This chart shows you what your air cells should look like as the egg loses water. Monitoring air cells when you candle will also let you know if your incubator is maintaining the correct humidity. The chicks are often small and weak and will have trouble cracking the shell and hatching. If the incubation humidity has been too low there will be very large air spaces. The bird is stuck and unable to zip around the shell and will not be able to hatch. Often you will see the chick’s beak protruding out of the shell. This will cause the chick to have trouble breathing and will have trouble breaking out of the shell. If the humidity has been too high during incubation, the egg will have lost too little water and the air cell will be small. It is the first air that the chick breathes and is needed in order for the chick to move into the correct position for hatching. The greater the water loss, the larger the airspace. This airspace gradually increases in size. Water is lost through the shell gradually and is replaced by air which is also drawn through the shell. If you set your eggs with the pointy side down, you will notice an airspace at the top rounded part of the egg when you candle it. The amount of water that an egg loses during incubation is important and is determined by the humidity levels in the incubator. Thinner shells require higher humidity.)Įgg shells are porous and they allow water to pass through. Many factors affect humidity such as : Egg size (the smaller the egg, the greater the moisture loss.), Porous shell (which increases with a hen’s age), elevation, egg storage length and conditions, weather, incubation temperature, air speed and shell thickness (which decreases with hen’s age. Then for future hatches you can tweak the numbers and make minor adjustments for what works best for you. Start by following the manufacturers recommendations for humidity and temperature for your individual incubator. In general, slightly lower humidity is better than too high of humidity during incubation. Most people (unless they practice dry incubation) shoot for 40-50% for the first 18 days of incubation and then raise it to 65-75% for the final three days of hatching. If the Relative Humidity level is 50% that means that the air contains half of its maximum possible water vapor capacity. It is a measure of the amount of water vapor in the air compared with the maximum that could be absorbed at that temperature. When talking about humidity in the incubator we are usually discussing the Relative Humidity. This full maximum can increase as the temperature rises. Water vapor in the air can range from none to the full maximum which air can hold. This can leave some people scratching their heads at just how to accomplish this feat.Īir can absorb water. Humidity starts out at one percentage but then needs to be raised at just the right point in order for a successful hatch. Too much of it or too little of it can ruin your hatch rate. Humidity in the incubator has always been a tricky thing.
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