Day 18 - humidity??

[Red]

We borrowed this incubator off a friend of my dad's. I think it's a Brinsea Octagon 20 MKIII ?!?!? That's what it says on the front of the instruction manual thingy anyway...

The incubator doesn't have anything to measure humidity with, which has has me worried for the last 18 days, but we've just been filling the trenches like the instructions say. I've just read the manual again because i've heard you're supposed to raise humidity for the last three days - is that right? Well the incubator doesn't say anything about raising humidity on day 18, it says you should fill both water trenches after the first pip...

This would involve opening the 'bator and faffing about with the water...can this be right? I thought it was crucial you DON'T open the 'bator after the first pip??

Sorry for the long post. I'm lost here, any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[scgamecock]

Get a meter at TSC for $3.

 

[Red]

You can BUY something to measure humidity?? I thought the incubator had to come with it built in...now i feel really stupid

We're from the UK, but we could probably buy something from a pet shop. It's coming to the end of day 18 though so maybe too late to add something now...maybe we should just add more water and then leave 'em to it??

This is our first hatch with an incubator, so we had no idea what we were doing. The temp has been stable, eggs turned at least 3 times a day, and followed instructions for humidity. This is the only time i'm thinking twice about following the instructions. I sure hope some chicks make it, i'm so nervous...

How do you all put up with this? :|

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Its ok to open your bator on day 18 thats when you would stop your turning anyway, if you can find a hygrometer fine if not its still ok......fill the troughs full with water and you should be ok...next time find yourself a hygrometer to measure your humidity levels...

day 1 thru 18, 40 to 50%
day 19 thru 21 get your humidity to 60 to 70%

Some people get it higher even to 75 to 80%...just whatever works best in your home with your hatch....

 

[MissPrissy]

I believe those have a wet bulb reading. Look and see if you have what looks like 2 thermometers on that thing. One may have cotton swabbing around the bottom tip.

 

[Red]

MissPrissy, i don't *think* i can see anything like that. It's just a normal thermometer and only goes up to 40*c. I'd feel even more stupid if it'd been able to measure humidity all along...

I can't believe i didn't realise you could buy something to measure humidity, now the pet shops will be shut

I don't know if i could stand hatching eggs in an incubator again. We only ended up with these eggs by accident, because the guy who was supposed to hatch them is on holiday so he asked us as we already have adult chickens, we didn't realise how difficult it would be...

We'll fill the water tonight and just hope for the best... *crosses fingers* I'll keep this thread updated if anything happens in the next few days and if any of the eggs hatch, i'll definitely post pics

Thanks for the help everyone, i'm very grateful

 

[MissPrissy]

here is a thought -

read the dry hatch method

https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html