Day 19 but high humidity

[Lavender11]

Hi. I have a cheap Janoel 10 incubator. It's been working really well and when I candled on day 17 all 9 chicks seemed alive. I've been running the incubator dry and the humidity was 40%. Now that I'm in lock down I only have water in the inner circle an humidity was 78%. I did a no-no and quickly opened it and popped a little piece of sponge in there hoping to soak up the water and lower the humidity but it's still on 74%. Is there something I should do orjust leave it and hope for the best?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

If you can make the surface area of the water less this should lower your humidity. It's the surface area that creates the humidity and not the depth. At 74% that's not too bad so for me personally I would leave it as it is for now and let it naturally decrease but keep it at 65% at least. Do you have all your vents fully open? Oxygen is a critical thing now and you need fresh air in there. Opening vents can also lower humidity. Do you have condensation in the incubator? Do you know your hygrometer to be correct?

 

[Lavender11]

I whipped the top off, put some warm water in and wedged a piece of Styrofoam in there. It dropped down to 70 but is back up to 74 last time I checked. There are no vents to open, just a few air holes. It must be getting enough air because there's no condensation. It's possible my hygrometer is off as I didn't realize that I should calibrate it until a few days ago and I've been flat out trying to finish my brooder in time.

 

[Lavender11]

I don't think there's much more I can do. This hatching eggs is a bit of an emotional roller coaster. A few days ago I was planning on the best outcome and now I'm planning in case of the worst. Fingers crossed for at least something in the middle.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Try not to panic

Hatching is a roller coaster with ups and downs even for the most experienced hatchers. If you don't have condensation things sound good. 70 - 74 sounds ok there are many hatchers who shoot for 75% at lockdown and hatch time. When you have chicks hatching it will go up naturally because the chicks are wet. When I've had lots of chicks hatch at the same time mine has pushed nearly 90% with no ill affects on the chicks that haven't hatched.

My fingers are crossed for you with your eggs

Let us know how it goes

 

[Lavender11]

Thank you

 

[appps]

I've got a janoel 48 and mine went way too high as well. What I ended up doing was both using an egg cup to hold my water (I put a bit of plastic wire in it so it wasn't a drowning hazard when chicks hatched) rather than the channels it came with and also when it needed a little extra I put a piece of sponge in there and just wet that slightly. I positioned them under those little air holes and then I could top up by poking a straw through the hole and using a plastic syringe to push the water into the egg cup without having to lift the lid.

 

[Lavender11]

The first one has started pipping tonight so I don't want to open it again. It's steady on 74 still so I guess we'll find out soon whether they're okay. I can't believe we also had a black out for 10 minutes this afternoon. We never have black outs but of course we did today. I covered the incubator with blankets.

 

[beetandsteet]

The first one has started pipping tonight so I don't want to open it again. It's steady on 74 still so I guess we'll find out soon whether they're okay. I can't believe we also had a black out for 10 minutes this afternoon. We never have black outs but of course we did today. I covered the incubator with blankets.

Hatching is super stressful! Hope you have the best of success with your hatch. 74% humidity is not so bad--I would not worry too much about it. From what I've experienced, 80%+ is when you should get a little more worried. As some of the other members have said, just let it naturally drop--don't add any more water. Do expect, however, as the chicks hatch that the humidity will go up some.

 

[Lavender11]

Thanks. When I woke up this morning it was on 68%. This waiting game is hard