Should I go by %humidity or weight loss during incubation?

[FarmWheeler]

I'm currently incubating 4 pilgrim goose eggs that I ordered online. I had an issue with my scales at the start of incubation (whoops) and so have to disregard my initial weights on arrival unfortunately.

Since resuming weighing at Day 9 each egg has lost approx. 1g per day, and I've been filling up the first humidity tray according to the incubator instructions since day 1 (supposedly that will allow humidity at around 45-55%, while filling both trays at hatching will bring it up to 75%+).

However, my humidity gauge (which I bought separately to the incubator, which doesn't come with one) registers humidity inside the incubator of around 65%. Seeing as that's already over what the guide predicts it should be, I don't know how high the humidity will be when I fill both trays at hatching. Humidity inside the room the incubator is in is around 45%.

Since the eggs are losing a reasonable amount of weight per day as is, I'm not sure whether to just carry on as I have, or start leaving the incubator tray almost empty/empty to reduce the humidity. Any advice would be appreciated

 

[DiYMama540]

@Pyxis

 

[Pyxis]

I would check if your hygrometer that you bought is accurate by calibrating it with the salt method. If it really is 65% in there now, that's likely to cause issues as the eggs might not lose enough moisture. Also, track the air cell growth, since that's the best way to monitor moisture loss if you don't have accurate starting weights.

 

[FarmWheeler]

I would check if your hygrometer that you bought is accurate by calibrating it with the salt method. If it really is 65% in there now, that's likely to cause issues as the eggs might not lose enough moisture. Also, track the air cell growth, since that's the best way to monitor moisture loss if you don't have accurate starting weights.

Thank you for your advice! I looked up and did the salt method, the hygrometer reads 68% after leaving it in the bag for 24 hours.

So: I could run the incubator dry(er) from now on to reduce the humidity, but I'm concerned that the egg's weights will drop too fast then; with the current humidity they're losing 1ish g per day already (except for one egg, which has lost weight at half the rate of the rest...) which should culminate in an average weight loss of 19g between day 9 and day 28 per egg, even with the higher humidity. Bearing in mind I don't know the fresh laid weights as they were shipped to me - so perhaps this is all for nothing!

Would you suggest running it dry for a few days to see whether the weight drop increases significantly? I'm reluctant to send the humidity up and down too much but I guess I painted myself into that particular corner!

These are the air cells as of day 15 of incubation (I hadn't marked them on until yesterday, another thing I'll remember to do differently next time...)