staggered hatch humidity problem.

[akashia26]

we got some eggs from a friend's broody hen. he didn't want any more chickens for a while so was going to break her so we took the eggs. problem is we put all of those she was setting into one bater and set a fresh batch in the other bater. both are full. when we candled those from the broody we thought all the eggs were from day 1 to day 5. now we think there might have been a little more time. the youngest are in day 3 the oldest could be as far as day 13. the bater stays at 99 to 100 temp and 45 to 52 humidity right now. still air incubator, just a styrofoam cooler with a light, thermometer, and hydrometer.

the question is how do i balance the humidity. i don't want shrink wrapped chicks but i don't want drowned ones either. any suggestions?

 

[akashia26]

anyone?

 

[akashia26]

no suggestions at all?

 

[Rainbows Chicks]

What about the ones in the other bator? How far along are they? Is there any chance you could switch out some of the "younger" ones in one bator for "older" ones in the other bator?

OR, this might seem a bit "far fetched", but would it be, at all, possible to "divide" the incubator with a piece of styrofoam, for example, and place a dish of dry rice in the side with the "younger" eggs to decrease the humidity on their "half" of the bator...???? I know it seems really "out there" but you never know....

Sorry I can't be of more help....hopefully someone with more experience (if not more imaginative ideas ) will read your post and be able to help out

 

[Nsampsel]

I am facing the same problem on mine & was told just this morning to keep on turning the eggs that need it & watch the eggs that don't. As long as there are no pips humidity isn't an issue, but keep it up during active hatching. My humidity is running about 40% right now, so it's a bit low so I can raise it early later on the ones not ready to hatch without too much detriment or chance of "drowning" them.