Humidity

[happy ducks]

Hi! How do I make my humidity Lower in my incubator?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hi! How do I make my humidity Lower in my incubator?

Decrease the surface area of water/moisture in the incubator if you have water in it. Run dry (if it stays above 25% w/o water.) If you are running dry and still having too high of humidity you can place either rice, or UNpopped popcorn in the bator to lessen moisture. I would make sure that your hygrometer is accurate first though if you have not done that. What is your humidity and what level are you trying to get it to?

 

[Hatching Addict]

Bump. This is something I'm struggle with right now due to spring rains. Great timing on asking this question!

 

[WalnutHill]

You can also decrease humidity by increasing external ventilation. This can be achieved by opening additional vents, or by opening a viewing window for a few minutes a day or by propping open a lid.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

You can also decrease humidity by increasing external ventilation. This can be achieved by opening additional vents, or by opening a viewing window for a few minutes a day.

True, they only thing with that is to watch for the temps dipping. I actually use opening/covering my vents to control small fluctuations in humidity/temp.

 

[Hatching Addict]

You can also decrease humidity by increasing external ventilation. This can be achieved by opening additional vents, or by opening a viewing window for a few minutes a day or by propping open a lid.

Not sure about OP, but I keep my vents out all the time. I've found that a dry hatch works best for me (30-35% humidity during incubation). However we have had several rainy weeks with higher than normal humidity causing my incubators to run at (40-50%) humidity, which has been resulting in lower hatch rates due to chicks drowning after pipping. (Something I haven't had a problem with while keeping a lower humidity.)

I wondered about opening the lid a little, but then decided I might check the humidity in the room first...LOL it was higher (55% plus) then inside the incubator!

So now I've put some rice in the incubator...I had forgotten about doing that...thanks for the reminder Amy Lynn!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Not sure about OP, but I keep my vents out all the time. I've found that a dry hatch works best for me (30-35% humidity during incubation). However we have had several rainy weeks with higher than normal humidity causing my incubators to run at (40-50%) humidity, which has been resulting in lower hatch rates due to chicks drowning after pipping. (Something I haven't had a problem with while keeping a lower humidity.)

I wondered about opening the lid a little, but then decided I might check the humidity in the room first...LOL it was higher (55% plus) then inside the incubator!

So now I've put some rice in the incubator...I had forgotten about doing that...thanks for the reminder Amy Lynn!

I also keep my vents open from day one, unless like I said I need to tweak humidity/temp the I will cover them for a boost (15 minutes or so). I use the dry method as well. I like it so much better than the standard method.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

remember humidity is surface area of water not how much water or how deep, surface area is all that matters. Just put in a smaller container like a bowl so there is not as much surface area.

 

[chickkrzi]

Not sure about OP, but I keep my vents out all the time. I've found that a dry hatch works best for me (30-35% humidity during incubation). However we have had several rainy weeks with higher than normal humidity causing my incubators to run at (40-50%) humidity, which has been resulting in lower hatch rates due to chicks drowning after pipping. (Something I haven't had a problem with while keeping a lower humidity.) 

Curious newcomer here,
I wondered about opening the lid a little, but then decided I might check the humidity in the room first...LOL it was higher (55% plus) then inside the incubator!

So now I've put some rice in the incubator...I had forgotten about doing that...thanks for the reminder Amy Lynn!

So when you "dry hatch" what's the percentage of egg weight are you expecting to lose?

 

[rainbowhatchery]

All i have ever heard with dry hatching is horror stories but I have never personally tried it.