1st Time Incubator and Having Problems with Humidity

[ncchixlady]

Help! My son built an incubator out of a regular cooler and we turned everything on last night. It has been about 12 hours and the temperature is in the low 90's and the humidity has steadily dropped to about 39%. What do we need to do to fix this? It is a regular (not all styrofoam cooler), 40 watt light bulb, PC fan, has sponges with water in the bottom and vent holes are covered. We have chickie eggs coming this afternoon and don't know what to do now. Thanks so much.

 

[old mill poultry]

Try adding some sponges around the incubator with soaked in warm water around 100 degrees around where the eggs will be.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Does it have a thermastat?
Sorry for home made bators thats my starter question.
first where is it , Is it in a tempature controled room , One that dosnt fall below 60?
Are there any gaps or holes or anything you can tape up?
You could try a higher watt bulb. Do they have 50 watt or does it jump up to 60 ? I would make shure it has a thermastat if you get a higher watt bulb if you dont have one.
Someone will come along soon that acutally knows what they are talking about. Good luck.

 

[ranchhand]

Might want to boost the wattage of the light bulb- but make sure you are using accurate thermometers first!

You don't want to incubate with all the vents closed- eggs need air exchange.

With the humidity, it's more the surface area of the water than the quantity- more sponges, or a flat tray in the bottom might help. If you drill a small hole and run airline tubing throught it to the water source, you can add water with a needleless syringe, bypassing the opening and losing temp all the time.

Good luck!

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I put a humidifier with my new cooler/bator, in a small windowless room (upstairs, unfinished bathroom), and got my humidity to rise from 35% (with water and sponges etc.) to 47%.... as long as I keep the bathroom door shut and don't mind all the wallpaper peeling off

 

[ncchixlady]

It does have a thermostat and we just upped the range on it so the light doesn't go off quite as often. The light bulb is a 40 watt. There is a tray underneath the egg trays with the water wiggler/hydrometer that has four sponges in it. The incubator is in a room with no windows and facing an inside wall. The thermometer/hydrometer is an Accurite brand that we bought this week from Lowes Hardware. I did not calibrate it since the consensus was that those are fairly accurate. There are some small gaps around where the lid meets the cooler and I can try to seal those but I thought that some outside air coming in was good. Thanks for all of your help. I am just trying to get it regulated so it will be ready when my son goes to pick up the eggs.