Help- How do I increase humidity during incubation

[Guest]

My first hatch came out of the incubator this past Sunday. Out of 5 eggs, I had 3 babies. The problem is that all 3 eggs pipped on Saturday. 1 of the babies pipped about 1/2 of the egg Sunday afternoon, pipped really fast for about 30 minutes but couldn\'t finish hatching. The other 2 eggs pipped, but I had to completely take them out of the egg. All three babies were almost dry by the time I hatched them out. All three babies are doing excellent and are healthy.
 
I have a GQF incubator and have an extra pan of water in addition to the one in the incubator. Is there a way to increase the humidity? I thought about using a spray bottle of water and spray the eggs each day, but I am not sure if this would work or not. I set 1 tray each week with whatever eggs that were laid the past week.
 
From your experience, is humidity my problem or is there something else going on?

Thanks-David

[faith valley]

David,
Are you watching the air cell?  Is it getting too large at the end of incubation?  

To increase humidity you can add a room humidifier or you can mist the eggs daily with distilled water. If you coose to mist them, keep the mist bottle inside of your incubator so that the water will be the same temp as the eggs.

Waterfowl eggs are routinely misted if the air cells get too large toward the end of incubation. We have hatched out 5 settings so far this season and haven\'t had a humidity problem - I do have a Dickey incubator with auto humidity though, so perhaps that makes a difference.

Good lick with your hatches,
~Patty~

[Guest]

Patty,

The air cell is really small. That is why I thought I may have a humidity problem.

Do you think I may have a different problem?

[faith valley]

If the air cell is really small, then you have too much humidity and the chicks are drowning in the shell.  As the chick develops, the air cell increases in size to about 1/4  of the top portion of the egg. If your air cell is too small ~ the egg is not dehydrating enough, then when the chick internally pips, it will pip into a pocket of liquid and not a pocket of air. Essentially drowning in the shell. If your air cell is very small- I would definitely not mist the eggs.

A different option might be that the incubator is opened too often durning the hatch process and the membranes are getting dried out during the hatch. If the humidity drops durning the hatch, the chicks pips around partially but get glued to the shell and cant finish turning.  The membranes dry out and they get stuck into the one position.

Just some possible things to consider.

~Patty~

[bantamhill]

I had the same problem for a couple years and literaly hundreds of eggs developing, but not hatching. Finally someone told me to try a hatch with no water except for the last three days . . . it did the trick. I watch the air sac size by candeling. I try to get it to 1/4 to 1/3 of the egg on day 18 and then add humidity for the last 3 days if necessary to keep it from getting too large. This is how I hatch chicken eggs, guinea eggs, and peafowl eggs. As Patty stated . . . waterfowl are an entirely different issue.

Michael

[John]

I think it is well worth the money to buy a jumbo display thermometer/hygrometer.  I see the one I have is only $24.95 plus shipping in the Farmtek book (farmtek.com).  Cutler\'s has a similar one for $32.95 http://www.cutlersupply.com/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=8800801.8270*ot4bq&p_id=0458&xm=on&ppinc=display.  These will get you closer to where you want to start than the dial type thermometers that come with incubators.  Then adjust the temp and humidity based on the success of the first hatch.

[Guest]

Everyone,

Thanks for the information. I put a hygrometer in the incubator today. Inside the incubator it is 43% humidity. This humidity is with 2 water pans in the incubator. What should the humidity in the incubator be at all times? I set a tray each week, so increasing the humidity for the hatch would increase the humidity for the 1 week and 2 week old eggs also.

Thanks again.

[Guest]

The relative humidity should be 60-65% during incubation and increased to 70-75% during the last three days and hatching.

Try putting a big sponge in the pan. Use a natural sponge. You can get them at a hardware store. They are used for sponge painting. You have to increase the surface area of the water that is exposed to the air in order to get more water to evaporate.
 
I run my incubator at 70 to 75% all the time and have no problems.

Rooster

[John]

What should the humidity in the incubator be at all times?

GQF suggests 57% during incubation and 75% during hatching for chickens.  The newer incubators come with large sponge sized \"wicks\" that fit into their custom water pans http://www.cutlersupply.com/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=8800801.8270*b55UV&p_id=0802&xm=on&ppinc=display.  Besides increasing the surface area of the water you can increase humidity by making sure the vents aren\'t open any more than necessary for fresh air.  I have a humidifier in the hatchery and keep pans of water near the back of the hatchers, by the vents.  Eggs being saved to go into the incubators need to be kept cool and in an area that isn\'t too dry.  I keep extra pails and pans of water in the room were I store eggs.
These are some ideas that I use but in different climates and elevations you may need to do things differently.  The instructions that come with the new GQFs are a great resource and a good little book for the beginner is A Guide to Better Hatching http://www.cutlersupply.com/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=8800801.8270*di2YP&p_id=0064&xm=on&ppinc=display.

[Blue Egg Acres]

 John said \"you can increase humidity by making sure the vents aren\'t open any more than necessary for fresh air.\"  

Something I have done in addition to this to get the humididty up is to use tape to close the hole around the hose that goes from the water bucket to the water pan. I\'m using a GQF cabinet model with the humidity pail that sits on top to automatically feed water into the tray.

[bantamhill]

David,

I am going to stay with my original statement. After you try everyone\'s humidity suggestions I would suggest cutting the humidity. Continue to moniter the air sac size by candling. If the air sac is not between 1/4 and 1/3 of the egg on day 18 then you have too much humidity in my opinion.

Our house has forced air heat and I still do not use any additional humidity until the last 3 days of incubation.

Michael