Can’t get humidity up

[Beakrr]

Lyon tx6
Temp is fine
I can’t get the humidity above 40ish. I have a wet bulb with a wick that I didn’t trust so I bought a hygrometer with an external probe. I ran this probe under the rim of the incubator dome and have it “floating” in the middle of the incubator out of line of the circulating air. The reading on the wet bulb lines up with the digital reading. I’m worried about lockdown in 10 more days and not being able to get above 70% humidity. I’ve added more water obviously. A lot more. It hasn’t rained here in 6 days. Could the in-home humidity be affecting the incubator even though it’s a sealed environment?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[JaeG]

Yes, the ambient humidity will affect your incubators ability to keep the humidity at a certain level. People that run air conditioning often need to use a humidifier in the room the incubator is in, especially during lock down. Humidity needs surface area rather than volume. The larger the surface area exposed to air the higher the humidity will be. Can you increase the surface area by using sponges that are half in/half out of the water well?

Don't forget to open your vents at lock down - those babies need lots of fresh air. Which makes being able to increase the humidity doubly important.

I'd calibrate your hygrometer just to be sure it's accurate. Here are some instructions on how to do that:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/calibrating-hygrometer.50678/

 

[Beakrr]

I’m not sure how to get sponges half in/half out with all the wire mesh that’s in the bottom. What do you recommend?

 

[Lins_BE]

I just put a wrinkled up wet towel in there during lockdown and do upen up once or twice a day to get anotjer one in there to get humidity up. Worked fine so far.

 

[littlepip]

incubation is SUPER stressful. I agree with @JaeG. Also make sure the humidity is adjusted after the vents are open. opening the vents causes the incubator to lose humidity. I had a few cases of too little humidity, causing one of our babies to get stuck in the egg with it's membrane dried around it, and we had to do a rescue hatch. Humidity is very important!
make sure to post some pictures of the babies when they hatch! GOOD LUCK!