Uh oh! humidity too high! Updated- reply#4&5

[rhaj]

I have one lonely little egg in a little giant 9200 still air incubator from TSC. I read a post from someone that said they just made sure the bottom ridges were always filled up with water and all was fine. That is what I was doing too. I didn't get a humidity gauge til today... and it is 70% in there.

So, I guess I need to pour some water out to lower it? Do you think that the high humidity has done anything to the egg thus far?? Does it kill it?? We are on day 11.

Dawn

 

[rhaj]

It is a silkie, in case that is relevant.

 

[txmel]

i would decrease the surface area of the water and candle the egg to see if you have development.

good luck

 

[rhaj]

Thank you. I dumped out all the water and it is still 70%. Ugh. Guess I'll just give it time. I can't open the cover to let out humidity because it will lower the temp too...

I don't have the right equipment, but I looked at the egg with a flashlight and there ie definitely something in there... guess I don't know whether it is alive or not?

I saw the air bubble on the end and the middle of the egg was pretty dark, with hopefully an alive baby chickie. I think I saw a vein so hopefully it wasn't one of those blood rings?

Edit: took another peek and saw definite veins. At first I thought I saw movement but wanted to be 100% sure and now not sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me or not because then I didn't see anything else.

 

[rhaj]

The red plug things in the top... I never took those off, I bet I was supposed to???

Just read this: "This is the air cell. This is where the chick pokes through first to get its first breath of air. If you were using the conventional means of incubation and had the humidity too high for these 14 days, your chick might encounter a good amount of water here. This could and often does drown your new chick before it even has a chance to pip the shell. We recommend that you watch the air cells real close. If too large or growing to fast, you need just a little humidity."

How do I know if my little chickie is going to drown?????

 

[SportChick]

I don't think you can know. Your air cell should get bigger (1/3 of the egg by lockdown I think) as the incubation proceeds. I bet you can run it with lower humidity (30-40%) until lockdown and then get the humidity back to 65% or so. Chickens hatch in Louisiana all the time and it's really humid here. Don't worry too much. Either time, next time you will know more (and if you are like me, you will likely find a new way to screw it up!)

 

[rhaj]

Quote:
Thank you very much. I didn't know the air cell gets bigger. That is actually what I was just wondering, if I could run it with lower humidity, if that would "fix" it. Hmm. Well I took out the vent plug, which was my problem all along and I didn't realize it

Now it is much better anyway (high thirties), I just hope the damage isn't already done. I don't want the baby to drown

 

[Cattitude]

*comfort*