Hi.... this is my first hatch. I just stopped turning the eggs and took them out of the egg turner. I have a hovabator 2362 with circulated air. I filled up the water trays like it said. Then water drops started to form on the window. Will I drown the eggs? Also, when I took the eggs out of the turner, I put in a wet dishrag next to the eggs. as well as filled to trays. I do not want the chicks to die in the membrane or to drown either. Also, where do I put the thermomator so it will not be on the eggs but give an accurate temprature? Please help!
I'm a duck and goose person, have never hatched chickens before but if there is moisture condensing on the windows of your bator, your humidity is probably too high. Too high of humidity can cause the chicks to drown. If your incubator has air plugs, try removing one or two of them to let some of the moisture out. Once the chicks start hatching, the moisture inside the eggs will cause the humidity to jump up even higher. As for the thermometer, I'm not sure about. Someone on here will likely have a better answer for you than I. Good Luck with your hatch.
Your right you have too much humidity going on, removed a vent plug or two. Even take the dishrag back out if that helps, til you see if that brought it down. I use a 60 to 70% range. It won't matter what the temp is if your on the last 3 days it shouldn't be brought up now anyway. Humidity is what you worry about. I keep my thermometer/hygrometer on the back side of the bator setting up and facing the front. It's out of the way of the eggs and I can still read it's accuracy.
