humidity too high

[Justde]

On lockdown incubator humidity is 78%. Will my chicks drown at this level?

 

[Susan Skylark]

Chicks don’t drown, the egg, like the womb, is fluid filled and the fetus/embryo doesn’t drown because it is getting oxygen through the placenta. Mammals start breathing at birth, but still get some oxygen from the maternal blood until the umbilical cord is cut. Birds start needing more oxygen than they absorb from the egg vasculature as they near hatch causing them to Pip so air can flow into the shell and allow breathing, at this point most of the fluid has become a chick. The idea that high humidity can somehow condense in the shell and drown the chick is ridiculous as lockdown humidity is often 65% plus and most chicks hatch fine, before this the chick is floating in a liquid environment with an intact shell making any additional moisture absorbed rather moot. Chicks can suffocate if the membranes wrap around their nostrils but drowning is not a major cause of death in neonatal chicks, more likely chicks that are nearly fully formed and die in shell for various reasons are assumed to have drowned by people hoping for an answer because there is a dab of fluid in the egg, but this is normal. Don’t worry too much about the humidity, I personally prefer a dry hatch but your eggs won’t die because humidity is up and down or a bit low or high. A steady temp and decent turning are much more important!