Humidty Help please!

[mooSa]

well i live near jerusalem. and the atmosphere isnt very humid compared to canada. so im not sure what to do i have 275 eggs in the incubator, and i have been maintaining 60-62%. its been 6 days now. what should i do?

 

[Katy]

Quote:
It doesn't matter what the humidity outside is.....it's the humidity inside the incubator you need to worry about. Personally I'd be lowering the humidiy ASAP. The eggs aren't going to lose enough moisture for the chick to have a big enough aircell to pip and zip without drowning.

Too late now, but it probably would have been beneficial for you to do a couple of smaller test hatches to learn how your incubator works before doing such a big one.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Katy is right, you need to lower the humidity way down. Typically it is 30-45 for the first 18 days.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Again, I still agree that you need to lower your humidity, how much I dont know.

This I have issue with...

It doesn't matter what the humidity outside is..

It does matter! If you live in the tropics with outside temps in the 90* an humidity in the 80+% range then it is heated up by the incubator to 99*. The warmer air can hold a little (very little) more water so it absorbs it from the eggs.

Same incubator running in cold dry desert. Outside air is in the 40*s with a relative humidity in the 10% to 20% range. The air comes in to the incubator an is heated up to 99*. The dry air is now hot, very dry air. It draws moisture from everything. If you dont give it moisture it will take it all from the eggs. So you add a lot of water. This does not stop moisture from being pull from the eggs but it slows it down. Even if you managed to get the humidity in the incubator up to 100%, that 100% moisture is coming from somewhere, an alot of it is from the eggs.An every time the air in the incubator replaces its self it pulls on that moisture again.

Most of us fall somewhere in between these two extremes so we add or take away water an we open or close vents to speed up or slow down air exchange an the speed moisture is carried out of the incubator.

So does the temp an humidity outside matter? Its the only thing that does matter. Everything else we do is to try to compensate for it.​

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
It does matter! If you live in the tropics with outside temps in the 90* an humidity in the 80+% range then it is heated up by the incubator to 99*. The warmer air can hold a little (very little) more water so it absorbs it from the eggs.

Same incubator running in cold dry desert. Outside air is in the 40*s with a relative humidity in the 10% to 20% range. The air comes in to the incubator an is heated up to 99*. The dry air is now hot, very dry air. It draws moisture from everything. If you dont give it moisture it will take it all from the eggs. So you add a lot of water. This does not stop moisture from being pull from the eggs but it slows it down. Even if you managed to get the humidity in the incubator up to 100%, that 100% moisture is coming from somewhere, an alot of it is from the eggs.An every time the air in the incubator replaces its self it pulls on that moisture again.

Most of us fall somewhere in between these two extremes so we add or take away water an we open or close vents to speed up or slow down air exchange an the speed moisture is carried out of the incubator.

So does the temp an humidity outside matter? Its the only thing that does matter. Everything else we do is to try to compensate for it.

Thank you, my feelings exactly. Especially the last paragraph.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
It does matter! If you live in the tropics with outside temps in the 90* an humidity in the 80+% range then it is heated up by the incubator to 99*. The warmer air can hold a little (very little) more water so it absorbs it from the eggs.

Same incubator running in cold dry desert. Outside air is in the 40*s with a relative humidity in the 10% to 20% range. The air comes in to the incubator an is heated up to 99*. The dry air is now hot, very dry air. It draws moisture from everything. If you dont give it moisture it will take it all from the eggs. So you add a lot of water. This does not stop moisture from being pull from the eggs but it slows it down. Even if you managed to get the humidity in the incubator up to 100%, that 100% moisture is coming from somewhere, an alot of it is from the eggs.An every time the air in the incubator replaces its self it pulls on that moisture again.

Most of us fall somewhere in between these two extremes so we add or take away water an we open or close vents to speed up or slow down air exchange an the speed moisture is carried out of the incubator.

So does the temp an humidity outside matter? Its the only thing that does matter. Everything else we do is to try to compensate for it.

Thank you, my feelings exactly. Especially the last paragraph.

What I meant was, it doesn't matter what the outside temps and humidity are ......she needs to figure out how to get the humidity in the incubator where she needs it to be. Do the outside conditions influence that, yes it does I never said it didn't, but it's the humidity inside the incubator that determine how well her eggs will hatch. The goal is to have your incubator humidity at the ideal level. Whether the outside humidity level is 25% or 70% my goal is to get the incubator running at 30% for where I live.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

No offense meant Katy. When I quoted I was basically refering that the inside temp was what really needed to be adjusted. Outside is important too, but that is too darn hard to control. Therefore we have to play and fiddle with the inside until we get it where we want it.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
I think we're all trying to tell her the same thing.....just each in our own way.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Think of the saying "less is more". I run mine 18-30% until the first pip then crank it up to about 65%. I don't increase it at day 18. I just keep an eye for the first pip and crank it up then. That's the way I've had the best hatches.

 

[FenDruadin]

rebelcowboys--Wow, I had never seen it that way. I was always of the "all that matters is the inside humidity" camp. But you explained that so beautifully, I now understand why the "outside" humidity matters too. Thank you.