Humidity too high?! Help please

[cat1994]

Ok
So I set my eggs today and all was well but I look again tonight and all my humidity gauges say it's around 60... Is this too high this early in the game!? Should I take the eggs all out and try to dry up all the water I put in the bottom?? I popped out the lil red plugs to give it more air flow and it's slowly going down a lil but I'm worried im drowning my eggs or something... I'm also worried I'm gonna mess em up if I take them all out. Or that I'm gonna take too much water out and the humidity with plummet...

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[AmericanMom]

Ok
So I set my eggs today and all was well but I look again tonight and all my humidity gauges say it's around 60... Is this too high this early in the game!? Should I take the eggs all out and try to dry up all the water I put in the bottom?? I popped out the lil red plugs to give it more air flow and it's slowly going down a lil but I'm worried im drowning my eggs or something... I'm also worried I'm gonna mess em up if I take them all out. Or that I'm gonna take too much water out and the humidity with plummet...

Any advice would be much appreciated!

You say you set them today?
Personally, I would start with 0 water and see after 24 hours where your at... Ideally I like my humidity around 35-40% and so in my area with my ambient humidity I do dry incubation

 

[AmericanMom]

Oh and you wont mess them up this early...

 

[dorpersheep]

Hi Cat

I am assuming you just put the eggs in today, so this is day 1 of incubation? I would not be panicking about the humidity being too high, just let it come down naturally over the next few days. 45% or 40% or whatever you are aiming for needs to be the average for the whole incubation, if they spend a day at 60 then a day at 50 then day at 40 it will level out at average of 50....so just let them drop down a bit below where you want to be and it will even out.
That's what I do anyhow and finally now seem to be getting on top of the whole humidity thing. Most of my bators go straight up to around 55% or 60% when I first set the eggs, I just let them sort things out for a few days. Our last hatch completed today achieved 90% hatch rate, this is the first one where I have aimed for an average humidity of 35% - going up to 70% if I can get it that high at lockdown. The chicks emerged much easier and much dryer than they have in the past so I will definitely be aiming to keep batches lower in humidity from now on.

I wouldn't be worried about taking them out, letting the temp of the eggs drop would likely be more of a drama than the humidity. I'm yet to meet a broody hen that comes with a hygrometer yet they manage to hatch eggs all the time!

Cheers Cate

 

[cat1994]

Thank you all so much for you're responses! Yes this would be the first day of incubation. I've only ever used broody hens before this and they all did so well... I'm very nervous about using an incubator for the first time! But I kept thinking that a hen doesn't keep the eggs at a perfect humidity all the time... so maybe 60% and dropping is ok... It's down to 55% right now... I'm thinking I'm gonna let it go down a bit on its own.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

You say you set them today?
Personally, I would start with 0 water and see after 24 hours where your at... Ideally I like my humidity around 35-40% and so in my area with my ambient humidity I do dry incubation

xs 2 I would start dry and see where you are at after 24 hours and then if it's not above 25% add a bit of water. I run dry too and have had awesome results with the much lower humidity the first 17 days. At lockdown through hatch I shoot for 75% or more. Just remember if you set them today do NOT count today as day one as day one doesn't start until they have been set for 24 hours. Day one doesn't actually start until tomorrow at the time you set them. Taking them out to remover the water is not going to hinder them is you so choose.
And no the rate of your humidity is not going to mess them up on day one. High humidity over the period of incubation would though.

 

[StephBout]

I have a Hovabator, I cant seem to get the humidity right... I was told it should be 45-50 but its always 55 or a little more.. I've taken some water out and I have taken one of the vents out periodically. That takes the humidity down but then it goes lower than 45.. I don't know how much the fluctuation will hurt them at this stage but i don't know what to do...

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I have a Hovabator, I cant seem to get the humidity right... I was told it should be 45-50 but its always 55 or a little more.. I've taken some water out and I have taken one of the vents out periodically. That takes the humidity down but then it goes lower than 45.. I don't know how much the fluctuation will hurt them at this stage but i don't know what to do...

What day are you at? Humidity is NOT a set number. Humidity is used to control the amount of moisture an egg looses. I run dry or around 30% the first 17 days and then up it to 75% for lockdown and hatch. I monitor my air cells to know if my humdity needs to be lowered or highered. Fluctuations of humidity will not hurt the egg. Not enough moisture loss or too much will which is the effect of humidity over the preiod of incubation.

 

[chickistheword]

Hoping someone can help. I first chick just hatched and 6 others have pipped. The humidity is running 80-85%. Last night I woke up and found it at 95%! I have both vents open. I occasionally shift the lid to allow it to drift down to 65%. I am worried that if it is running 85% overall, is that too high? Will my chicks drown?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hoping someone can help. I first chick just hatched and 6 others have pipped. The humidity is running 80-85%. Last night I woke up and found it at 95%! I have both vents open. I occasionally shift the lid to allow it to drift down to 65%. I am worried that if it is running 85% overall, is that too high? Will my chicks drown?

The humidity does naturally go up when chicks start to hatch. Like I said I start at 75% for hatch and often it shoots up 80-90% once they start popping out. I open my bator frequently during hatch so it usually doesn't stay that high for extended periods of time (unless I manage to catch a couple hours sleep...lol). You can let some out, but overall I wouldn't worry. Drowning occurs from the egg not loosing enough moisture during incubation. If you are seeing a lot of condensation in the bator then I would let some humidity out as condensation isn't the best thing for them, or so I've heard.

My bator doesn't normally produce much condensation, even in the 80's, so it's not an issue I have to deal with much.