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- #11
Quote:
Make sure that all the humidity tanks are full before "lockdown" and make sure your vents are properly set. Too much airflow can pull all of the moisture out of the incubator. What is your humidity OUTSIDE the incubator? If it is too dry that can be part of the problem. I have a friend that hatches in a dry climate he puts wet sponges near the bottom vents which raises the humidity of the air being sucked into the incubator. WARNING you must keep an eye on your humidity inside your incubator if you use this method since too much humidity can result in a small air cell and the goshlings 'drown' in the egg. Good Luck!
The trays were full, I had one extra jar of water and the paper towels. Sometimes I use cloth diapers and they seem to work even better than the paper towels. I also keep a small humidifier in there but it runs out in 9-12 hours.... I do believe the outside humidity is the culprit. Its not that its constantly low but instead that it fluctuates wildly. Might be 20% outside one day, 60 the next then 40... 80... and so forth. My luck is that it dropped into the 20s on day 29... grrr.... The humidifier ran out sooner than expected.
Well, I am done hatching for the year. I still have eggs in the bator but won't be adding any more. I've done the math and decided that I can invest in a cabinet style incubator with some bells and whistles for next year... or who knows, maybe they will go on sale some time this fall? I'm thinking the brinsea cabinet, not sure which one I want but definitely WITH the humidity pump. I will be breeding 2 kinds of chickens and will continue to increase my flock of geese and maybe add some new varieties of geese if I can get a little better results. Also next year I will start weighing the eggs so I can better assess the situation and hopefully trouble-shoot these problems.
Make sure that all the humidity tanks are full before "lockdown" and make sure your vents are properly set. Too much airflow can pull all of the moisture out of the incubator. What is your humidity OUTSIDE the incubator? If it is too dry that can be part of the problem. I have a friend that hatches in a dry climate he puts wet sponges near the bottom vents which raises the humidity of the air being sucked into the incubator. WARNING you must keep an eye on your humidity inside your incubator if you use this method since too much humidity can result in a small air cell and the goshlings 'drown' in the egg. Good Luck!
The trays were full, I had one extra jar of water and the paper towels. Sometimes I use cloth diapers and they seem to work even better than the paper towels. I also keep a small humidifier in there but it runs out in 9-12 hours.... I do believe the outside humidity is the culprit. Its not that its constantly low but instead that it fluctuates wildly. Might be 20% outside one day, 60 the next then 40... 80... and so forth. My luck is that it dropped into the 20s on day 29... grrr.... The humidifier ran out sooner than expected.
Well, I am done hatching for the year. I still have eggs in the bator but won't be adding any more. I've done the math and decided that I can invest in a cabinet style incubator with some bells and whistles for next year... or who knows, maybe they will go on sale some time this fall? I'm thinking the brinsea cabinet, not sure which one I want but definitely WITH the humidity pump. I will be breeding 2 kinds of chickens and will continue to increase my flock of geese and maybe add some new varieties of geese if I can get a little better results. Also next year I will start weighing the eggs so I can better assess the situation and hopefully trouble-shoot these problems.
