How do I lower humidity?

[Harder84]

What breed are the eggs?

Variety.....BLR Wyandottes, Orpingtons (Splash, Lavender, Blue, and White), a few bantams. I believe that's it. Do certain types do better with moisture?

 

[Harder84]

I think the paper towels are just capturing any moisture that might be trying to escape thru the vents. Try removing them.

Or may I suggest getting a new incubator?

which kind of incubator would you get? I'm new to this!

 

[WVduckchick]

Variety.....BLR Wyandottes, Orpingtons (Splash, Lavender, Blue, and White), a few bantams. I believe that's it. Do certain types do better with moisture?

There is a little variance. Like silkie eggs tend to be very glossy, and lose weight slowly sometimes, as well as very dark shells like black copper Marans, wellsummers, etc. My lav orps were always very hard to candle, dense shells for the light color, but lost weight just fine.

 

[WVduckchick]

which kind of incubator would you get? I'm new to this!

Well with as humid as it is there, it may not make any difference

Also, since you said no fan, are you running 101-102 degrees?

 

[Harder84]

There is a little variance. Like silkie eggs tend to be very glossy, and lose weight slowly sometimes, as well as very dark shells like black copper Marans, wellsummers, etc. My lav orps were always very hard to candle, dense shells for the light color, but lost weight just fine.

Thank you very much for your help, i will keep working at trying to get the humidity down, we will see if I can still get some to hatch!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not familiar with that incubator but you said it is a still air. And I'm pretty sure it is a type that you fill reservoirs in the bottom to increase humidity. I trust you never put any water in any of those reservoirs, they can take a long time to dry out.

You can try putting a small fan like a computer fan inside that incubator, that should force air exchange. As the cooler air from the room enters and warms up the relative humidity should drop. Heating the air should cause the air to rise out of the top vents but maybe a fan would help. I'm not sure how much.

Sometimes with my forced air and no water in any reservoirs my humidity is around 17%. Sometimes it is about 35%. The temperature and moisture levels in the air going into the incubator makes a difference but I've never seen anything like your levels.

 

[Harder84]

I'm not familiar with that incubator but you said it is a still air. And I'm pretty sure it is a type that you fill reservoirs in the bottom to increase humidity. I trust you never put any water in any of those reservoirs, they can take a long time to dry out.

You can try putting a small fan like a computer fan inside that incubator, that should force air exchange. As the cooler air from the room enters and warms up the relative humidity should drop. Heating the air should cause the air to rise out of the top vents but maybe a fan would help. I'm not sure how much.

Sometimes with my forced air and no water in any reservoirs my humidity is around 17%. Sometimes it is about 35%. The temperature and moisture levels in the air going into the incubator makes a difference but I've never seen anything like your levels.

I had water in the reservoir initially but dried them out with a paper towel after I learned my humidity is so high. I could certainly try getting a fan! Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you dried the reservoirs with a paper towel it can still take hours for the humidity to stabilize at a lower number. The dampness still has to evaporate. But that should be a few hours, not days.

 

[Harder84]

I just checked the humidity in our house on our thermostat and it says 31% so I'm wondering if my monitor has gone haywire....will get another monitor and update you. Thank you all for your help!

 

[Fairview01]

Well before I panic I would candle at 7 days and see what the air cell progression is compared to the pic.

I consider hygrometers to be useless. The best indicator of humidity adjustments during incubation is the air cell. If you have too, candle a few eggs on day 1 and trace around the aircell to create reference points. Increase humidity it if it's too big on day 7/ remove any water if too small. Repeat on day 14.

I think you stated you were having a big storm at the moment. When it rains humidity is 100% and remain very high for a week. Nothing you can do about the weather. If ambient humidity is high incubator humidity will be high. Truly the only practical humidity adjustment that's possible for us is to increase it.

Incubate and hatch vertically. The embryo will be always be oriented to the aircell for pipping. On day 19 set them in an egg carton, max out humidity and you'll have a great hatch.