➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Kiki]

Make sure you know what the lower limit of your hygrometer is. Many of the cheaper models will only read down to 20% humidity no matter how low the humidity actually is. My house gets below 10% humidity during the winter and the cheap hygrometers that I have still read the humidity as 20%. It is possible to drive the humidity down to 0% in an incubator without adding water in a dry climate.

Once I turn the swamp cooler on, the house humidity gets to be around 50%. At that time I run the incubator without adding any water. Before I turn on the swamp cooler, I have to add water to the incubator to keep it from becoming too dry.

What in the world is a swamp cooler?

 

[Morrigan]

This guy says he doesn't add any water until lockdown but he doesn't give me a number for the humidity level inside his bator.
I want to know how low his humidity gets.
You think he will respond to an email from a stranger?

I've always wondered about that too. I live in a very dry area. Brinsea manual says between 40-50% First hatch I shot for 45% and had 90% hatch rate -- I had no big or sticky chicks. After reading about dry hatches, I've lowered it to the 38 to 40% range. I'm curious, but scared, to go lower.

 

[R2elk]

I don't think that post is relative he says no water unless lower than 50% humidity which is high

The humidity number he is referring to is the humidity in the room. The temperature is a lot higher in the incubator and therefor the humidity level in the incubator will be much lower.

 

[Kiki]

I've always wondered about that too. I live in a very dry area. Brinsea manual says between 40-50% First hatch I shot for 45% and had 90% hatch rate -- I had no big or sticky chicks. After reading about dry hatches, I've lowered it to the 38 to 40% range. I'm curious, but scared, to go lower.

Do not look at my picture above.

 

[Kiki]

The humidity number he is referring to is the humidity in the room. The temperature is a lot higher in the incubator and therefor the humidity level in the incubator will be much lower.

Yes...and I want to know the humidity level in his bator.
Why didn't he post that number!?!?!

 

[R2elk]

What in the world is a swamp cooler?

A swamp cooler is what those of us in a dry climate use instead of an air conditioner. They are much cheaper to run than an air conditioner but if you have high humidity to start, it won't work for you.

"What is a swamp cooler and how does it work?
Direct evaporative cooling (open circuit) is used to lower the temperature and increase the humidity of air by using latent heat of evaporation, changing liquid water to water vapor. In this process, the energy in the air does not change. Warm dry air is changed to cool moist air."

 

[ronott1]

My house was right at 40% when I plugged the bator in.
I didn't think is was actually going to get down as low as it has in the bator.

Humidity goes down as temperature goes up

 

[sdm111]

The dry method is geared towards Styrofoam incubators which are known for bad humidity levels not any other types

 

[Kiki]

Humidity goes down as temperature goes up

So are you saying that the humidity in my bator should stay the same and not get any lower because the temp is holding steady?

I'm stuck on stupid right now.

 

[R2elk]

Yes...and I want to know the humidity level in his bator.
Why didn't he post that number!?!?!

My guess is that he is not measuring the humidity in his incubator. I am sure that if you go to the site and contact him that he will give an answer. He is or at least was a member of BYC at one time and has been very helpful to a lot of people. That article is for hatching turkeys and may not be 100% applicable to hatching quail.

Porter's Rare Heritage Turkeys