Humidity nightmare during lockdown...pls help!

[tbmorgan]

Ok, I have a Farm Innovators incubator (forced air w/fan.) I just put my first batch of eggs in lockdown this evening. I've been doing a dry hatch, and my humidity has been consistently at about 29-30% without adding any water. This evening, I removed the turner, laid a terrycloth dish towel over the wire screen and laid my eggs on it. I have an external thermometer/hygrometer with wire leads that go through the little hole in the bator that the power cord for the turner goes through, and I have a backup therm/hygrometer inside.
My problem: when I first put the eggs back in this evening, after removing the turner, I also added a little bowl with a sponge and a VERY small amount of water. My humidity shot up to 99% on the main hygro and 85% on the backup hygro within about 15 minutes. I took out the bowl, but the humidity is not going down at all. It's been about 3 hours now. Temp is good. I have no idea how to get the humidity down to where it needs to be and I'm afraid these babies are going to drown. I took the hygro lead out and let it sit on my kitchen counter for a little while to see if it would kind of "reset" itself, but as soon as I put it back in, it shot back up to 99%. I'm not going to be able to sleep until I have this under control, as I am worried about what can happen in the 8 hours I'm asleep!

Grrrrr!!!!! Help!!!

 

[Farmer Viola]

It's been about 3 hours now. Temp is good. I have no idea how to get the humidity down to where it needs to be and I'm afraid these babies are going to drown. I took the hygro lead out and let it sit on my kitchen counter for a little while to see if it would kind of "reset" itself, but as soon as I put it back in, it shot back up to 99%. I'm not going to be able to sleep until I have this under control, as I am worried about what can happen in the 8 hours I'm asleep!

Grrrrr!!!!! Help!!!

OK, it has only been 3 hours, it's okay! I hope someone more experienced will reply. I was able to lower my humidity by adding rice to the bottom of my incubator to absorb the moisture. Are the vents open? they should be, this also helped my humidity drop

 

[tbmorgan]

Thanks for the idea about the rice...I hadn't thought of that! I did get the humidity to fall in line overnight. It is sitting right at 60% now, so I can actually bump it up just a little bit now!

 

[Farmer Viola]

Okay, good luck! Remember the BYC hatching 101 guide recommends 28-45% humidity, quite a bit lower than the manufacturer's recommendations of 55-60%
edit: UNTIL DAY 18

"You begin by ONLY adding a small amount of water and keep Humidity between 28%-45% and adjusting as you weigh or candle depending on moisture loss."
from: www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

 

[Ridgerunner]

The way you control humidity is the surface area. The more surface area is wet, the more water will evaporate. The depth of water in the reservoir doesn’t matter (except when it runs out, of course) but the area of the surface where it can evaporate.

It sounds like when you put that stuff in there you got a lot of the inside wet. It took a while for all that surface area to dry up so the humidity inside could stabilize.

Don’t be surprised when the eggs start hatching if the humidity goes way up. The insides of the eggs are wet. The chicks are wet. They give a lot of additional surface area for the water to evaporate from. Don’t panic when you see that. They will be fine.