Hygrometer?

[yinepu]

If your room humidity is about 57 now, you are unlikely to need a de-humidifier. Can you alter the ventilation? Increasing the ventilation will also cause your eggs to dry out more and thereby avoids the necessity of dehumidifier. My first time hatching in the middle of summer, I used dehumidifier, but the heat output from the portable unit caused the temps to rise in my LG.

You should do well to dry incubate with a room RH of 57.

you can also add plain dry rice to a bator to reduce humidity.. they also sell those little packets of silica gel which can be safely put down in the bottom of a bator.. though I prefer the rice method if it's really needed..

usually you don't need to decrease humidity if you are incubating dry..
if only a few eggs are losing weight too slowly and you have a bator with a fan .. it's usually just a matter of moving those eggs closer to the fan which will aid in drying them out a bit more

 

[Sprinkles212]

I can turn the exhaust fan on. Haha. We are using our 3rd bathroom for the incubation room since our small children never go in there. We are going to blockage the door with a heavy box to further prevent curiosity on why mommy continues to go in and out of that room.

 

[Arielle]

I can turn the exhaust fan on. Haha.

We are using our 3rd bathroom for the incubation room since our small children never go in there. We are going to blockage the door with a heavy box to further prevent curiosity on why mommy continues to go in and out of that room.

 

[Sprinkles212]

The hygrometer I picked up at Walmart was much too big for the Brinsea mini I have. I found a small one at Petsmart in the aquarium/reptile section. The bator RH is about 54-55. Is this too high? What can I do to lower the humidity inside the incubator? Would a dehumidifier in the room work? Up the A/C? We keep our house at 80.

 

[bigoledude]

I first read the "dry rice" as "dry ice"! LOL

My Walmart thermometer/hygrometer came with a probe at the end of a long wire. It certainly will fit in the smallest of incubators.

I do believe that weighing your eggs is vitally important. Your eggs should lose a certain percentage of their weight throughout the incubation period. There is a very informative article in here that explains the weight loss you should expect as your incubation period progresses. And, monitoring this should be a priority.

Calibrate your hygrometer.

 

[Sprinkles212]

I did calibrate my hygrometer. The RH is steady at 54. Not sure how a probe would be placed into the incubator. I did weigh each egg and will do so again in a few days. So.... How do I reduce RH in the bator if I am running a dry hatch and have RH at 54?

 

[Arielle]

I did calibrate my hygrometer. The RH is steady at 54. Not sure how a probe would be placed into the incubator. I did weigh each egg and will do so again in a few days. So.... How do I reduce RH in the bator if I am running a dry hatch and have RH at 54?

I see you are in Loiuiana, hot and himid perhaps??

See the previous posts for a number of suggestions. You may want to run an A/C unit in the room that the incubator is in. 54% inside the incubator is likely to be too high. You can also, if your incubator allows it, increase the air flow (aka ventilation) thru the incubator to get rid of the moist air.

MONITOR THE AIR CELLS on days 7 and 14 to see if the humidity is right. You still have time to adjust the humidity if you check on these days. By day 18, it is too late. HAVE YOU FOUND PICS TO PRINT??? Yes, I'm yelling, lol, this is vital to a successful hatch.

 

[Sprinkles212]

Arielle, I found the pictures now I just need to find our printer! We moved here a few weeks ago and are unpacking painfully slow (think 2 boxes day, sometimes none). It wasn't very wise of me to do BCM as our first incubation experience. I can see the air cells in only 2 of the 10 eggs. One egg is so dark I cannot see anything at all. I'm using the high output brinsea candler. .

It's okay if you yell. I "hear" clearer in CAPS. Haha.

 

[Arielle]

Do you know about sanding the marans eggs to look like a striped watermelon? Can't remember if I mentioned this. CHookChick posted how to do this on the Easter Hatch along on post one, under hints. THe sanding ALSO allows more light into the shell so you can see development better.

Perhaps, if you have a library near by you can print off a copy there.Day 7 is the first comparison day.

 

[Sprinkles212]

I found our printer! Wasn't too difficult as its a massive box and the movers wrote "Printer" on the outside. Bahahaha. Wouldn't sanding the egg remove the protective membrane? Sounds cool, I'm going to check out that thread now. Thanks Arielle, you are awesome!