Incubator Oopsies: Humidity dropped extremely low?

[Moondance]

I've got a batch of Indian Runner Duck eggs in my incubator. I went out on Tuesday, the eggs were fine. Got home late Thursday night to find the humidity had dropped below half of what it should have been while I was out (I had gone out to a place 3 hours drive from home, the car failed utterly and I couldn't get back home short of train travel and I had various animals with me, which weren't allowed on trains, so I had to wait til the Thursday to get back home).
I don't know when exactly the humidity dropped, or how long it was that low for, but I immediately topped up the water supply and the humidity went back up to where it should have been.

But I'm wondering how this may have affected the eggs?
Have I lost the batch?
Will I have to, for future reference, be sure I place a cup of water in my bator before I leave the house just in case of emergencies?


I'm hoping I haven't lost the entire batch out of this....

 

[adrian]

No, you certainly haven't lost your eggs. What you control with humidity is how much moisture is lost by the eggs; it doesn't actually, at least outside of extremes for long periods of time, threaten an embryo's life--not in the short term, anyway. Eggs only lose a very small fraction of moisture every day, so if your humidity returns to ideal levels now there will be very little difference in the end.

As for adding the extra cup of water, I'd only advise you to do that if you think you'll be away for too long. In my experience, excessively high relative humidity is a lot more dangerous than excessively low. But again this is only when the eggs are exposed to extended periods of the extremes.

 

[Moondance]

Thank-you Adrian!

That does take a weight off my mind, as I was really concerned. This is my first batch of eggs, so I didn't want to lose them!

 

[cva34]

Its an average so some low and some high been OK with me ...cva34

 

[Moondance]

okay, thanks cva!
Fingers crossed they're okay then! Will know in another.... er.... 22 days or so, more or less...

**** duck eggs, lol. Taking so long to hatch!