Newbie help with hova bator

[wilobrookfarms]

Well my new incubator/turner arrived today...I have eggs coming next week.
I would love some tips on a good hatch in my hova bator genesis 1588 with turner. I'm hatching shipped serama eggs, so will need lots of help!!

I have heard humidity depends on your area. I'm in Michigan. What humidity do most use for first 18 days, and then at lockdown. And how do you get your incubator at the correct humidity?? The instructions simply say fill center tray for setting, and both for hatching?

Help!!

 

[Cowgirl75446]

Hi, you need to purchase a hygrometer. Humidity need to be around 60-65% for the first 18 days, and around 80-85% for the last 3 days.

 

[coleridgedane]

I absolutely agree...you must have a thermo/hygrometer. Incubator warehouse has a great renote one for less than $15.

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
That really sounds a fair bit on the high side to me. Maybe you have had good hatches with those humidities, and if so, congratulations, but you should know that you are in a minority. A good starting humidity for newbies with no previous hatching experience is more like 30-45% for the first 18 days. I would recommend that first, and I would only recommend a higher humidity to someone who had tried out 30-45% with a previous hatch and had found it to be too low.

More people over-humidify eggs than under-humidify them, and it's one of the most common incubating mistakes made. Especially with still air incubators, which seem to need much less humidity than fan assisted bators. I'm not sure if the Hova Genesis always comes with a fan or not... If it doesn't have a fan, I'd say go for a lower humidity, say 30-40%. If it does have a fan, maybe go a bit higher, something like 40-45%.

Good luck. And yes, get that hygrometer. And make sure you calibrate it before use, cause they're not always accurate!

 

[wilobrookfarms]

I've got a digital hygrometer/thermometer. I'm setting it up, and putting water in center tray. I'll run it and see what happens. (No eggs yet) Does anyone know if the digital hygro/therm reads both temp. and humidity thru the probe attached? If so I can run the little probe thru a vent hole and not put the whole unit inside. (I'm worried about it interfering with my turner. Its about the size of a deck of cards.)
Also, do you pull turner out at 18 days and lay eggs on wire, or just turn it off for lockdown?

 

[Orpy Lady]

Yes I agree with you there Gypsy, the higher the humidity the more water that there is in the incubator which becomes absorbed into the pourous egg shell, making the chick grow too big to hatch and have no room for the air sac or the other reason for the chick not to hatch is becaused it has died from drowning. Sandy

 

[Supermommy486]

So this is a still air hovabator we are talking about? (trying to figure out what I need for mine)

 

[The Chickeneer]

Quote:
That really sounds a fair bit on the high side to me. Maybe you have had good hatches with those humidities, and if so, congratulations, but you should know that you are in a minority. A good starting humidity for newbies with no previous hatching experience is more like 30-45% for the first 18 days. I would recommend that first, and I would only recommend a higher humidity to someone who had tried out 30-45% with a previous hatch and had found it to be too low.

More people over-humidify eggs than under-humidify them, and it's one of the most common incubating mistakes made. Especially with still air incubators, which seem to need much less humidity than fan assisted bators. I'm not sure if the Hova Genesis always comes with a fan or not... If it doesn't have a fan, I'd say go for a lower humidity, say 30-40%. If it does have a fan, maybe go a bit higher, something like 40-45%.

Good luck. And yes, get that hygrometer. And make sure you calibrate it before use, cause they're not always accurate!

I agree, 60-65% and 80-85% is waaay to high especialy for a newbie. I do dry hatching, so I prefer having it from 20-35%. Good luck with your hatch

 

[wilobrookfarms]

Quote:
Its the circulated air unit with an electronic thermostat.

 

[sunnyllama]

This is a great topic. I am also about to do my first hatch with a hova bator and am having trouble getting the humidity to stay up. The temp is spot on and has held great without needing any adjustment! For my first hatch, I had the humidity up higher and am now reading that it should be much lower than I had thought. I did have a good hatch rate before and am a bit nervous to switch to the lower percentage...isnt there a concern about the chick getting stuck to the shell during hatch?