How to decrease humidity

[GuineaFowling]

eggs are on day 4 and the humidity has been super high ranging from 67-70%. I’ve removed the water and all the ventilation areas are open and even added a sock with rice in it but the humidity still won’t go down. Not sure what to do next. Any ideas?

 

[sylviethecochin]

I'm sorry (if you read the post I just deleted.) I swear, I can read.

The ventilation being open isn't going to do you a ton of good; the purpose of the rice is to suck the water out of the air, but it can't do much if you keep getting new air in there. Do you own a dehumidifier? You could put the incubator in a closed room with it, if you do.

 

[R2elk]

eggs are on day 4 and the humidity has been super high ranging from 67-70%. I’ve removed the water and all the ventilation areas are open and even added a sock with rice in it but the humidity still won’t go down. Not sure what to do next. Any ideas?

Depending on what your ambient humidity is, if you have no water in the incubator, the incubator humidity cannot be higher or even equal to the ambient humidity.

Many incubators have faulty humidity readings so it is necessary to check the humidity with a separate hygrometer that has been calibrated. If your humidity is really that high, you can put a dehumidifier in the room the incubator is in.

If your ambient humidity is 60%, the humidity in an incubator that does not have any water in it will be in the 30% to 40% range.

 

[GuineaFowling]

I do have a separate hygrometer and that is what the reading is coming from. I didn’t calibrate it as it’s factory set but I will do that right now just to be sure. My incubator is very inaccurate staying at a constant 18%. I should clarify that I did have water in it before but I removed it this morning.

 

[R2elk]

I do have a separate hygrometer and that is what the reading is coming from. I didn’t calibrate it as it’s factory set but I will do that right now just to be sure. My incubator is very inaccurate staying at a constant 18%. I should clarify that I did have water in it before but I removed it this morning.

If added water is required to maintain the desired humidity setting, the surface area of the water is important, not the depth. The bigger the surface area is, the higher the humidity will be. The deeper the water is, the less frequently it will be necessary to add water.

 

[GuineaFowling]

If added water is required to maintain the desired humidity setting, the surface area of the water is important, not the depth. The bigger the surface area is, the higher the humidity will be. The deeper the water is, the less frequently it will be necessary to add water.

That makes sense. I had followed incubator instruction and put water in the three designated areas which have a large surface area. I’m calibrating my hygrometer now so hopefully I will have this all sorted out come morning. Will such a high humidity percentage early on be detrimental for the eggs?

 

[R2elk]

That makes sense. I had followed incubator instruction and put water in the three designated areas which have a large surface area. I’m calibrating my hygrometer now so hopefully I will have this all sorted out come morning. Will such a high humidity percentage early on be detrimental for the eggs?

Too high humidity during the incubation stage will prevent moisture loss in the eggs preventing the proper development of the air cell. This can lead to failure to hatch with fully formed chicks not being able to maneuver in the shell to be able to zip.

A few days with the humidity too high early in the incubation period can be overcome. Many do not even measure the humidity but instead rely on either weight loss or air cell size to determine whether to add or decrease water to control the humidity.

 

[GuineaFowling]

@R2elk thats reassuring. I did the salt test and my hygrometer is spot on. 100% accurate. I put it back in the bator but it was still in the 60% range. I’m hoping with no water source and the rice sock it’ll go down to 40% soon.

 

[R2elk]

@R2elk thats reassuring. I did the salt test and my hygrometer is spot on. 100% accurate. I put it back in the bator but it was still in the 60% range. I’m hoping with no water source and the rice sock it’ll go down to 40% soon.

You may need to put a dehumidifier in that room.

 

[Chickassan]

Those silica packs like they put in shoes but bigger work pretty well.
They sell them at wal-mart usually close to the closet stuff.
They aren't long term, you'll have to swap them out if your ambient humidity stays swampy.