Styrofoam Incubators Club

Question, I'm new to this and I've read conflicting views. I have a forced air incubator. Should I add water to it initially or not?

Eggs went in on Sunday and I did add water. I was going to see what the air sack looked like on day 7 to determine if more water needs to be added or not.

kimalulu said:

Question, I'm new to this and I've read conflicting views. I have a forced air incubator. Should I add water to it initially or not?

Eggs went in on Sunday and I did add water. I was going to see what the air sack looked like on day 7 to determine if more water needs to be added or not.

Click to expand...

Your plan is solid, increasing and decreasing humidity should be based on air sack development and egg weight loss, not some arbitrary humidity number on whatever day...

Have some questions that need answered , My incubator was not reading correctly, the real temp. was at least 10 degrees cooler. By the time I found this out I thought I lost everything. I turned the temp. up (way up) and kept 2 thermometers in the bator. To my surprise the eggs were growing inside so I continued on and then had a temp. spike not once but twice. Again I thought I'd lost all. Now on day16 the eggs seem to take up all the inside space except the air pocket which isn't quite as big as it should be. Now the question, should I give the eggs an extra day or two before lock down since they had a later period for development? I don't want to turn up the humidity too soon and drown them. Have no idea what is actually alive since I am new to this and most are brown eggs. Any suggestions, thanks

Coreenelane said:

Have some questions that need answered , My incubator was not reading correctly, the real temp. was at least 10 degrees cooler. By the time I found this out I thought I lost everything. I turned the temp. up (way up) and kept 2 thermometers in the bator. To my surprise the eggs were growing inside so I continued on and then had a temp. spike not once but twice. Again I thought I'd lost all. Now on day16 the eggs seem to take up all the inside space except the air pocket which isn't quite as big as it should be. Now the question, should I give the eggs an extra day or two before lock down since they had a later period for development? I don't want to turn up the humidity too soon and drown them. Have no idea what is actually alive since I am new to this and most are brown eggs. Any suggestions, thanks

Click to expand...

I would personally skip lock down and keep turning them until they start to pip, then increase humidity at that time, using a spray bottle misted inside the incubator for immediate humidity increase...

Quote:Hate to tell you this but the little giant I bought sucks! nothing is accurate. have bought4 thermometers and humidity gauge. My home made styro foam bator is more accurate but the egg turner is nice.

MeepBeep said:

kimalulu said:

Question, I'm new to this and I've read conflicting views. I have a forced air incubator. Should I add water to it initially or not?

Eggs went in on Sunday and I did add water. I was going to see what the air sack looked like on day 7 to determine if more water needs to be added or not.

Click to expand...

Your plan is solid, increasing and decreasing humidity should be based on air sack development and egg weight loss, not some arbitrary humidity number on whatever day...

Click to expand...

Oh good, thank you!

What I'm hearing a lot of is: don't use the temperature and humidity reading on the incubator, use a thermometer for both temp and humidity and use that as your numbers. Should I do that? I have a little giant still air incubator with a fan and I'm getting call duck eggs soon and they are hard to hatch so I really want to get this down in time before they arrive. Any advice is greatly suggested.

Its ME said:

What I'm hearing a lot of is: don't use the temperature and humidity reading on the incubator, use a thermometer for both temp and humidity and use that as your numbers. Should I do that? I have a little giant still air incubator with a fan and I'm getting call duck eggs soon and they are hard to hatch so I really want to get this down in time before they arrive. Any advice is greatly suggested.

Click to expand...

Always use several calibrated thermometers and hygrometers, especially in a cheaper incubator (even in a fancy one I'd still use a second thermometer). This can help save you from a bad hatch.

Quote: You should put the egg turner from the LG into your homemade incubator if it fits

Add us to the list!
I agree, the LG stinks, big time. We've tried 3 batches so far. The first time we mistakenly thought the thing was accurate, and when we put a thermometer in it, discovered it was only 95 in there. Turned it up a couple points, and it spiked to 106. The following morning it had spiked to 106. Cooked eggs.
The 2nd time it seemed to be doing good, thought we had it holding steady(we had installed a fan we had around here with a battery connection) so we put the eggs in...fan got pulled loose and another spike to 104* this time. I didn't think it had been long, but we reconnected the fan and kept moving forward. Day 11 we had glowing eggs still(quail), so we opened them up, 1 cooked egg and not any development. The spike happened in the first few days so it killed them quick I guess.
We started the 3rd round today. new fan, computer one, and we spliced it into an old cord, so no battery powered losses. 3 thermometers inside, 2 with hygrometers that are digital and an aquarium one. We're doing the dry hatch method, but still have to put some water in since we are Phoenix AZ area.