Just ignore the hygrometers (which may be inaccurate anyway.. most are) and monitor air cells
The air cells will tell you if your humidity is too high or too low.. then you can adjust things as needed
(the numbers in the diagrams indicate the day of incubation)
even if you calibrate the hygrometers they can change from hatch to hatch.. so if it was right last time it may very well be off this time
So what I do is incubate dry.. monitor air cells.. and IF the air cells start to increase in size too quickly.. THEN I add water
Otherwise I just let the incubator run dry
Also remember that at hatch the vents should remain OPEN (regardless of what any instruction manual tells you).. do NOT close the vents to try to increase humidity. The hatching chick needs more air exchange (oxygen) than a newly set egg.. closing the vent restricts the amount of air they can get and many times the chicks will die due to lack of oxygen (carbon dioxide poisoning).
IFyou need to increase humidity at hatch increase the surface area of the water (wet sponges and so on)
The air cells will tell you if your humidity is too high or too low.. then you can adjust things as needed
(the numbers in the diagrams indicate the day of incubation)
even if you calibrate the hygrometers they can change from hatch to hatch.. so if it was right last time it may very well be off this time
So what I do is incubate dry.. monitor air cells.. and IF the air cells start to increase in size too quickly.. THEN I add water
Otherwise I just let the incubator run dry
Also remember that at hatch the vents should remain OPEN (regardless of what any instruction manual tells you).. do NOT close the vents to try to increase humidity. The hatching chick needs more air exchange (oxygen) than a newly set egg.. closing the vent restricts the amount of air they can get and many times the chicks will die due to lack of oxygen (carbon dioxide poisoning).
IFyou need to increase humidity at hatch increase the surface area of the water (wet sponges and so on)
