How to Maintain Humidity in a Chicken Incubator

Chicks hatching in an incubator

Maintaining the humidity at 85 to 87% for the first 18 days of incubation is imperative to successfully hatching your clutch of healthy chicks. For the remaining three days of incubation, increase humidity to 90% to improve air exchange for maturing chicks. An important factor in maintaining relative humidity is controlling the temperature at 100-degrees Fahrenheit as well as ensuring effective ventilation through the incubator during the 21-day incubation period. How do you maintain humidity in a chicken incubator?

Things You'll Need

• Forced air incubator
• Shallow pan of water
• Sponge
• Temperature gauge
• Humidity gauge

Instructions

1. Place a shallow pan of fresh water into the incubator that has at least half the surface area of the incubator. Keep at least one inch of fresh water in the pan at all times, refilling it several times a day if necessary.

2. Wet a large sponge thoroughly and place it in the incubator so that it is not touching the surface of the eggs or the heat source. Wet the sponge several times a day if necessary. Adding a sponge may give the added humidity necessary for the last three days of incubation.

3. Check the thermostat and humidity gauge several times a day to verify that you are maintaining them at proper levels. Temperature should not vary more than one-half of a degree above or below 100-degrees Fahrenheit to allow for proper incubation to produce live healthy chicks. Check your gauges and water levels, each time you turn the eggs, which should be four to six times a day.

4. Increase ventilation in the incubator by opening vents. Proper air flow is necessary for fresh oxygen exchange in the eggs and maintaining humidity.

5. Add an additional wet sponge or shallow pan of water if your humidity levels are lower than desired.

Tips & Warnings

• Increase humidity during last three days of incubation. Clean hands before touching eggs to place them in incubator and before turning eggs six times a day. Open the incubator to increase ventilation and decrease the amount of heat that builds up during power outages to prevent death from overheating of eggs. Store eggs up to 7 days to allow you to collect enough for incubating at about 50-degrees Fahrenheit.

• Do not store eggs for more than seven days before beginning incubation. Do not turn eggs during last three days of incubation or you may kill the chick that is trying to get into position for hatching.

References

• CARE AND INCUBATION OF HATCHING EGGS
• solving incubation failures
• Embryology, candling, incubation, live webcam

Resources

• 4-H Youth: Poultry Program