How much humidity do eggs put off?

[sideWing]

I got my bator setup long before the eggs arrived and I had the humidity pegged at 45% I'm using a DIY bator and I have a cup of water hanging in the bator. It's a styro bator made from frozen meat shipping box. Much thicker than a styro cooler. I hatched over 45 lizard eggs in it.

I put the eggs in and 24 hours later the humidity was at 60%. I covered about 80% of the top of the cup and I got it to go down to 55% humidity. I covered about 90% and now its down to 50% humidity. The hygrometer is a digital hygrometer and I have no idea how accurate it is. I will measure and mark air sack to monitor, but I'm wondering how much humidity the eggs themselves put off?

 

[Daedalus62]

That's a tough one... We know eggs loose 13/15% of they're weight over the 21 days incubation period... How much (or even how) that translates into humidity percentage in the air...

To calibrate your hygrometer (or just know the reading deviation if it's non-adjustable), do the salt-and-water test... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/285284/calibrate-your-hygrometer-two-methods

Cheers

 

[sideWing]

To calibrate your hygrometer (or just know the reading deviation if it's non-adjustable), do the salt-and-water test... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/285284/calibrate-your-hygrometer-two-methods

I wish I would have done that before the incubation.

 

[WalnutHill]

If you have 40 sixty gram eggs in the incubator, and they lose 13% of their weight during incubation, that's 312 grams of water over 21 days, or 15 grams a day. That's quite a bit of water.

 

[Daedalus62]

I wish I would have done that before the incubation.

Well...I guess no harm in taking out your hygrometer for a few hours to run a calibration test... Humidity % is not going to change abruptly, if you keep the conditions inside your incubator unchanged.

Cheers