatch under hens all over the world. Ambient humidity in one part of the world could be 90%. In another part of the world, it could be 20%. The eggs hatch. Given a more moderate climate, it can still vary widely. It may be 30% give or take for a few days and boom, 3 days of rain and it is 99%.
What I'm getting at is humidity isn't a set number and egg porosity (the constant by which evaporation takes place) is nearly always consistent with a specific hen and can be consistent within a breed or strain. But it can still vary a lot.
I just read an article about commercial strains of high producing hens, and it spoke about how widely the porosity varied between strains.
The only thing a hen can do is sit tight and hold that humidity in no matter what the weather is.
The only way to be sure the humidity has been correct for 'those' eggs is either to candle or to weigh. Weighing is by far the most accurate. I couldn't even see into some of my eggs so candling never was a good option.

 

[NatJ]

The only way to be sure the humidity has been correct for 'those' eggs is either to candle or to weigh. Weighing is by far the most accurate. I couldn't even see into some of my eggs so candling never was a good option.

I might say the real test is hatch rate. If every egg hatches, you know everything was right. If some of them fail to hatch, something was wrong but then you get to try to figure out what "something" it was (fertility, storage or shipping conditions, temperature, humidity, etc.)

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I might say the real test is hatch rate. If every egg hatches, you know everything was right. If some of them fail to hatch, something was wrong but then you get to try to figure out what "something" it was (fertility, storage or shipping conditions, temperature, humidity, etc.)

Very true. Humidity isn't the be all and end all but something people obsess about.
While I hold that, given fertile eggs, temperature is the most critical thing but there are way more ways for hatching to go awry than most people can envision. This starts long before an egg is even laid beginning with breeder age, health and nutrition.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Very true. Humidity isn't the be all and end all but something people obsess about.
While I hold that, given fertile eggs, temperature is the most critical thing but there are way more ways for hatching to go awry than most people can envision. This starts long before an egg is even laid beginning with breeder age, health and nutrition.

I wanted to add that, after temperature, I find turning to be the most critical element to success. Humidity (while an important element) falls way behind the first two as well as breeder nutrition, egg collection and storage.

Without sufficient turning, hatching of vigorous chicks just won't happen. Regardless of humidity. With vigorous embryos, assisted hatches are unnecessary.

 

[Jessgitalong]

That’s it! I’m gonna strap my chickens down on them eggs! KIDDING!!!!