Freaking out- humidity dropped to 0% on Day 17

[SevenWinds]

I took kids on a class trip yesterday to D.C. and left the house at 5:30 am. Temp fine- humidity 40%. I returned at 9pm last night and the humidity was at 0%. Are my embryos dead? What do I even look for if I candle?
I've never had the humidity drop like that.

I am so upset.

 

[EricShane]

honestly.. I dont think Humidity is as big of a deal as what it seems.. Those little guys are tough Im sure alot of them are just fine

 

[newnanchic]

check your batteries !!! There is humidity in the air naturally and I have never seen it a t 0% !!!

 

[jhart101]

Quote:
Agree...most always 15 - 20% range.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Humidity is secondary to temperature. It is indeed a big deal, but over the long haul. You will be fine as you get it back.

But proceed cautiously. Im wondering about your measuring device, more than anything. Except in the depth of the Sahara, I doubt there is any place on earth where you can achieve 0% Rh. And I imagine there is some residual water vapor there, too.

There is little reason for an undisturbed incubator, that was previously working fine, to suddenly go to an unattainable extreme, you know?. So, investigate this carefully.

Double check that hygrometer against a known good unit. And yes, check the batteries!
If you can get one, use a wet-dry bulb unit. If you were using one of those "weather units" from the discount store, be very suspicious.
What you dont want is an instrument that is giving you false readings, leading you to overcompensate.

Report back what you find, please.

 

[EricShane]

Quote:
lol.. yeah.. thats true.. i never thought of that

 

[SevenWinds]

thank you!

 

[SevenWinds]

Quote:
Humidity is secondary to temperature. It is indeed a big deal, but over the long haul. You will be fine as you get it back.

But proceed cautiously. Im wondering about your measuring device, more than anything. Except in the depth of the Sahara, I doubt there is any place on earth where you can achieve 0% Rh. And I imagine there is some residual water vapor there, too.

There is little reason for an undisturbed incubator, that was previously working fine, to suddenly go to an unattainable extreme, you know?. So, investigate this carefully.

Double check that hygrometer against a known good unit. And yes, check the batteries!
If you can get one, use a wet-dry bulb unit. If you were using one of those "weather units" from the discount store, be very suspicious.
What you dont want is an instrument that is giving you false readings, leading you to overcompensate.

Report back what you find, please.

This is my first hatch. I did a lot of reading first, and I am incubating with a Hovabator 1620 still air with turner. After three days, with too many area fluctuations in temp, I installed a PC fan in it (Put it where the manufacturer already premachined holes in the middle of the lid for their fan) The temp has been holding steady and with the exception of blood rings and a few bum air sacs, all of the eggs were developing nicely.

I agree with your 0% point. I had been running the bator with plugs out to increase ventilation and keep humidity between 25-50%. I put a plug in this morning to see if the humidity holds by the time I get home from work and now I am wondering if the hygrometer failed. I just purchased it last month- a Fluker's small digital thermometer/hygrometer. The temp was reading fine...

I am in the process of building my own with a cooler, water wiggler, therm/hygrometer, light kit and a reptitemp thermostat.

Can you tell me about your wet bulb comment? Are you referring to a wet bulb heating element? and if you have experience in wet bulb (which I have just started reading about) can you tell me more about its use in homemade incubators? best placement...i've read where people have both bulbs in their homemade bator and I don't quite understand the reasoning (or science, i guess, behind it).

Thanks again

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
As the name implies, the wet bulb hygrometer takes advantage of evaporation as the driving force behind its function.

With a wet-dry bulb hygrometer, you have a regular hi-grade thermometer in the atmosphere you are sampling, and mounted with it is a second one, but with a cotton wick encasing the bulb.

The wick is dampened and as the water evaporates from it into the air, it cools the bulb. Therefore, the thermometer with the wick will read lower then the dry air temp bulb.
("Swamp," or evaporative coolers, like you see in arid climates work on the same principle.)

Evaporation occurs at a constant rate for a given temperature and water vapor saturation point. This creates a known gradient, or difference, between the two bulb temperatures that can be referenced on a common wet-bulb chart.

Since the ability of air to retain water vapor is dependent on temperature, as hinted at above, this measurement is actually the water vapor saturation point of a given air mass, relative to the given temperature. That's why we call it relative humidity, symbolized as "Rh."

As with any hygrometer, placement in the bator is best arranged in in an area that is not directly impacted by moving air. Instead, you want air exchange movement around the hygrometer, but not direct drafts which skew the results.
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(Theoretically, you can do all this with two common medical bulb thermometers and a cotton shoelace for a wick. Since there are variables involved in this "homebrew" hygrometer, it is best to rely on a known good instrument until you get your experiment sorted out.)


I hope all this helps