# High humidity in incubator



## RIPM29 (Oct 11, 2018)

Aloha!
I set my incubator some days ago and it seems to be working really good.
In the area where I live it rains some days a week so humidity is always over 60%, sometimes over 70%.
I have had a hard time trying to keep the internal humidity in the incubator in between 50-60. Sometimes it goes up to 65. Do you think it could be a problem? If there was a broodie hen she would have to do her job work that high humidity. Btw... there’s lots of feral chickens around so I guess it shouldn’t be a problem.


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## JediPat (Sep 19, 2018)

Welcome to the forum. 

Are you using water inside your incubator at all or is that just from the relative humidity during your incubation time? I have hatched from incubators that run that high on several occasions so I would not worry about too much, like you said, the feral population does it.


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## RIPM29 (Oct 11, 2018)

I added some water at the beginning (I was following all the posts and articles I’ve read) but when I realized the humidity was so high, I dried it out.
I’m also checking the humidity in and out the incubator as often as I can.
This is my first time using an incubator, I hope I can hatch at least one egg. All shipped from mainland
Aloha!


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## JediPat (Sep 19, 2018)

In all honesty it sounds like your bator will be just fine, remember to bump the humidity up to about 70% for hatch. The main concern will be that these are shipped eggs, shipped eggs are so hit and miss that it would not be fair to blame a failure on yourself or your equipment. Are their any breeders on the island that can give you some local test eggs?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Oh no, you do no want a single to hatch. That is a miserable time for both you and the peep. Chickens are flock animals, much happier when they have their own kind to socialize with.

I'm assuming no AC to dry the inside air of where the bator is? If your indoor humidity ranges that high you are probably safe using dry incubation. I did a few times. I had a large building for my Silkies and for giggles I setup the incubator in there. I lived in an area with high ambient humidity so didn't add water. Hatches went just fine without the water added.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

JediPat said:


> In all honesty it sounds like your bator will be just fine, remember to bump the humidity up to about 70% for hatch. The main concern will be that these are shipped eggs, shipped eggs are so hit and miss that it would not be fair to blame a failure on yourself or your equipment. Are their any breeders on the island that can give you some local test eggs?


Which is why I recommend candling before setting the eggs. Looking for ruptured air sacs can give someone a heads up on what the hatch rate might be.


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## RIPM29 (Oct 11, 2018)

JediPat said:


> In all honesty it sounds like your bator will be just fine, remember to bump the humidity up to about 70% for hatch. The main concern will be that these are shipped eggs, shipped eggs are so hit and miss that it would not be fair to blame a failure on yourself or your equipment. Are their any breeders on the island that can give you some local test eggs?


It's not easy at all to find pure breeds in the islands due to all the regulations to bring live animals over.
There are lots of of free range chickens. This time I'm trying to hatch Brahmas.
Some weeks ago I found this hen freezing by the road. It was late night and she was roosting on a fence. I saw her and some hours later she was still there. Somebody told me that some people keep layers and once they get old they just throw them away in the jungle. I guess that could be her case (I named her Reginda). I think she could be a golden comet or a Isa brown.
Some days after she got so sick and I treated her. Then she started to lay eggs again. 
Some days ago I got that buff Orpington roo to be her partner (Akio). Now I'm hoping to get fertile eggs to hatch. 
Those would be nice chicks


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'd like to see what the peeps look like. I don't know if either of those breeds will go broody so your incubator could get a work out.

Rescuing her was a good thing. It's not uncommon to find abandoned birds here in the mainland. 

How long have your eggs been in the bator? Do you know about candling to check the progress of development?


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## RIPM29 (Oct 11, 2018)

They’ve been there for 3 days only.
I have an egg candeler. I think I’ll wait until day 10 to candle them since those are brown eggs, to make it easier for me to see if there’s an embryo developing
What do you think?


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## JediPat (Sep 19, 2018)

RIPM29 said:


> I think I'll wait until day 10 to candle them since those are brown eggs, to make it easier for me to see if there's an embryo developing


Since you are fresh into incubating and the darker eggs can be harder to see through I think waiting until day 10 is fine.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yep, day ten works. And a really dark room.


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## RIPM29 (Oct 11, 2018)

I’ll do it at night
Hope to hatch at least one
I’ll keep you posted
Thanks guys


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