Humidity Dropped randomly overnight in Nurture Right 360 during lockdown!

[tviss711]

Hi everyone, my incubator is in my classroom and today is day 20 which should be exciting. My humidity has held at exactly 70% for days 18 and 19, it was 71% when I left for the day around 3:30pm yesterday. I came in this morning at 6:45 am and it had dropped to 46% overnight randomly! Can't fathom why, we've been having major rains all week and the ambient humidity is quite high. I have a camera on it, nobody took the lid off or anything and the cap was still on chamber B. Two eggs pipped during the night which now has me pretty worried. I worked quickly to get the humidity back up to 69% and it has stayed there all day. One of my eggs has wiggled a little bit, the other has been rocking around literally all morning (its now 11:25 am) and peeping, but it doesn't appear to be making very much progress. This is my first hatch, so I don't know if it is normal for them to be exerting so much effort and not be making a whole lot of progress. Did the drop in humidity make the membrane too tough for her to get through? Or will they be okay? I know better than to try to help. So I won't, but I just want to know if this has happened to anyone before and if I should really be worried.

 

[PattieTheDuck]

Hi everyone, my incubator is in my classroom and today is day 20 which should be exciting. My humidity has held at exactly 70% for days 18 and 19, it was 71% when I left for the day around 3:30pm yesterday. I came in this morning at 6:45 am and it had dropped to 46% overnight randomly! Can't fathom why, we've been having major rains all week and the ambient humidity is quite high. I have a camera on it, nobody took the lid off or anything and the cap was still on chamber B. Two eggs pipped during the night which now has me pretty worried. I worked quickly to get the humidity back up to 69% and it has stayed there all day. One of my eggs has wiggled a little bit, the other has been rocking around literally all morning (its now 11:25 am) and peeping, but it doesn't appear to be making very much progress. This is my first hatch, so I don't know if it is normal for them to be exerting so much effort and not be making a whole lot of progress. Did the drop in humidity make the membrane too tough for her to get through? Or will they be okay? I know better than to try to help. So I won't, but I just want to know if this has happened to anyone before and if I should really be worried.

Eggs will usually rock around prior to hatching. Once, I left the humidity too high and my eggs hatched too early so perhaps the decreased humidity could be slowing their hatch. Just keep the temperature up and stable and they should be fine. Only assist the hatch if they stay in their eggs for too long.

 

[tviss711]

Eggs will usually rock around prior to hatching. Once, I left the humidity too high and my eggs hatched too early so perhaps the decreased humidity could be slowing their hatch. Just keep the temperature up and stable and they should be fine. Only assist the hatch if they stay in their eggs for too long.

Okay. The one that is rocking is also the one that has pipped so I am just afraid she's going to tire herself out before she's able to make any progress! But I suppose there's nothing I can do except watch and cheer her on. This part is the hardest!!!

 

[tviss711]

For reference, I've observed her rocking back and forth a LOT and chirping for the last 5 hours. Unfortunately the way she is pipped I can't tell if she's broken through the membrane or just managed to pop the shell out a bit. She has been pipped for longer than that. This is what her egg looks like:

Should she have more progress to show for the efforts she is putting in? Or is it normal for them to struggle this much. I am afraid of her "shrink wrapping" while I am gone for the evening. Maybe I will just camp out in my classroom overnight! She has become more vocal as the day progresses.

 

[PattieTheDuck]

For reference, I've observed her rocking back and forth a LOT and chirping for the last 5 hours. Unfortunately the way she is pipped I can't tell if she's broken through the membrane or just managed to pop the shell out a bit. She has been pipped for longer than that. This is what her egg looks like:
View attachment 4043331
Should she have more progress to show for the efforts she is putting in? Or is it normal for them to struggle this much. I am afraid of her "shrink wrapping" while I am gone for the evening. Maybe I will just camp out in my classroom overnight! She has become more vocal as the day progresses.

remove a tiny bit of the eggshell and if you see a hole in the membrane then she has pipped. Just make sure that the hole does not dry out her membrane.

 

[PattieTheDuck]

For reference, I've observed her rocking back and forth a LOT and chirping for the last 5 hours. Unfortunately the way she is pipped I can't tell if she's broken through the membrane or just managed to pop the shell out a bit. She has been pipped for longer than that. This is what her egg looks like:
View attachment 4043331
Should she have more progress to show for the efforts she is putting in? Or is it normal for them to struggle this much. I am afraid of her "shrink wrapping" while I am gone for the evening. Maybe I will just camp out in my classroom overnight! She has become more vocal as the day progresses.

If the humidity is high, she will not dry out easily so that will not be a problem.

 

[tviss711]

remove a tiny bit of the eggshell and if you see a hole in the membrane then she has pipped. Just make sure that the hole does not dry out her membrane.

I’m really afraid of opening the incubator to check on her! It’s day 20 and only she and one other have pipped. The other one is mostly still, I think she is resting. Since I caught the humidity drop early this morning, I corrected it and it’s been at 69% which should be moist enough for her to break through right?

Maybe if she hasn’t made any obvious progress by the end of the day I will gently check to see if she truly has broken through the membrane

 

[Yardmom]

Although the humidity dropped below the ideal, it did not go extremely low and you were able to bring it back up. That should not be enough to cause shrink wrapping. Any progress made? Good luck.

 

[tviss711]

Although the humidity dropped below the ideal, it did not go extremely low and you were able to bring it back up. That should not be enough to cause shrink wrapping. Any progress made? Good luck

I do see progress! She has made more cracks on the right side of her initial pips. I still can't quite tell if shes pierced through the membrane, but I am of the impression that if she was strong enough to crack that shell (the shells from my speckled sussex hens were honestly really thick, I always had to work a little harder cracking them into the pan!) then I think she will have the strength to pierce the membrane! She sure is working hard in there. I feel for her!

 

[PattieTheDuck]

I’m really afraid of opening the incubator to check on her! It’s day 20 and only she and one other have pipped. The other one is mostly still, I think she is resting. Since I caught the humidity drop early this morning, I corrected it and it’s been at 69% which should be moist enough for her to break through right?

Maybe if she hasn’t made any obvious progress by the end of the day I will gently check to see if she truly has broken through the membrane

Good idea. If she hasn’t, you can wait a while longer or break the membrane just a tiny bit but be careful of the one beneath because that one may still have blood vessels.