Too much humidity?

[aarissilkiesmooth]

Hello out there, my first post, hope some one of more knowledge can help me with some answers to only my second attempt at hatcing. Put a clutch of eggs in the bator Friday Dec. 30. Had to leave town for 3 days, would of been days 3-6. Came home to humidity at about 70%. Temp never went below 99.1 nor above 100.0 yet it would appear humidity was in the upper 60's to 70%. Got it down immediately but now at day 9, candling shows these eggs, which were shipped, likely have zero chicks growing. Can that high of humidity that early in the hatch kill the eggs?

 

[ChickenPrnces]

From what I understand that high of humidity before lockdown will drown those eggs! I'm sorry!

 

[Mahonri]

I'd keep them in the bator and candle again on day 18. You never know... but I'd be certain that the humidity until then didn't go above 30%.

I did real well on my last hatch.

Started with 28 eggs in the bator.. (had some stacked eggs) At lockdown I had 18 and hatched 17 so not bad....
Days 1-18, 33% humidity. Days 19-Hatch, 70% humidity. It worked.

 

[bairo]

it should not have...not that early. if they are candling bad , then they were probably no good to begin with.

 

[bairo]

I set mine exactly as mahonri does. But I still think that a brief period of high humidity at days 3-6 should not have effected them

 

[aarissilkiesmooth]

Thanks for all the input. It's amazing how much info's out there. First thing I read was 60-65% first 18 days, then up to 85% last 3. Near end of my first clutch I read 50-55% first then up to 70%. I had 5 of 15 grow but lost 4 of them about day 20 based off of dead embryos. This is first I've heard of H. down as low as the low 30's. Gonna drop it down tonight and see what they look like round day 18. Thank you all again.

 

[TucsonAZ]

I don't pay much attention to the humidity the first 18 days, I just checked on mine though as I have some in the incubator and some in the hatcher. The ones in the incubator are at 20% (I live in Arizona), I will add some water which should kick them up to about 30% but I don't keep a very close eye on it as the water is gone within a day or two anyway. In the hatcher they're at 75% but 4 of them just hatched, I think they were at 70% before any of them hatched.

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Just found this thread after commenting on your other one. 50-55% for the first 18 days would be too high for most people. There is no one correct figure for humidity as different people's eggs humidity requirements will vary depending on type of bator, local climate and siome other things too. A good place to start is with humidity between 30-45%, as between these two figures is where the majority of people will get success.

As for your embryos, 70% humidity for a couple of days early on in the incubation shouldn't do them any harm at all. Humidity isn't like temp where you have to keep it steady and high temp can kill an embryo. What's important with humidity is the end moisture/weight loss, and as long as you get your eggs to day 18 with the correct moisture loss, it's not too bad if that loss wasn't constant. like, if you have a too-high humidiy for a few days you just compensate by dropping it down lower for another few days, and that should even things out by day 18...

 

[ffachick55]

I don't have a humidity measurer, but I know humidity needs to go up at day 18. I put my eggs on "lockdown" since my eggs are due Friday, and I also added moist cloths into the incubator to make it more humid. There are small water puddles in the lid inside the incubator, and I want to know if that's too much humidity! Thank you!

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

I am not positive but I think your humidity is too high. What kind of incubator? I would take the wet cloths out. When I first started incubating I did too high of humidity at lockdown and drowned some. I'm very cautious of too high humidity now and have never had a shrink wrap. Try to get a humidity reader--I stick at about 65% at lockdown.