I am just about the start incubating my turkey eggs. I have a couple in allready as i found them but the bulk of my eggs are duie next week. BUT, as its not my incubor i am using does anyone know how to test rthe humidity in it? I have the temp set now and its steady - the waters in the incubator too but i just dont have a clue what humidity it has to be|??

 Anyone advise pleeeeese??!!]

Cheers,

Matty.

Matty. This is a late night summary just to get you started. It is important to keep some water in the trays up until four or five days prior to hatching. In theory, as the air space increases in the egg, the moisture level should reduce so that as the chick starts to breath air it is not drowned.

Thanks peter. Does it need to be a certain temp. (i heard about 80-100 on t'internet) but i dont know how you take the temp of the humidity?

There is water in the trough though so do yo think that will do?

Cheers

As to relative humidity: This is the amount of water held in the atmosphere compared with the amount that could be theoretically held at that temperature. Usually the higher the air temperature the greater the theoretical amount of water that can be held in it without precipitation. Don't forget that once the amount of water gets above that theoretical level it precipitates out as rain. 

 A wet and dry bulb hygrometer (I'm showing my age) used to be the way of measuring RH.

In practice with my incubator I do not bother measuring the RH I just keep water in it from days 3 to 18 and occasionally let it run dry for a few hours now and again.

Temperature however, is really importent. From memory it should be 81.6 to 82.6. It is thought that temperature determines sex of chickens but I'm not sure if that is the main determinant. I suggest you check this temperature as its upper limit should not be exceeded.

Remember however, that in nature a broody hen will occasionally leave the nest to feed and the eggs cool slightly during those periods.

If you can get access to data from someone called Katie Thear she is an authority on keeping chickens in small numbers. 

All the best

You can buy relative humidity probes now, but can be a bit pricey. The humidity should be about 60% during the incubation setting period & 25% during the hatching period. One thing I did do quite often was the day before hatching to take the eggs & place them in a bucket of 35 degrees centigrade water. Firstly this softens the shell a bit, & secondly if the eggs are indeed fertile, the poult inside will make the egg bob around on the water!! An old fashioned way instead of candleing!! I remember when I was small my great grandmother doing this with eggs the day before due to hatch. good luck with the turkeys, & hope plenty of them hatch for you!!

Regards,

David. 

Thanks for that! A friend of mine said the humiodity was a tricky one to do and suggested spraying them every 3 days. Now i just go in with a hand spray thing and give them a couple of squirts of water.

Thanks for that, i am really looking forward to them hatching - just hope they do!!

I don't know if it's the same for turkeys as chickens but we were recommended to not put any water in the incubator until the final few days as this caused the chicks to grow too big to get out of the shells. So far this has worked out fine.

O right. So do you not add any water till the last few days then?

Yup! The theory behind this is that most incubators are sold worldwide so are designed to operate in dry conditions. Here in the UK our humidity is higher so the eggs do not need any added water.

 Matty.

I understand what hareley farmer is saying but in the conditions of dry heat used in enclosed incubators you do need water. The machines are designed to take it for good reason. What hareley farmer's comments demonstrate is that there is a very wide range of conditions under which eggs will hatch.

We all have experience in incubating as well as letting the hens do it themselves. I too use the eggs in warm water trick a couple of days prior to hatching and watching them 'bob' around as the chick inside moves.

 Bear in mind that the growing chick is breathing air (which comes in through the shell) in the last few days and so needs less humidity in air outside the shell. At this point you should make sure that their is no water in the incubator's water trays.

Simple humidity meters can be bought from stores like Homebase or B&Q .They are  cheap and cheerful but do the job, I put one in the incubator and one in the incubator shed.It took me a couple of years to master hatching geese but with the aid of the simple humidity meters my hatching percentage was much higher.

 Wet and dry thermometers to measure humidity give a more accurate reading but you have to  do a calculation every time you need to check the humidity.

If you use a fan assisted incubator always put water in the trays for goslings or they  will dry out before they are completely hatched out of the shell and become stuck to it.