practically day 2- humidity.. may have been too high

[kiskateara]

my dad woke me up this morning at 7am and gave me an independent thermometer/hydrometer. not the most thrilling thing to be woken up for, but, it meant i could finally check the humidity in the incubator, and to see if the temperature is right.

well, i did put it in the incubator. temperature was just fine, pretty stable between 98-99 degrees, so the incubator is doing its job- which is surprising, because it's so tiny and was also only $70. guess that's why it didn't come with a hydrometer :/

so, temperature was fine, that was good- i looked at the hydrometer, and watched as it slowly moved up. and up.. it kept going and while it did this i very nervously checked my phone to look at how humid the incubator should stay. well, i saw many, many sources saying around 40-50, and maybe lower 60's... while my hydrometer was sitting at a very stubborn 70. i grabbed some paper towels and soaked up all the water, leaving only a shallow bit because now i've definitely learned my lesson, but the hydrometer is still sitting at just below 70, which is why i called it stubborn. the humidity is thankfully not rising, unlike my anxiety, but it doesn't look like it's going down either. i figured it might be just where the humidity is lingering around, so i'm hoping when i turn them the humidity will escape while the top is open.

but i'm mainly concerned about the eggs. will they be okay? if they were sitting in 70% humidity for almost 24 hours will that affect them? im sure it will affect hatch time a bit (which was the opposite of what i wanted, i just want to see them already!) but are they in any danger?

 

[AltonaAcres]

I don't think so. An entire incubation period at high humidity could be bad, but you hatch shouldn't be affected. At that early the pores in the eggshell are pretty small, so the eggs wouldn't have 'absorbed' that much moisture.

 

[kiskateara]

I don't think so. An entire incubation period at high humidity could be bad, but you hatch shouldn't be affected. At that early the pores in the eggshell are pretty small, so the eggs wouldn't have 'absorbed' that much moisture.

that's reassuring, thank you!!

i just removed all the water in the incubator, and after further investigation, realized that all the former humidity had stuck to the mat at the bottom of the incubator, and some water was also pooling underneath it because of that.

without the mat the eggs would roll everywhere, so i just cleaned up the water and dried the mat quickly with a paper towel and put it back in, and the humidity seems to be sticking around 55- i'd rather it be a bit lower but i guess it's more humid here than i thought, besides, i'll happily take the 55 over the 70!