Incubator Humidity

[jennyhenny54]

Ok so I am on day 7. I checked for an air cell and literally couldnt see one on any of the eggs! So I soaked up all the water out of the bottom of the humidifier to lower the humidity. But the instructions say to keep it between 60%-80%. Ugh!!! What should I do now? Please help!!

 

[AlleysChicks]

60-80!? That’s only for lockdown hun. Are you shining light into the big end of the egg? I’d leave it dry until the catch up on proper size.

 

[jennyhenny54]

60-80!? That’s only for lockdown hun. Are you shining light into the big end of the egg? I’d leave it dry until the catch up on proper size.

I have looked at every inch of every egg!! Lol embryo and veining in every egg, just no air cell.

 

[JaeG]

Have you got your vents open? That should help a bit. Try running it dry for a few days but I've read the humidity still shouldn't drop below 25%. Check at day 10 again and see if the air cells have appeared. Each incubator and situation is completely different so it's all trial and error until you work out what works for your particular situation.

 

[jennyhenny54]

Good morning. So I took all the water out of the incubator last night and the humidity was higher this morning at 71%! LOL So I took the second vent cover off. We will see if this helps. Should I try raising the temp? it is pretty steady at 99.6. Also I have staggered hatches in there, can I leave the egg turner in there while the chicks are hatching? It is all plastic and is one of the super slow turners that takes hours to make one rotation.

 

[AlleysChicks]

I would take it out. They could get a leg stuck. Temp is fine

 

[beetandsteet]

I don't even worry about humidity until day 18, and in mine it always stayed around 30%, even in the winter when the air is dryer. The instructions that come with the incubators are wrong, throw them away. There's nothing wrong with the air cell being a little on the bigger side; the humidity becomes important when the babies are hatching. Too low humidity and they're likely to stick to the shells. I keep my humidity between 60-70% during lockdown. I like to use wet rags for humidity; as the chicks dry out in the incubator a layer of fuzz will coat the tops of water reservoirs and can sometimes cause a sudden drop in humidity. Good luck with your hatch!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Sorry for hijacking the thread but, I haven’t added any water and my humidity stays at about 51-52%. Is there any way to get it down or is it okay like this??

If the humidity in your house runs high, you need to move the incubator to a small room or closet and install a dehumidifier in the same space.

Yes eggs on day 1 (started at day 0).

So you have plenty of time to make adjustments.

Ok so I am on day 7. I checked for an air cell and literally couldnt see one on any of the eggs! So I soaked up all the water out of the bottom of the humidifier to lower the humidity. But the instructions say to keep it between 60%-80%. Ugh!!! What should I do now? Please help!!

IMHO, that is too high. As @AlleysChicks said, humidity isn't a set number. Some eggs are more porous than others from different breeds. Even eggs from the same flock/same breed may vary. In the real world, a hen can't control ambient humidity. She can't control when there is a thunderstorm for days or a lengthy drought. What she does is lock in the humidity that leaves the eggs by sitting tight.
You are trying to achieve a specific weight loss, not a specific humidity.
If you know the correct humidity for good hatchability of your eggs, you can use an accurate hygrometer. If not, you have to go by air cell or weight. Weight is the most accurate way to determine correct humidity the eggs have experienced.
Any kind of egg should lose between 12% and 14% weight during incubation. That's about 0.65% per day. If you weigh at the start, day 7 and 14 to determine if they are losing too much or not enough - then adjust water accordingly.
In my early experience hatching, I couldn't find an accurate hygrometer that would stay calibrated so I threw them in the trash. I bought a gram scale and weigh eggs now. You can weigh eggs individually, or for lots of eggs and with the right scale, you can weigh egg trays.

Good morning. So I took all the water out of the incubator last night and the humidity was higher this morning at 71%! LOL So I took the second vent cover off. We will see if this helps. Should I try raising the temp? it is pretty steady at 99.6. Also I have staggered hatches in there, can I leave the egg turner in there while the chicks are hatching? It is all plastic and is one of the super slow turners that takes hours to make one rotation.

Don't raise the temperature. Temperature and turning are much more important than humidity.
What kind of incubator are you using? If your ambient humidity is high, there isn't a lot you can do. If it is below about 50%, you can crack the incubator occasionally to wick off humidity.
For a staggered hatch, you can leave the turner in there if necessary but it can't be turned on. While the older eggs are in there, I wouldn't worry about turning for the day or two it takes them to hatch. That said, frequent turning the first 10 days is critical. I do staggered hatches frequently but I don't add new eggs if there are others due to hatch soon.

 

[jennyhenny54]

ok so I am running my incubator dry and it is staying between 45-50%. I saw air cells with an actual candling light that I bought, the air cells are on the smallish side but not bad. I will keep checking them. Since I have bantam eggs, should I raise the humidity sooner than day 18?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The size of the egg doesn't matter. It is the size of the air cell in relation to egg size or said another way, percentage of total egg weight lost.
Since you are a week in, I would just run it dry for a while to see where you get.
If you think your hygrometer is accurate, take it outside and put it in the shade. Go in and put your zip code in the Accuweather website and see what your local ambient humidity is. Then go outside and see what your hygrometer reads.