Am I doing it right?

[thomp119]

I have a home made still air incubator reading steady at 101.3 F and 55% humidity. Is that good? I am reading conflicting things online. Any input would help. Thanks

 

[kelseygirl707]

Quote:
Sounds good. I usually have my humidity at 45% for the first 18 days, but everybody has a different preference on humidity, you will just have to find what works for you.

Good Luck!

 

[babsbag]

I agree that you will find different ideas on the humidity. I ran mine at about 35 for the first 18 days and then up to 65-75 for lockdown. You temp is right on for a still air.

Make sure you have good ventilation as that is important. Also, when you candle the eggs compare them to pictures that you will find online and look at the size of the air cell. If your humidity is too high the air cell will be small and that is a problem when the chick pips.

Good luck with your hatch.

 

[thomp119]

I've read anything from 35% to 60% humidity in still air incubators. I would like to hear from others and what they use for their small hatches.

 

[My Little Sister's Farm]

99.5-100 F is optimal temp. If you spike to 102F for more than 2 hours it will kill all of your embryos, so if you're having a hard time with maintaining temp you may want to find a way to cool it down and keep it constant.

 

[thomp119]

I currently have 5 dime size holes for ventilization. Do I need more than that?

 

[babsbag]

I think that is probably enough for the ventilation. Did you think about putting a fan in your incubator? I ended up putting 2 in mine, one on the bottom, and one on the top and that evened my temps out a lot.

I have read on BYC where people have had temp spikes over 102 for short times, (measured in hours, though) and still had eggs make it. I think it depends a lot on the stage of incubation they are at.

When your humidity goes up your temps will go down, and vice versa. But the air temp changes faster than the internal air temps. I think you will be ok.