Humidity too high in incubator

[OddsBodkins]

Help! I am new to BYC site and am incubating eggs for the first time. Today is first day of lockdown and my humidity is too high! How do I lower it without opening it and lowering the temp? I have a Little Giant incubator. I'm terribly worried that they will drown!

 

[slbenter]

I’m not experienced by any means, but from all the reading I’ve done, I can tell you to look for vents on your unit. Look in your unit’s instruction booklet, or online if you don’t have them, and find where they’re located, and open them all the way. It’s harder to lower humidity than raise it. If you’re home is humid, it’s not gonna get much lower than the ambient humidity. Also, if you have any hatched chicks in there, that will raise it...expect that. Don’t remove the chicks though.
With the vents open, your temp control unit should compensate. What is the humidity reading?

 

[nchls school]

If the humidity is around 70-75% it is OK. If it's higher and this the first day of lockdown, I'd open the incubator and do what's necessary to lower the humidity of your brand of incubator.

 

[OddsBodkins]

I’m not experienced by any means, but from all the reading I’ve done, I can tell you to look for vents on your unit. Look in your unit’s instruction booklet, or online if you don’t have them, and find where they’re located, and open them all the way. It’s harder to lower humidity than raise it. If you’re home is humid, it’s not gonna get much lower than the ambient humidity. Also, if you have any hatched chicks in there, that will raise it...expect that. Don’t remove the chicks though.
With the vents open, your temp control unit should compensate. What is the humidity reading?

Thank you for answering! It is reading 77°. I was thing about using a turkey baster to suck some of the H2O out but was afraid the temp would lower too quickly.

 

[OddsBodkins]

If the humidity is around 70-75% it is OK. If it's higher and this the first day of lockdown, I'd open the incubator and do what's necessary to lower the humidity of your brand of incubator.

Thank you for answering! It is at 77% right now. Was thinking of sucking out extra H2O with a turkey baster but was afraid of temp lowering too much. Will tey to do it very quickly! I'm so excited to hatch some of our own eggs!

 

[JaeG]

77% is fine for lockdown and you may find it stabilises to slightly lower after a few hours. High humidity is only an issue if the outside temperature around the incubator is cold as this causes condensation to form inside the incubator. Your chicks can't drown because the air is moist - it's only if they haven't lost enough moisture throughout incubation and the air cell hasn't grown big enough to sustain them oxygen-wise between internal and external pip that causes problems.

Humidity is a result of how much water surface is exposed to the air, so just removing or adding water won't increase or reduce it unless you are increasing or decreasing the surface area.

Unless there are external pips there's no danger in opening the incubator if you need to. And definitely check that you have your vents fully open/plugs removed as those babies need lots of fresh air.

Good luck for your hatch - you're going to love the little fluff butts.

 

[OddsBodkins]

Thank you so much! I am very grateful for all of this info! My concerns on the humidity issues are laid to rest! I'm currently brooding 10 chicks that I bought 2 weeks ago, and you are right-I just love the little fluff--butts. I am also incubating quail eggs to add to the 20 adults we have. I have definitely been bitten by the" chicken-love" bug, so I'll be asking lots of questions!

 

[PNWskye]

Thank you so much! I am very grateful for all of this info! My concerns on the humidity issues are laid to rest! I'm currently brooding 10 chicks that I bought 2 weeks ago, and you are right-I just love the little fluff--butts. I am also incubating quail eggs to add to the 20 adults we have. I have definitely been bitten by the" chicken-love" bug, so I'll be asking lots of questions!

How’d your hatch go?

 

[OddsBodkins]

How’d your hatch go?

It went well-75% hatched. They are now getting to be quite large! I call them "The Horde" because they swarm me when I feed, water, or just pet them. My son said they are like the Gallimimus herd in the 1st Jurassic Park movie I get a real kick out of the dirty little gluttons

 

[OddsBodkins]

Just a few of my little Stinkers