Why Humidify... For Egg Incubators

In egg hatcheries, broiler houses and other environments that depend on proper egg incubation, proper humidity plays a crucial role in safeguarding the lives of the chicks hatched in them.

Reduce the Risk of Dehydration

The pre-incubation storage process can last for seven days or more. During this time in areas without proper humidification, eggs are highly susceptible to drying out. With proper humidity control of 70-80% RH for the first seven days and 80-88% RH for each pre-incubation day afterward, the eggs will receive the proper amount of air moisture required to begin the early incubation process. At this time, it is important that your relative humidity is consistently regulated at 50-60% RH to keep moisture levels balanced and prevent against excessive moisture loss. Otherwise, poorly humidified conditions could result in dehydrated albumen and the embryo being significantly damaged. Proper egg incubator usage is the most important part of ensuring this doesn’t happen.

Encourage Proper Growth

During the incubation process, the amount of air that is allowed to enter an egg has a major influence on the healthy growth of the embryo. Environments with conditions of 50-60% RH are optimal for the healthy-sized embryo, as these conditions allow the airspace to develop to the correct size, which allows the embryo’s lungs to develop correctly after internal piping. This will ensure that once hatched, the chick will have regular motor functions and behave normally if it can breathe the required amounts of oxygen. Ensuring your egg incubator is properly maintained is a good way to be certain this process is occurring the way it should be.

Make Environments Healthy for Development

Unhealed or wet navels on newly hatched chicks are the result of unhealthy development, and such conditions can result in painful infections as well as mortality in many cases. Another condition tied to unhealthy embryo development pertains to the hocks of the chick, which could become swollen and red. These small lesions result in leg weakness. To protect against these issues and ensure that you have healthy hatchlings, it is important to keep your relative humidity levels at between 50-60% RH. Making sure your egg incubator is being serviced regularly is a good way to ensure your humidity levels are staying consistent. Regulated humidification, such as with one of Condair’s humidifiers, is the most efficient and reliable way of achieving this or any consistent RH percentage levels.

Decrease Airborne Infection Potentialities

Like human infants, newly hatched chicks are easily susceptible to airborne-based infections and viruses. When conditions are uncontrolled in regard to RH levels, dust and airborne particles can freely float through the atmosphere, easily interacting with chicks in the same space. Proper humidity with 50-60% RH will not only protect the chicks during the hatching process and prevent the shell from sticking to their own, but it will also force airborne particles and dust to fall more quickly, greatly reducing the risk of airborne-based infections that could negatively impact hatchling health.