Duck hatched in incubator should I move?

[MGG]

We are incubating for the first time this year. We had planned to bring ducks onto the farm, but with avian influenza, we decided to hatch our own instead.

We have the Nurture Right 360 Incubator (new), and based on the advice of others, we added shelf liner.

We started the incubator about 24 hours ago (no eggs), and it held steady at 99.5F and between 58 and 61% humidity until we added the shelf liner. Once we added the shelf liner, the humidity dropped. Obviously it dropped because we had the lid off, but it did not return to where it had been. An hour after the shelf liner went in, it was at 54% and kept dropping. By this morning it was at 47%. I closed the vent from half open to a quarter open, and the humidity is climbing again, but an hour later, it was only at 50%.

So....my question: Does the shelf liner affect humidity in your experience? The incubator is in a bathroom that is steady at 68F ambient. There is a window, but we have the blinds down. We are in the northeastern US. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We have eggs ready to go, and we'd like to get started!

I don't think it would affect it very much. It never has for me.
The humidity ranges you're mentioning also sound right to me, I wouldn't go any higher than 50% with duck eggs, and not lower than 30%. Anything in between is fine.
Also beware that as soon as you set the eggs it'll mess with the temp and humidity too, at least until they get to the same temperature as the incubator. Don't go crazy changing settings, the fluctuation is normal. Just wait an hour or two and see if they even out.

 

[MGG]

I don’t know if the shelf liner would affect the humidity but the shelf liner doesn’t need to be added until lock down. It does nothing for the eggs it only helps the ducks or whatever you’re hatching.

It's actually better to add it at the beginning with the NR, it helps the eggs not be jolted so much when they auto turner turns them.
And it keeps them from rotating incorrectly and getting stuck in weird positions, like upright.

 

[3bird]

I don't think it would affect it very much. It never has for me.
The humidity ranges you're mentioning also sound right to me, I wouldn't go any higher than 50% with duck eggs, and not lower than 30%. Anything in between is fine.
Also beware that as soon as you set the eggs it'll mess with the temp and humidity too, at least until they get to the same temperature as the incubator. Don't go crazy changing settings, the fluctuation is normal. Just wait an hour or two and see if they even out.

Thank you so much!

We were instructed to aim for 55% humidity and then 65% at lock down, but you're saying to keep it between 30% and 50%? What about at lockdown?

Thanks again!

 

[BabyGotQuack]

It's actually better to add it at the beginning with the NR, it helps the eggs not be jolted so much when they auto turner turns them.
And it keeps them from rotating incorrectly and getting stuck in weird positions, like upright.

I think it depends on the incubator. I wouldn’t even be able to add a shelf liner with my auto turner. I’ve also never had issues with my auto turner doing wonky things like that.

 

[MGG]

Thank you so much!

We were instructed to aim for 55% humidity and then 65% at lock down, but you're saying to keep it between 30% and 50%? What about at lockdown?

Thanks again!

No problem! Yep, that is the perfect range, in my opinion.
At lockdown up it to 65%, and then to 75% when you get the first external pip.
I do ziptie the corners of the shelf liner down to the tray too so it can't bunch up.

 

[3bird]

No problem! Yep, that is the perfect range, in my opinion.
At lockdown up it to 65%, and then to 75% when you get the first external pip.
I do ziptie the corners of the shelf liner down to the tray too so it can't bunch up.

Great advice! Thank you.