underground home and incubating

[cheepchicks]

Ok I am not sure if it is just me or living underground. My home is surrounded on 3 sides by earth, the humidity is a constant 70% in the warm weather. I am not what it is in winter. I never bothered to notice. Now that I want to hatch eggs though I am having trouble. The humidity in the incubator wants to stay at 70%. Just like the house. How do I reduce the humidity? I have no water or sponges in the incubator. Please help, any suggestions are welcome. The eggs are only at day 3. I tried hatching Guineas once. I managed to get one to hatch out of maybe 30 eggs. Most eggs only made it to day 14 or 15 before they died. Oh and I am keeping the temp at around 100-101 degrees as it is a still air incubator.

Kim

 

[Chellester]

If you have any air holes in the incubator, I would try sealing them up to keep out humidity coming in from outside it. With the heat inside, it should eventually dry it out.

Out of curiousity, what kind of incubator and what kind of hydrometer are you using?

 

[cheepchicks]

The incubator is an LG I picked up for $10.00 at a yard sale. It has plugs but I left them plugged up. The hygrometer is something I found at the farm store here in town. I am unsure of the brand but it measures temp and humidity. I have two thermometers both are reading the same temps. I so want these eggs to hatch. I even bought an egg turner last night but I don't want to have the eggs out long enough to put it in the LG.

Thanks for your answer,

Kim

 

[Chellester]

Is the temp/hydro combo you bought the type that has the probe that you put in the the incubator and the unit sits outside, or is the whole unit inside the incubator?

 

[BeckyLa]

This might be worth a try. At Walmart you can buy a box of crystal stuff, calcium chloride granules, I think, made to pull the humidity out in closets and such. You could put some in a small dish and put it in then change it day by day as it absorbes the humidity.

 

[cheepchicks]

The whole thing sits inside. I left it outside of the incubator for awhile just to see what the humidity was inside my home. Then I put it in the incubator and checked it an hour later. I took out all the sponges and will check it again when I get home. (working until 6pm) Yuck!

Kim

 

[lexustami]

I was going to suggest the same thing as BeckLa. Try Damp Rid. It is worth a try.

Take care,

Tami

 

[cheepchicks]

They had some at Rural King where I got the turner and hygrometer. I will buy some tonight !
Thank-you so much for your quick responses.

Kim

 

[BeckyLa]

Thanks, Tami, I just couldn't remember the name. I'm having another Senior day......

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Take the plugs out of the incubator and give it a better air exchange. This may be hard to follow, but for the same amount of moisture relative humidity drops as the temperature rise. If it's 70% humidity in the house, the same air at 100 degs in the incubator should have a much lower relative humidity. If they are both reading the same relative humidity your house air is actually much drier than the air inside the incubator beacause the incubator is 30 degs warmer than you house air.

The extra moisture in the incubator is coming from the eggs themselves. The eggs need to lose a specific amount of moisture over the 21 day incubation period to create room for the chick. Instead of trying to keep the moisture from the house from getting in, you need to be letting moisture evaporating from the eggs out.