Remember, once a chick hatches, the humidity will increase, and this will help the others. Raising the humidity for a short time does not make a significant difference to the average moisture loss.ĭo not remove the lid of the incubator during this time. Once a chick ‘pips’ making a small hole in the shell to breathe, 24 hours before hatching, the membrane is at risk of drying it out, so be sure to increase humidity about three days before the hatch day.

The increased humidity keeps the membrane soft enough for chicks to break out.

We stop turning eggs, and the humidity inside the incubator (or separate hatcher) needs to be higher to get the best hatch rates. We go into what most people call “lockdown” during the last three days of incubation, ready for the hatch.