![]() That means you can often run a large incubator at a lower humidity level than a small incubator. The more eggs it can hold, the more moisture will naturally be added to the incubator air. The larger the incubator, the more eggs it can hold. Keep in mind that the suggested humidity level is based off of running the incubator at full capacity.Įggs loose moisture throughout incubation and that moisture adds to the humidity in the incubator. The egg capacity of an incubator will affect how much humidity is needed during incubation. If your incubator’s instruction manual has a recommended humidity level for using with the incubator, follow those guidelines. Fluctuations will be affected by factors such as opening and closing the incubator, ambient humidity, air flow, and moisture sources within the incubator.Ĭontrolling these factors is how you will maintain the proper humidity levels throughout incubation. If not controlled, humdity levels will naturally fluctuate within the incubator. Here are the suggested humidity levels for incubating and hatching chicken eggs:įor more information on determing the correct humidity for incubating eggs on your homestead, make sure you head over to How to Monitor Humidity in an Incubator. This will ensure that the incubating eggs don’t dry out or contain too much moisture at hatch time. It is important to operate your incubator at the ideal humidity level. You can control humidity levels in the incubator by controlling the sources of moisture within the incubator or by regulating air flow within the incubator. Humidity levels in the incubator are affected by how much moisture is in the air and where that moisture is coming from. ![]() ![]() However, the whole reason you monitor humidity is to make sure the humidity levels are correct.īut how do you keep the humidity levels correct in the incubator? By controlling the humidity factors in the incubator. Digital hygrometers, wafer thermostats, egg air cell growth, and egg weight loss can all help you monitor humidity levels in the incubator. This cooling feature is an option which can be enabled to improve your hatch rates.But first, why is controlling humidity important? In an early post I discussed how you can monitor humidity levels in the incubator. Cooling is not recommended for parrots and birds of prey because the results of cooling for these species haven't yet been established. duck and goose) are cooled for 3 hours each day from day 7 through to 2 days before they are due to hatch (the same point that automatic turning would normally be turned off). The cooling feature can also be found on the older Brinsea models of the Advance and EX versions of the Mini, Octagon 20, Octagon 40, OvaEasy 190 and OvaEasy 380 models.īrinsea have assessed the available research and recommend that smaller poultry, waterfowl and game bird eggs are cooled for 2 hours each day and larger eggs (e.g. This function applies to the Advance and EX versions of the Mini II, Maxi II, Ovation 28, Ovation 56, OvaEasy 100, 190, 380 & 580 incubators. The default setting is that cooling is set to off. The cooling function is optional and the user can select cooling periods of 60, 120, 180, 240, 300 and 360 minutes with fixed 24 hour intervals. After the cooling period is complete the incubator reverts to normal temperature and the alarm is automatically reset. For this reason Brinsea have incorporated a cooling option in all of their Advance models of egg incubators since 2012.īased on the results of the research paper above the user of an Ovation 28 Advance could expect one additional egg to hatch on average.īrinsea's cooling feature turns the incubator's heater and low temperature alarm off for a selectable period but keeps the fan running. From Brinsea's 40 year experience, the best hatch rates are always achieved when the incubator can best mimic the natural nest conditions. To read the full research paper click here.Ĭooling is an entirely natural process as most birds will get off the nest at least once a day and leave the eggs unheated for a significant time. ![]() Bird breeders have known for many decades that eggs can be cooled for limited periods of time during incubation without causing problems but recent research has shown that hatch rates can actually increase significantly as a result of cooling.
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