Will a sudden drop in humidity damage the chicks inside?

[Megalodon]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first-time incubating eggs, and it hasn't gone as well as I'd hoped. Out of the 13 eggs we had originally, 9 are dead/didn't develop. Today is day 18, but the humidity was at about 70% throughout the entire incubation period, which I now know is way too high. We had a few difficulties also with the humidity with it spiking up. The air cells were about the size of day 14 on day 17 (yesterday) so I let my incubator run drier for a day, about 30%-35%. It did increase the size of the air cells, so then I decided to let it run dry overnight. When I went to bed, it was at about 45%. But when I woke up, the humidity was at 4%!!! Added water ASAP, but am so nervous that I may have damaged the chicks. We have only 4 chicks left, and I really don't want these babies to die. These eggs are from Barred Rock chickens. Any suggestions would be so helpful!

Thank you guys so much!

 

[sdm111]

The high humidity throughout the incubation did more damage then the recent momentary drop

 

[Megalodon]

Is there anything else I can do?
Thanks for replying to me

 

[Ryguy3684]

The momentary drop in humidity was not a problem. Eggs under a broody can have sudden humidity/temperature drops, depending on the weather and how often they get off the nest. As long as the air sacs got large enough, they should be okay. Once they are ready to start pipping, make sure to keep the humidity up. If the air sacs were still small, try to keep an eye on them when they externally pip to make sure they pipped in the proper spot. Hopefully all goes well.