DIY Incubator, Humidity

[abbinator3000]

So I've just finished puthing together this snazzy incubator

and the temperature is stabilizing nicely. My only issue is humidity. I've got my little tray of water in there, but can't get humidity lower than 79 %. Yikes. Anyone have any sggestions on how to help regulate it? Thanks!

 

[Pyxis]

You'll have to do a smaller tray or poke more ventilation holes, or both. It's surface area that determines humidity, so try to find something that has less surface area. It can be as deep as you want.

 

[Dcat]

HHmm, first what have you tried so far? do you have any ventilation holes in the incubator? Put a cloth in the tray to soak up some water and slow down the process of humidity, too much water in tray? It's possible you wont need a lot of water in the tray. My still air used much less water than my forced air, of course I still have to plug up some of the too many holes I have in it to help keep my humidity higher for longer periods of time. I'm getting some small tubing to put through a hole and into the water bowl so I don't have to lift the lid during lockdown.

 

[abbinator3000]

I completely forgot about ventilation holes! I'll put a few in and take a bit of the water out and see how that goes.

 

[Dcat]

Like Pyxis said about surface area on your tray, you might need to get a smaller tray so you have less surface area. How did it go so far?

 

[abbinator3000]

I put a damp cloth in the little tray instead of water, and that brought the humidity down to about 70% so far. When I get home tonight, I'll put a smaller tray in there with less surface area and see what that does.

 

[abbinator3000]

Ok so I've put three ventilation holes on either side of the incubator, for a total of six dime sized holes. I can tape them over if needed. I've also replaced the tray with one that covers less surface area, and we'll see what that does in an hour or two.

 

[darkbluespace]

If humidity is that high, you might want to take the water out all together. The eggs themselves create humidity and for my hatches it is usually enough. I generally just add water on day 18.

I made my incubators also!

 

[abbinator3000]

I've got humidity down to 52% and temp is at 99 degrees Fahrenheit even. Once the eggs are in how much do you think humidity will increase?

 

[darkbluespace]

I like to have mine around 30%... that is what it stays around with just eggs and no water. When humidity is higher for me, hatching doesn't go as well.