"Lockdown" issues driving me CRAZY!

[Drewnkat]

This is my first time incubating. I've read everything obsessively. I calibrated my hygrometer (spot on, accurate). I'm using an old Hova-bator still air with a computer fan added to make it circulated air.
I took my eggs out of the turner on Monday and added water to all the channels, plus put a small plastic container down there. The humidity was barely breaking 30% with the two main channels full, so I knew I'd need more moisture.

Well, first off, I had difficulty getting the humidity to break 60%. I added wet paper towels. It got up to 61%. I added more paper towels. It finally got to 70%.

Then there was the temperature. Apparently the turner motor was generating more heat than I realized? It dropped to 95/96 degrees. I turned the thermostat up a bit.
97 degrees.
I waited. I turned it up again.
98 degrees.
I turned it up some more.
Finally hit 99.

Went to bed.

This morning, the humidity was of course down again, so I added water. Walked away to get some breakfast.
Came back and the temp had GONE DOWN again to 98.

The humidity was at over 80% so I had to take out some of the paper towels to get that back down.

Turned it up yet again... waited... then it went up to 101.5. Of course the humidity had also dropped below 60% despite having added yet ANOTHER plastic tub with water in it. I even warmed the water before putting it in there so it wouldn't drop the temp again.

I know I'm not supposed to keep opening, but I don't see what else I can do, I have to get the humidity sorted out before they start pipping.

Is this likely to negatively affect the eggs?
Any tips for getting things to just freaking settle down in there already? I know a lot of it is going to be trial and error as to what works for my personal situation. Right now it feels like all I'm getting is error.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

This is my first time incubating. I've read everything obsessively. I calibrated my hygrometer (spot on, accurate). I'm using an old Hova-bator still air with a computer fan added to make it circulated air.
I took my eggs out of the turner on Monday and added water to all the channels, plus put a small plastic container down there. The humidity was barely breaking 30% with the two main channels full, so I knew I'd need more moisture.

Well, first off, I had difficulty getting the humidity to break 60%. I added wet paper towels. It got up to 61%. I added more paper towels. It finally got to 70%.

Then there was the temperature. Apparently the turner motor was generating more heat than I realized? It dropped to 95/96 degrees. I turned the thermostat up a bit.
97 degrees.
I waited. I turned it up again.
98 degrees.
I turned it up some more.
Finally hit 99.

Went to bed.

This morning, the humidity was of course down again, so I added water. Walked away to get some breakfast.
Came back and the temp had GONE DOWN again to 98.

The humidity was at over 80% so I had to take out some of the paper towels to get that back down.

Turned it up yet again... waited... then it went up to 101.5. Of course the humidity had also dropped below 60% despite having added yet ANOTHER plastic tub with water in it. I even warmed the water before putting it in there so it wouldn't drop the temp again.

I know I'm not supposed to keep opening, but I don't see what else I can do, I have to get the humidity sorted out before they start pipping.

Is this likely to negatively affect the eggs?
Any tips for getting things to just freaking settle down in there already? I know a lot of it is going to be trial and error as to what works for my personal situation. Right now it feels like all I'm getting is error.

So sorry for your frustrations. I found that as my water dried up and my humidity when down my incubator temp went up. So in my theory, if you can get the humidity leveled out then your temp should follow. Yes, those turner motors give off a lot of heat. That is why I took mine out this last hatch and hand turned. My turner was 100% full and that put eggs right by the turner motor which was a good 2 degrees hotter there.
I would try a couple sponges instead. This is what I use, and it holds the humidity a lot longer, especially if you aren't constantly opening the bator. Even when I am opening the bator it holds pretty well and it's easy to wet and stick back in when it does start to fall. As long as you have it between 65-75% I wouldn't worry too much. Once they start hatching it'll rise naturally for a while.

 

[Drewnkat]

As long as you have it between 65-75% I wouldn't worry too much. Once they start hatching it'll rise naturally for a while.

Thanks!

This is why I'm worried, because it is not between 65-75%, I'm struggling to get it to stay between 50 and 60%, even with the wet paper towels.
I added another container with water to the opposite corner from the first one.
If that doesn't work, I will get some sponges and see if that helps.

Honestly, at the beginning of the week I was kind of hoping some would start to pip today, but with these humidity issues I'm now juuuuust fine if they don't do anything for another couple days!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

sponges will make a big difference because it isn't the water volume but surface area

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Is Georgia that dry of a state? It seems odd that your having a hard time getting humidity up. When I think of people using sponges I think of wood heated homes or people from Arizona.

I'm thinking you might even have condensation on the window of incubator and if that's the case your 80+% humidity. You should calibrate your hygrometer with a salt test. The unit obviously takes several hours to get to a reading so any changes should be waited on to see how they take effect. But if your hygrometer is inaccurate to begin with then it's a guessing game. A salt test takes 6 hours to complete.

Using a milk or large juice cap fill with salt then drops of water until wet sand consistency not a slurry.

Put hygrometer and cap into a zip seal sanddwich or quart bag allowing enough air to make a pillow and wait 6 hours.

Take note of hygrometer reading and subtract that from 75. Write this number on tape to stick to incubator as reminder of your calibration.

Ex. your hygrometer reads 86%, 75-86= -11. You'll always subtract 11 from your readings for the true RH.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Is Georgia that dry of a state? It seems odd that your having a hard time getting humidity up. When I think of people using sponges I think of wood heated homes or people from Arizona.

I'm thinking you might even have condensation on the window of incubator and if that's the case your 80+% humidity. You should calibrate your hygrometer with a salt test. The unit obviously takes several hours to get to a reading so any changes should be waited on to see how they take effect. But if your hygrometer is inaccurate to begin with then it's a guessing game. A salt test takes 6 hours to complete.

Using a milk or large juice cap fill with salt then drops of water until wet sand consistency not a slurry.

Put hygrometer and cap into a zip seal sanddwich or quart bag allowing enough air to make a pillow and wait 6 hours.

Take note of hygrometer reading and subtract that from 75. Write this number on tape to stick to incubator as reminder of your calibration.

Ex. your hygrometer reads 86%, 75-86= -11. You'll always subtract 11 from your readings for the true RH.

I'm NY and I always use a sponge or two for lockdown and my hygromter is accurate (I also run at 70-75%). However during the summer fall I can run dry at 40% winter, forget it, I use just a sponge to maintain 30%. Difference is I don't have a problem getting the humidity up and keeping it there with a sponge.

 

[Drewnkat]

Is Georgia that dry of a state? It seems odd that your having a hard time getting humidity up. When I think of people using sponges I think of wood heated homes or people from Arizona.

I'm thinking you might even have condensation on the window of incubator and if that's the case your 80+% humidity. You should calibrate your hygrometer with a salt test. The unit obviously takes several hours to get to a reading so any changes should be waited on to see how they take effect. But if your hygrometer is inaccurate to begin with then it's a guessing game. A salt test takes 6 hours to complete.

Using a milk or large juice cap fill with salt then drops of water until wet sand consistency not a slurry.

Put hygrometer and cap into a zip seal sanddwich or quart bag allowing enough air to make a pillow and wait 6 hours.

Take note of hygrometer reading and subtract that from 75. Write this number on tape to stick to incubator as reminder of your calibration.

Ex. your hygrometer reads 86%, 75-86= -11. You'll always subtract 11 from your readings for the true RH.

No, Georgia is not dry at all, in fact with the amount of rain we've had, outside is soaking wet! However the incubator is not outside, but inside.

When the humidity was at 80% (briefly) yes there was condensation on the window. I removed some of the damp paper towels and brought the humidity back down at that point. It had been an hour or so since I had added more liquid, so I am confident the measurement was accurate.

As I said in my first post, I did check my hygrometer for accuracy. I did the salt test, 6 hours according to the directions, and it read 75% as expected. I have no reason to suspect my hygrometer is reading off.

So far the humidity seems to have been fixed by adding another container of water. It may be necessary to re-arrange things if the chicks hatch and bump into it, but for now it's working so I'm just going to go with it. My schedule has hit a snag for this afternoon, so I won't be able to get to the store to look for sponges until after 3, but I do plan to buy some.

With the humidity at 71% the temp was reading 97.7 on the digital and 99 on the other thermometer in another location. It may be that even with the fan, there are thermal differences in the incubator. Oh well. All I can do is try to reach a suitable temp in the majority of it, and hope for the best. Tomorrow, I may swap the two baskets I have in there holding the eggs separately, just to try to heat them more evenly. For right now I am trying to just leave the stupid thing closed as much as possible now that the humidity seems to be stabilizing.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

No, Georgia is not dry at all, in fact with the amount of rain we've had, outside is soaking wet! However the incubator is not outside, but inside.

When the humidity was at 80% (briefly) yes there was condensation on the window. I removed some of the damp paper towels and brought the humidity back down at that point. It had been an hour or so since I had added more liquid, so I am confident the measurement was accurate.

As I said in my first post, I did check my hygrometer for accuracy. I did the salt test, 6 hours according to the directions, and it read 75% as expected. I have no reason to suspect my hygrometer is reading off.

So far the humidity seems to have been fixed by adding another container of water. It may be necessary to re-arrange things if the chicks hatch and bump into it, but for now it's working so I'm just going to go with it. My schedule has hit a snag for this afternoon, so I won't be able to get to the store to look for sponges until after 3, but I do plan to buy some.

With the humidity at 71% the temp was reading 97.7 on the digital and 99 on the other thermometer in another location. It may be that even with the fan, there are thermal differences in the incubator. Oh well. All I can do is try to reach a suitable temp in the majority of it, and hope for the best. Tomorrow, I may swap the two baskets I have in there holding the eggs separately, just to try to heat them more evenly. For right now I am trying to just leave the stupid thing closed as much as possible now that the humidity seems to be stabilizing.

Mine has the fan installed and I still have major temp differences in my bator. I have come to the belief that all a fan does is keep the bator from having heat layers, and it might cut down on as many hot/cold spots but it certainly does not irradicate them nor provide even temps throughout. At least not in my bator.

 

[Torch404]

I found taking a short jar and filling the bottom with water and then put a sponge in the jar so about 2/3rds of the sponge is out of water and a 1/3 is in water. That way the sponge doesn't dry out as fast and your humidity can stabilize longer. I also found at lockdown my temps swung around a bit and I think the thermostats are also affected by humidity, but don't know for sure. Once you change sponges it seemed to take about 2-3 hours for everything to even out. I don't think I ever got a perfect humidity but I got pretty close. Good luck!