Humidity problems with Brinsea

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Karen27

Karen27

Chirping
Aug 18, 2015
53
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I am having problems with my Brinsea Oct 20 (not the advance) . I know this has probably been discussed several times but I am in lockdown right now and need some help. Day 18 was fine for most of the day then the humidity started dropping I have a little sponge under the vent where I am adding water with a straw but I am constantly having to monitor it . When I got up at 3 am the humidity was down to 49% I am hoping that didnt ruin the eggs . So any thoughts or idea would be greatly appreciate . I have more eggs to go into lock down next week keeping my finfers crossed for this one . Also I have to hydrometers in there both are running percentages off from each other I dont know which one to trust :( .Can someone please recommend a good one that they have used and works well .
 
What I do in mine - and you can go ahead and make this adjustment if you don't have any pips yet, it won't hurt anything to open the incubator and take the eggs out briefly as long as they are not yet pipped - is run paper towels out of the water troughs and along the bottom of the incubator under the black tray that holds the eggs. With humidity it's all about surface area, and this method gives me plenty of surface area to get the humidity up.

As for hydrometers, I use two different ones that are great - both are digital combo temp/humidity gauges. One is by Accurite and the other is by Vicks. The Accurite one can be picked up at Walmart, and the Vicks one I ordered from Amazon here.
 
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I did try the paper towel before I put the eggs in and the humidity kept spiking really high maybe I was doing it wrong ? Can exactly how you do it and how much water you put in the channels .I dont have any pips yet that I can see .And thanks for the info on the meters I will go and get them today .
 
Sure! I actually have eggs hatching in mine right now so I can't get a picture, unfortunately, but I'll describe it as best I can. I take a paper towel and fold it so it fits in the bottom of the incubator on one side of the channel. I put it across the whole length of the channel and bottom of the incubator on that side. I only do one channel - if I do both the humidity is too high. Then I just fill both channels.

Also make sure your vent hole is open all the way to allow oxygen in to the hatching chicks, and it also helps to regulate the humidity when done this way. Once my eggs start pipping my humidity usually goes to about 60 to 70 percent and stays there, which is perfect.
 
You might want to calibrate your hygrometers to get a better idea of what they are actually reading. Any of them can be off some.

Rebel’s Hygrometer Calibration
http://cmfarm.us/HygrometerCalibration.html

It sounds as if your reservoir may be running dry which allows your paper towel to dry out. Can you fill it with your straw?

If you spill water when filling the reservoir you get things wet you don’t intend to. That gives you a larger surface area so you get a humidity spike until it dries up. Is that what you are seeing? If that’s the case you need more reservoirs or more towels.

I don’t think this is it but a few years back during incubation I hate a mysterious drop in humidity. When I added water I did not get the lid back on perfectly, it was cracked. The heater was able to keep up so the temperature was fine, but the humidity was noticeably lower. You might look for something like that but I think something is drying out.
 
Ok I was doing both channels maybe that was the problem . So you are just using a single piece of paper towel ? Also what are you keeping your levels at ?I was trying to maintain 65%.Sorry for all the questions I am a newbie :)
 
Karen27 said:
Ok I was doing both channels maybe that was the problem . So you are just using a single piece of paper towel ? Also what are you keeping your levels at ?I was trying to maintain 65%.Sorry for all the questions I am a newbie :)
Click to expand...


No problem! I fill both channels with water but only do the paper towel in one. I use two paper towel sheets folded together. For my humidity I just shoot for 60% - 70%. When the chicks start pipping it raises the humidity also.

As Ridgerunner said you might also want to calibrate your hygrometers to make sure they are reading correctly :)
 
Both my channels are full and there are no cracks I checked . I am going to try the single paper towel and go get some salt asap :). Thanks for all the information .
 
I did only do one piece of towel to be safe I didnt want to leave the eggs out to long and it seems to be holding at 62% for now . So mad dash to the store for salt and yet again one more meter :)
 

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