Humidity

[Choco Maran]

I have my incubator set up at work as I can regulate the room temp better than at home, therefore I'm unable to check on the eggs at night. Humidity is fine (right around 57% ) when I leave at around 3pm, but when I come in this morning it was at 40% ( around 6am). I added water and got it back up to right away. My question is: Is this going to hurt the eggs? Room temp is 70 degrees.

I was also thinking I could add some water at night before I leave raising the humidity for a little while.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I have my incubator set up at work as I can regulate the room temp better than at home, therefore I'm unable to check on the eggs at night. Humidity is fine (right around 57% ) when I leave at around 3pm, but when I come in this morning it was at 40% ( around 6am). I added water and got it back up to right away. My question is: Is this going to hurt the eggs? Room temp is 70 degrees.

I was also thinking I could add some water at night before I leave raising the humidity for a little while.

The first 17 days 40-55 is good if you are doing a normal hatch. (If you are going to incubate at work, you might want to look into the dry incubation.) My recommendation would be to candle the eggs regularly to check the air cell and make sure it is growing at the right rate. that is the importanat thing. At lockdown it need to be at LEAST 65% during the hatch. I would recommend if you are going to leave them at work during lockdown to get a couple new sponges, wet them before you go home, stick them in the bator to help keep the humidity up. It's easier and quicker, in my opinion, to slip out a sponge wet it and slip it back in. I did this my last hatch and it kept the humidity up and I didn't loose the humidity by having to fill the water wells. There are other methods as well. I happen to like the sponge way.

 

[Choco Maran]

Thanks for the info. I will try the sponge trick tonight and see how it works.


How do the dry air ones work?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

If you search for dry incubation you'll find more info. Basically (unless you are in a real dry area) you don't add water the first 17 days (as long as your humidity is staying around 20% or more). but it's important to either keep an eye on the air cells to make sure they are not growing too fast or to weigh the eggs on a regular basis. I just watch my air cells for growth. then at lockdown you proceed normally by upping the humidity to 65+ and following normal incubation instructions. Out of the 16 I had go into lockdown 13 hatched so I was real happy with the method and it was a bit less stress.

 

[Choco Maran]

No I'm thinking the one I have will work the best. I'm in a high Desert country and humidity is normally around 10% we are very dry here. Thanks for all the help. I added a sponges this afternoon and the humidity has been very good all day. I well moisten it again before I leave and see what happens in the morning.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

No I'm thinking the one I have will work the best. I'm in a high Desert country and humidity is normally around 10% we are very dry here. Thanks for all the help. I added a sponges this afternoon and the humidity has been very good all day. I well moisten it again before I leave and see what happens in the morning.

Just to clarify, you don't use a different incubator, you can do the dry incubation with any incubator, it's just a matter of wether you add the water or not. But if it's really dry then you'd have to have some water anyway to keep the bator to at least 20%. The difference between dry hatch method and "normal" method is just the range of humidity during hatch. Dry is usually 20-50% while a normal incubation is 40-55%. Glad you are having luck with the sponges.

 

[maranfarmer563]

I've been hatching eggs 40 yrs,I just found out about the dry method this fall and it works so good. The eggs make their own humidity the lst 18 days,then water is added. I used to have quite a few fully formed chicks dead in the shell. This works great.

 

[Choco Maran]

Thanks Amylynn2374 and Maranfarmer563. Can I do the dry method even if I have keep the humidity up for the last two days? I would like to try that until I get my new bator.

I placed a sponge in bator over night but with the temp at 99 it dried out and was back down to 40% this morning. I have brown so candleing will be a challenge for me, since no one seems to have a candler in the area and it is to late to order one. I will try with a flashlight.

 

[maranfarmer563]

I have legbar and cemani eggs in now ,no water in til day 18. You can let water evaporate till day 18. Candling dark eggs with a small flash light,lights up the air sack. The rest of the egg will look dark. Good luck with your hatch.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thanks Amylynn2374 and Maranfarmer563. Can I do the dry method even if I have keep the humidity up for the last two days? I would like to try that until I get my new bator.

I placed a sponge in bator over night but with the temp at 99 it dried out and was back down to 40% this morning. I have brown so candleing will be a challenge for me, since no one seems to have a candler in the area and it is to late to order one. I will try with a flashlight.

At day 18/19 you should go into lockdown and that's when you need to up the humidity. Then it really needs to be at least 65% for the rest of the hatch, I recommend more. Yes, a flashlight should work well enough to let you see the air cell. There are a couple threads on here as well on making your own candling devices and what other's have done.
One thing you could consider is running a room humidifier in the room in the vicinity of the bator. If the room has a little more moisture the bator might hold it a little better. There are a ton of them now that don't even look like humidifiers and add to room decore.
How far into the hatch are you?