Nuture Right 360 humidity question

[LaurenRitz]

I borrowed a Nurture Right incubator, intending to do a dry hatch. Most of the areas where I see dry hatch being successful have relatively high humidity, so I figured it would work.

I turned the incubator on and it showed above 40% humidity when I closed the lid. Great. But as the machine heated, that humidity level rapidly fell to 4%, and stayed there overnight even while the humidity in the house shows a little less than 60%.

4% appears to be the machine's default.

When I added the eggs it rose to 22%. When I filled one of the wells, it rapidly rose to 45%. Does this thing have a dehumidifier?

I do note that there is a vent at the back, so maybe it's evacuating the humidity because of the heat and can't compensate without additional water?

 

[Debbie292d]

No, there's no dehumidifier but there is a fan for circulation. I have trouble sometimes getting it high enough as I shoot for 40-50%.

You might have just put too much water in as I know if I fill my A side, it will usually get it to 40-50, but I've even put a little in the B side on occasion, and always have to use B at lockdown to get to 70%.

If I were you, I'd just leave it at 45% and let it gradually go down to what you want it to. Then at that point, I'd dribble a little more water in the A port. If it goes down too much, dribble a little bit more. Too high, just let it come down on its own as you're not hurting anything.

It's the average humidity over days, not what it was for one day that really matters.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Well, my concern is that it went down to 4% even though the humidity in the house was much higher. I should be able to use the ambient humidity, but if the silly machine automatically drops to 4% when it's dry (in spite of the measured house humidity being 40+) that's not going to be possible.

 

[Somshine]

I have the same issue. Because it's not the amount of water it's the surface space of the water. So once you've put water in tray A whether it's a quarter of an inch deep or a half an inch deep it's not going to change the humidity. Only thing that would change it is if you poured such little water in there it didn't even cover the whole surface space of the tray. Which means it's going to dry out quickly and without sitting next to it and constantly monitoring it's going to fluctuate a lot.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I have the same issue. Because it's not the amount of water it's the surface space of the water. So once you've put water in tray A whether it's a quarter of an inch deep or a half an inch deep it's not going to change the humidity. Only thing that would change it is if you poured such little water in there it didn't even cover the whole surface space of the tray. Which means it's going to dry out quickly and without sitting next to it and constantly monitoring it's going to fluctuate a lot.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nuture-right-360-shoe-string-method.1577033/post-26801080
Maybe this will help you regulate your humidity better. Also do you have a calibrated thermometer/hygrometer in there? I live in Central Texas and it is quite humid, the humidity in my house has been around 40-45% lately and if my NR360 runs dry while I'm at work it hasn't dropped any lower than 32%

 

[Predoggg]

Mine has been in the upper 30 the first 2 days and then kept it around 45% most of the time. It still went down to 40 and sometimes to 50. I decided to let it do it and found it was copying what mother hen would have done (lower humidity when she is off the nest and then higher when she comes back).
The humidity started going up slightly as I approached lockdown. I am 2 days in lockdown and the humidity displayed is 65% with both trays full of water.