Too high humidity in incubator

[Iditarod]

don't bother with lockdown it's not worth the trouble.

So if you don't do a lock down what do you do? Do you keep the eggs turning the last 3 days?

 

[BYC910]

Wow just wow . First off humidity is measured in percentage . Second to reduce humidity you cover part of the water surface area. Humidity is controlled by the amount of water surface exposed to the air . Warm air moves across the water surface and evaporates the water . This creates humidity. Lower would be better but you have to incubate a while to find what works best for you . Do your best to control the temperature . Temperature is much more important than humidity when it comes to incubating . The more consistent temperature is, the better the chances of a decent hatch . Monitor air cell growth to get the best ideal of incubation progression .And humidity correctness. you could weigh the eggs but you must weigh before you start incubation . Don't be afraid to open the incubator . Should you get a heat spike ,the quickest way to drop temperature is open the incubator . And monitor the ambient humidity in the room you incubate in . And don't worry If I can do it anybody can . If you keep turning during hatch there is the chance your hatchlings can end up with leg injuries from getting stuck in the turner . I've had my days wrong and lost chicks to leg injuries from hatching in the turner . And honestly I try to stop turning on day 16 , I like giving the hatchlings a couple days extra to get into hatching position . Cuts down on malpositioned hatchlings .I spike humidity to 65% when I see the first pip. From day one to lockdown I run a dry hatch. Relative humidity here is near always 65% +/- makes humidity 30 to 45 % in my cabinets . that works for me . you have to find what works for you . You'll be fine .

 

[KsKingBee]

Wow just wow . First off humidity is measured in percentage . Second to reduce humidity you cover part of the water surface area. Humidity is controlled by the amount of water surface exposed to the air . Warm air moves across the water surface and evaporates the water . This creates humidity. Lower would be better but you have to incubate a while to find what works best for you . Do your best to control the temperature . Temperature is much more important than humidity when it comes to incubating . The more consistent temperature is, the better the chances of a decent hatch . Monitor air cell growth to get the best ideal of incubation progression .And humidity correctness. you could weigh the eggs but you must weigh before you start incubation . Don't be afraid to open the incubator . Should you get a heat spike ,the quickest way to drop temperature is open the incubator . And monitor the ambient humidity in the room you incubate in . And don't worry If I can do it anybody can . If you keep turning during hatch there is the chance your hatchlings can end up with leg injuries from getting stuck in the turner . I've had my days wrong and lost chicks to leg injuries from hatching in the turner . And honestly I try to stop turning on day 16 , I like giving the hatchlings a couple days extra to get into hatching position . Cuts down on malpositioned hatchlings .I spike humidity to 65% when I see the first pip. From day one to lockdown I run a dry hatch. Relative humidity here is near always 65% +/- makes humidity 30 to 45 % in my cabinets . that works for me . you have to find what works for you . You'll be fine .

If we were talking about chickens that would be good advice. Peas are different and the humidity is more critical than with easy to hatch chickens and guineas.

BYC910 is correct about monitoring the egg development and moisture loss of the egg. The egg should lose around 13% of its total weight during the process, if not the chick will be too large to be able to swing its head and chip out of the shell. I incubate my peas at 45% and raise the humidity to 55% to 60% in the hatcher, your results will vary according to your location and ambient weather conditions.

 

[Kris5902]

Do you candle peafowl the same as chickens? I always found a significant change in my humidity at candling time (granted due to my environmental humidity it went oppositethan expected, and rose after candling -I did a dry hatch and my humidity was about 48-50% until lockdown) so I would think it will level out with that/over time as long as you don’t add more surface area to the water? If it’s wells let one run dry maybe?

 

[old biddy]

Wow just wow . First off humidity is measured in percentage . Second to reduce humidity you cover part of the water surface area. Humidity is controlled by the amount of water surface exposed to the air . Warm air moves across the water surface and evaporates the water . This creates humidity. Lower would be better but you have to incubate a while to find what works best for you . Do your best to control the temperature . Temperature is much more important than humidity when it comes to incubating . The more consistent temperature is, the better the chances of a decent hatch . Monitor air cell growth to get the best ideal of incubation progression .And humidity correctness. you could weigh the eggs but you must weigh before you start incubation . Don't be afraid to open the incubator . Should you get a heat spike ,the quickest way to drop temperature is open the incubator . And monitor the ambient humidity in the room you incubate in . And don't worry If I can do it anybody can . If you keep turning during hatch there is the chance your hatchlings can end up with leg injuries from getting stuck in the turner . I've had my days wrong and lost chicks to leg injuries from hatching in the turner . And honestly I try to stop turning on day 16 , I like giving the hatchlings a couple days extra to get into hatching position . Cuts down on malpositioned hatchlings .I spike humidity to 65% when I see the first pip. From day one to lockdown I run a dry hatch. Relative humidity here is near always 65% +/- makes humidity 30 to 45 % in my cabinets . that works for me . you have to find what works for you . You'll be fine .

Thank you. I checked the settings this morning and everything has leveled off well. I am keeping an eye on it.

 

[getaclue]

old biddy, I try to keep my humidity about 55%, until lockdown. Right now your ambient humidity (outside) is around 73%. It's cloudy, and rain is predicted for Tues & Wed. There is a pretty good range for humidity fluctuation, but our humidity here tends to be higher than most other parts of the country. Yes, it can affect the humidity inside the incubator some, so by lowering the humidity a bit in the incubator, you won't have to be concerned as much about incubator humidity when our ambient humidity is high.

There are normally channels to fill on most of the styrofoam incubators. Dry out one of the channels. I too got some airline tubing (clear plastic tubing) and attached to either a syringe, or an ear syringe. That way I could move the end of the tube exactly where I wanted to add the water, but I could easily remove excess water too. They have larger tubing that will fit on the end of a turkey baster too. Any of the pet supply places that sells fish, and aquarium things will have the tubing.

 

[old biddy]

Wow just wow . First off humidity is measured in percentage . Second to reduce humidity you cover part of the water surface area. Humidity is controlled by the amount of water surface exposed to the air . Warm air moves across the water surface and evaporates the water . This creates humidity. Lower would be better but you have to incubate a while to find what works best for you . Do your best to control the temperature . Temperature is much more important than humidity when it comes to incubating . The more consistent temperature is, the better the chances of a decent hatch . Monitor air cell growth to get the best ideal of incubation progression .And humidity correctness. you could weigh the eggs but you must weigh before you start incubation . Don't be afraid to open the incubator . Should you get a heat spike ,the quickest way to drop temperature is open the incubator . And monitor the ambient humidity in the room you incubate in . And don't worry If I can do it anybody can . If you keep turning during hatch there is the chance your hatchlings can end up with leg injuries from getting stuck in the turner . I've had my days wrong and lost chicks to leg injuries from hatching in the turner . And honestly I try to stop turning on day 16 , I like giving the hatchlings a couple days extra to get into hatching position . Cuts down on malpositioned hatchlings .I spike humidity to 65% when I see the first pip. From day one to lockdown I run a dry hatch. Relative humidity here is near always 65% +/- makes humidity 30 to 45 % in my cabinets . that works for me . you have to find what works for you . You'll be fine .

Yes, I know humidity is measured in percentage, not degrees. I misspoke when I said degrees. Thank you for pointing that out.

 

[old biddy]

old biddy, I try to keep my humidity about 55%, until lockdown. Right now your ambient humidity (outside) is around 73%. It's cloudy, and rain is predicted for Tues & Wed. There is a pretty good range for humidity fluctuation, but our humidity here tends to be higher than most other parts of the country. Yes, it can affect the humidity inside the incubator some, so by lowering the humidity a bit in the incubator, you won't have to be concerned as much about incubator humidity when our ambient humidity is high.

There are normally channels to fill on most of the styrofoam incubators. Dry out one of the channels. I too got some airline tubing (clear plastic tubing) and attached to either a syringe, or an ear syringe. That way I could move the end of the tube exactly where I wanted to add the water, but I could easily remove excess water too. They have larger tubing that will fit on the end of a turkey baster too. Any of the pet supply places that sells fish, and aquarium things will have the tubing.

Thanks, getaclue. I'll definitely check out some tubing for the end of my turkey baster. My humidity has leveled out to between 55 and 56% so I am feeling pretty good about it for now.

 

[old biddy]

Do you candle peafowl the same as chickens? I always found a significant change in my humidity at candling time (granted due to my environmental humidity it went oppositethan expected, and rose after candling -I did a dry hatch and my humidity was about 48-50% until lockdown) so I would think it will level out with that/over time as long as you don’t add more surface area to the water? If it’s wells let one run dry maybe?

I have never tried to candle either my chicken or peafowl eggs. This is my first try at using an incubator. My incubator (Farm Innovators) came with equipment to candle the eggs...so I am going to give it a try.

 

[starri33]

This is the first day of incubating. I've been watching the humidity digital screen and it just now reached 61 degrees. It has been like that for about an hour. dropping down to 60 for a few minutes and then back to 61. I will keep an eye on it. I was using a turkey baster to add the water through a port designed for just that so I didn't have to open the lid. Next time I will use a syringe with tubing as you suggest. Thank you!

I know it's going to sound wierd, but I have a clean (brand new) ear washing bulb.. works kinda like the turkey baster, but I can put the tip in the incubator and squeeze a little water into it..