Humidity to high

[Roo-man]

The humidity is to high in my incubator (Homemade) how do I get it down to the 50% that I need for the first 17-18 days? it is staying at 57%-60%.
Rod

 

[kathyinmo]

Open up the vents to let some out. Do you have water or a sponge in there, that you could remove? What % of humidity are you shooting for?

 

[Akane]

Have you checked the accuracy of your humidity gauge and how humid is it there? You can't get the humidity in the bator any lower than the room humidity. Usually it sits at least 5% higher as the eggs give off moisture. If you are in a very humid climate take all the vent plugs out, remove all sources of water, and open the incubator once a day. It will keep the humidity low enough. Make sure your humidity gauge isn't just off though. It may not be quite as high as you think and just removing the vent plugs or taking a little water out might give you a perfect humidity. If your tray has different sizes of water troughs try filling a smaller one or less of them. I hatch year round in a varying climate so sometimes I'm dealing with very dry air and sometimes extremely humid air. I've learned to adjust the amount of water and air flow my incubator has depending on the current weather.

http://exoticpets.about.com/od/herpresources/ss/hygrometer.htm

 

[Roo-man]

Thanks for the response,
I did open up the vents, which has help the humidty drop down around 52%, From what I have been reading I should have the Temp around 99.3 to 101 and the humidity at 50% for the first 18 days then increase to around 75% at lock down,
I really would like to know more about the humidity range what is good and what is bad, from what I can tell to much to early is bad in the end for the chicks.
I have caibrated my humidifier and found it was 2degs to low so I take that into account also, temp is just fine it is only the humidity that I have been having trouble with.
I also have 3 sponges in water if needed I can take one out also.
Any more help would be great for a NEW EGG

Rod:

 

[Akane]

Ideal humidity range varies again by climate and somewhat by incubator and air flow. It's pretty much the opposite of what your climate is. More dry air going in means higher humidity needed and less air or moister air going in means less humidity needed in the incubator. In one climate or one part of the year hatching at 60% might be good and 70% drowns them. Another climate or part of the year hatching at 75% is needed and 60% dries them out completely. I've seen some people say they hatch at 80% or higher and just tilt the incubator so the extra water that collects everywhere runs down and then I've seen people that hardly raise the humidity at all and hatch at 50-55%. It's impossible to know an exact number for certain. You mostly have to experiment. Since your incubator seems to be holding humidity so well personally I would probably try 40-50% for the first 18 days and 65-70% for hatching.

Humidity during incubation is not quite as critical as humidity during hatch. During incubation it just determines the size of the air sac based on the amount of moisture lost. More humidity stops moisture loss so smaller air sac and less increases it. You don't want too large of air sacs or the chicks won't have enough room to move and too small of air sacs also makes it hard for them to hatch because they should break into the air sac and breathe that air until they are ready to pip. You can have quite a range of air sac sizes and shapes though and still have chicks hatch. Nearly every hatch I even have one skip the air sac completely and break directly through the side of the shell so it won't stop every chick from hatching. During hatch though if your humidity is off the chicks can either drown because the air sac fills with the extra water or get glued to the inside of the shell if they are too dry. Humidity problems is probably the most common reason for chicks getting to hatch day and dying in the shell.