Keeping humidity up during lockdown

[AmericanMom]

I'm a newbie at incubating and although I've read everything there is to read I am a nervous wreck, I am worried i have had my humidity to low the last 14 hours or so (went into lockdown at 3pm yesterday) It hovered around 60 until I woke up this morning and it was at 52!!! The only thing that worked to get it back up was to put in the plugs and add hot water, it stayed at 58-59 most of the day and then started going down again, I have been searching this site and read where the plugs have to be out to allow the chicks to have oxygen, I have no sponges and not alot of room in the bator (20 eggs are in there now) so I added more hot water and now its hovering at 69 I'm leaving the plugs out but worried I have hurt the chicks, before lockdown I was talking to the eggs and they were moving ( I know, imagine, a 44 year old women talking to eggs) and now they arent.. I know dumb huh, but it gave me so much hope that things had went so well and now I am worried I messed it up.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t know what kind of incubator you have or how it handles the humidity so I can’t give specific advice. Maybe I can make you feel a little better to start with. If the eggs have not pipped, lower humidity won’t hurt them. If they have not pipped, you have not harmed them with the lower humidity. It's after they pip that they can dry out.

The depth of the water in the reservoir is not what controls humidity, it’s the water surface area. The more area the water has to evaporate from, the higher the humidity will be.

My Hovabator 1588 has five reservoirs in the bottom. If I want to raise the humidity I put water in another reservoir using this after lockdown.

 

[Pyxis]

I wouldn't worry about it if they haven't pipped yet. The time it's most important for humidity to be high is when the chicks have pipped and are zipping. I usually go into lockdown at 50% and as the chicks pip it naturally rises. You don't want too much humidity or you can drown them in their shells.

 

[AmericanMom]

Thank you both!!!
I have the hova Bator still air... I realized early on that from day 8-18 I was able to do a dry incubation, humidity stayed around 50 with no water, I filled both the troughs and for about an hour and a half I thought all was well then it slowly started going down again... when it hit 53% I got a tiny jelly jar, put a tad bit of water in it with a paper towel and put it in the far corner where I could put a straw thru and its now running spot on at 60%... I'm alittle confused tho because some say 60% and some say 70%...

Is this where to much info can be a bad thing? LOL

 

[AmericanMom]

I wouldn't worry about it if they haven't pipped yet. The time it's most important for humidity to be high is when the chicks have pipped and are zipping. I usually go into lockdown at 50% and as the chicks pip it naturally rises. You don't want too much humidity or you can drown them in their shells.

Do you add water at all?

 

[Pyxis]

Do you add water at all?

I do! I think I'm drier than where you are though. For lockdown I just put a mason jar with a sponge sticking out of the top to increase surface area and it works beautifully. 70% for chickens sounds really high - that's what most people, including me, do for ducks!

 

[AmericanMom]

I do! I think I'm drier than where you are though. For lockdown I just put a mason jar with a sponge sticking out of the top to increase surface area and it works beautifully. 70% for chickens sounds really high - that's what most people, including me, do for ducks!

Is there a place besides the rain forest wetter than Oregon? lol

Well, I didnt have a sponge so I used a paper towel in a tiny jelly jar and its still holding at 60% with the temp ranging between 100.5 and 101.2

 

[AmericanMom]

Woke up this morning and once again the humidity was down to 53... Both troughs are filled and water is in the jar with the sponge, then it dawned on me, could it be the room temp thats effecting the humidity???.. We dont use electric heat for our home, we use a wood stove and although its a tad chilly this time of year we usually dont fire up the wood stove in the evening for a few more weeks, I'm going to get a fire going tonight and see if that helps or put a space heater in the room where the bator is... Today at 3pm marks day 20, they havent pipped yet but I am trying to figure this out before they do.

 

[Pyxis]

That could also be it, especially if you use a fireplace because that can cause some odd drying out effects. But 50% is probably fine too. Once they start pipping they'll be adding their own humidity and give it a boost.