| Incubation & Humidity Chart Chicken eggs require 21 days to hatch. The incubation times for other fowl will vary according to breed specifics. Temperatures should remain constant. With the range of 99.5 for forced air and 101.5 for still air incubators. The realative humidity of the incubator for the first 18days should remain at 58-60% giving a range for each breed and make and model of incubator.increase the humidity during the last three days of incubation to at least 65 percent relative humidity or 90-94%F wet bulbs. An excellent way to determine if proper humidity is maintained is to candle the eggs. As incubation progresses, the air cell of the egg becomes larger due to moisture lost from the egg. Necessary humidity adjustments can be made as a result of the candling inspection. An egg that shows a large air cell early in incubation may mean temperature is too high with a rapid moisture loss, make adjustments. All incubators will vary depending on manufactures specifics and outside temperatures and humidity. Duck eggs may fair better in still air incubators rather than forced air incubators. Geese eggs will hatch better sprinkled with warm water or dipped for 1/2 min during the last half of incubation and may take up to 3 days from first pip to hatch. Eggs should be turned at least 3 times a day, whether by hand or automatically. You may choose to move eggs to different parts of the incubator to offset different variations of temperatures in the incubator. Never set dirty or cracked eggs, never run incubator near drafts, never use an absorbing writing utensil for marking eggs. Never close air vents to increase humidity. Do not open incubator during hatching process. Breeds Days Setting Temp% HatchingTemp % & Days to Stop Turning Chickens Large Fowl 21 days 99.5 60-65% 80-85% Stop turning 19th day Bantams 21 days 99.5 60-65% 80-85% 19th day Waterfowl Breeds Muscovy 35-37 99.5 70-75% 90-95% 34th day Ducks 28 days 99.5 70-75% 90-95% 26th day Geese 28-30 99.5 70-75% 90-95% 27th day Swans 30-37 99.5 70-75% 90-95% 29th day Turkeys All Breeds 28 days 99.5 60-65% 80-85% 26th day Peafowl Breed Specific 26-28 days 99.5 60-65% 80-85% 22nd -26th day Pheasants Breed Specific 23-29 days 99.5 60-65% 80-85% 20-24th day Quail Breed specific 16- 25 days 99.5 60-65% 80-85% 14th - 23rd day Pigeons 17 days 99.5 60-65% 80-85% 13thday Dove 14 days 99.5 60-65% 80-85% 12th day Chucker 23 days 99.5 60-65% 80-85% 21st day Article written for the Chicken Chronicles by Bobbie ©opyright 2003 with many thanks for their permission and help from the easy chicken and poultry supply http://shilala.homestead..com Reference Material Janet Stromberg's "A Guide to Better Hatching" | 
