Incubating in the south and humidity

[critterkeeper83]

We just bought an incubator and are trying our hand at incubating eggs. We tried to follow the instructions on incubation on the instructions provided and the instructions we found here. But the humidity levels listed are downright impossible for us to maintain. I can't get the humidity below 60% when it's 70%+ humidity here when raining and 60% when clear. My incubator is sitting right now completely empty of water and the humidity is sitting at 62%! Our first attempt failed. We had a few develop and show promise but none piped or hatched. But I think that had more to do with the turner malfunctioning. So does anyone have any helpful directions? Or could you direct me to some helpful instruction?

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

We just bought an incubator and are trying our hand at incubating eggs. We tried to follow the instructions on incubation on the instructions provided and the instructions we found here. But the humidity levels listed are downright impossible for us to maintain. I can't get the humidity below 60% when it's 70%+ humidity here when raining and 60% when clear. My incubator is sitting right now completely empty of water and the humidity is sitting at 62%! Our first attempt failed. We had a few develop and show promise but none piped or hatched. But I think that had more to do with the turner malfunctioning. So does anyone have any helpful directions? Or could you direct me to some helpful instruction?

I've had problems with the ambient humidity where I live, too (humid summers, especially)...I use a room dehumidifier to reduce it in the incubation room, if needed. I like to dry hatch, so I try to keep the humidity between 30-40%.

There are some other ideas in this thread that may be helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/698082/how-to-reduce-the-humidity-in-my-incubator.

Hope you have a good hatch!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

We just bought an incubator and are trying our hand at incubating eggs. We tried to follow the instructions on incubation on the instructions provided and the instructions we found here. But the humidity levels listed are downright impossible for us to maintain. I can't get the humidity below 60% when it's 70%+ humidity here when raining and 60% when clear. My incubator is sitting right now completely empty of water and the humidity is sitting at 62%! Our first attempt failed. We had a few develop and show promise but none piped or hatched. But I think that had more to do with the turner malfunctioning. So does anyone have any helpful directions? Or could you direct me to some helpful instruction?

I've had problems with the ambient humidity where I live, too (humid summers, especially)...I use a room dehumidifier to reduce it in the incubation room, if needed. I like to dry hatch, so I try to keep the humidity between 30-40%.

There are some other ideas in this thread that may be helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/698082/how-to-reduce-the-humidity-in-my-incubator.

Hope you have a good hatch!

This is a good suggestion.

People have limited success with dry rice/unpipped popcorn in the bator to pull out moisture. Silica packets can be used. I have a friend that successfully used, with no harm to the chicks, the charcoal/carbon that they sell in the dollars stores to remove humidity/moisture from rooms. I believe she used like a quarter cup in a dish and had to change it out every couple of days.

 

[LLranch]

I don't have problems keeping humidity low enough in my incubator here in Kansas. But I used this product in my gun safe I found it at Walmart in the laundry detergent section works extremely well at removing humidity

 

[AllynTal]

Folks have given good suggestions. I haven't needed to do anything special, even here on the steamy Gulf Coast, because the heater in my incubator dries the air inside the unit and I have to stay on top of it to keep the humidity up to 35%, let alone at 70% after day 18 even when humidity here is 80+%

I do have one question, though. Are you going by a calibrated temp/humidity monitor or just trusting what the incubator control panel says is the temp and humidity? I salt calibrated my monitors and found they measured a lot different than the control panel on the incubator -- sometimes as little as 5%, but it could be as much as a 30% difference. I go by the calibrated monitors now and just ignore what the control panel says.

 

[critterkeeper83]

Sadly I have to rely on the gauge that came on it. Since I don't have another hydrometer and can't really get one right now. But it's been accurate to the outside humidity (at least according to my weather app). Though I do allow for a 5% difference. One problem I have with mine is there are holes in it (for draining overflow or adding water) so it's subject to the ambient humidity.

Part of me wonders how local hens still manage to hatch. What are they doing I'm not?? (Excluding my lazy non sitting bums!

This would all be solved if only one of them would sit!

)

 

[AllynTal]

Sadly I have to rely on the gauge that came on it. Since I don't have another hydrometer and can't really get one right now. But it's been accurate to the outside humidity (at least according to my weather app). Though I do allow for a 5% difference. One problem I have with mine is there are holes in it (for draining overflow or adding water) so it's subject to the ambient humidity.

Yeah, sometimes we just have to do what we can with what we've got. Before I'd do anything drastic about humidity, though, I'd pick up a few of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MXEA3X0

That one has the humidity number in the big readout and temp in the small readout and they have another one just like with the temp in the big readout and humidity in the small numbers.They're small enough to not be in the way in the incubator and the ones I have that I checked with the salt method were spot-on accurate. I'm not advocating that you get that one specifically, but I would get a couple of separate monitors that you can calibrate so you know what you have going on in there.