Will raising the humidity help shrink a large air cell?

[Haleth]

Hi! This is my first hatch, and I've had twenty-three bantam eggs in my homemade incubator for a week now. I just candled them, and the air sacs look way too large! I started searching the forums for a solution and read that I should have calibrated my humidifier first. I didn't know.

It's read between 55% and 60% most of the time, but I've seen it drop down to 40% once or twice.

If I raise the humidity will the eggs regain their moisture and the air sacs shrink, or will I just drown them? One of the eggs I candled had an unmoving embryo very close to the air sac. I wanted to shake it, but I restrained myself, of course.

Is this one hopeless? Did I just kill its chances? Help, please.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Raising it will just slow down the growth of the air cell. They can still hatch even with very large air cells. Unless you raise it to the point that moisture is on the window 24/7 then drowning will only happen if the air cell is to small. If you believe the cell is to big bump it up some an candle again in a few days to see if your more on track.

 

[Haleth]

Whew, thanks! I have a lot of little jars full of water in there taking up a lot of the available space, so I can probably open some of them to increase the humidity, right?

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

That should work. Dont know a lot about so-cal but I know part is desert. If thats where you are you may need higher humidity than most because the air coming in to the bator is so dry. What would really help is find a local with experience with the same incubator an see what humidity numbers they use.