Fixing Incubator Humidity

[baby-blue]

Hello! I just got a new but used incubator for 112 eggs. No, I am not planning on hatching that many - I would be overrun by the fluffy nuggets if I tried. I can’t seem to get the humidity lower than 75% - which is way too high, especially for south florida. The incubator has a large trough in the bottom that I initially used to hold the water but the humidity was around 90% on the lower shelf and 80% on the top shelf. So I put four plates in and barely put any water on them - still 75% humidity on the top and higher on the bottom. I’m not sure what else I could/should use to get the humidity lower but still appropriate. Any ideas are welcome! Also if anybody knows how to reset the settings on this type of incubator, please let me know, haha. It came with no instructions and Ive been doing my best to work with the settings that it’s preset at.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I’m not sure what else I could/should use to get the humidity lower but still appropriate.

Hi there.

Living at the coast in the Pacific Northwest makes for decent humidity. I run my bators COMPLETELY dry which often puts them around 30%. when it isn't raining.

Run your bator dry for a while before adding any water at all and see where it lands... Usually a bit lower than your ambient indoor humidity, which in my house is also a tad lower than the outside ambient humidity. I personally hate those bators... but work with ya got! I had one similar in design, but maybe not exact. Take your top deck off and use only the bottom tray for now since you said you don't need to hatch that many yet. Please don't use this to incubate expensive eggs right away. Try cheap ones first! Anyways, make sure any vent holes are open and not plugged. Do you happen to have the styrofoam that came with it? If not, decide on another way to insulate it some, making sure not to block the air holes.

Have you calibrated your hygrometer? Or are you able to?

You usually have to hold the buttons down a few seconds before anything changes, I think when changing settings in order to protect them from being changed by a bump. And mode should switch between the setting with one of the red lights showing what it's indicating now. But do you have a model number or name anywhere? Is where the setting started when you first plugged it in?

Worst comes to worst... I have heard of folks adding dry rice. What type of eggs are you thinking about hatching?

Hope my tips help get ya started.

 

[baby-blue]

Hi there.

Living at the coast in the Pacific Northwest makes for decent humidity. I run my bators COMPLETELY dry which often puts them around 30%. when it isn't raining.

Run your bator dry for a while before adding any water at all and see where it lands... Usually a bit lower than your ambient indoor humidity, which in my house is also a tad lower than the outside ambient humidity. I personally hate those bators... but work with ya got! I had one similar in design, but maybe not exact. Take your top deck off and use only the bottom tray for now since you said you don't need to hatch that many yet. Please don't use this to incubate expensive eggs right away. Try cheap ones first! Anyways, make sure any vent holes are open and not plugged. Do you happen to have the styrofoam that came with it? If not, decide on another way to insulate it some, making sure not to block the air holes.

Have you calibrated your hygrometer? Or are you able to?

You usually have to hold the buttons down a few seconds before anything changes, I think when changing settings in order to protect them from being changed by a bump. And mode should switch between the setting with one of the red lights showing what it's indicating now. But do you have a model number or name anywhere? Is where the setting started when you first plugged it in?

Worst comes to worst... I have heard of folks adding dry rice. What type of eggs are you thinking about hatching?

Hope my tips help get ya started.

Thank you so much! I’ll head out and take out the sponge that I added and see where it lands then. I’m only doing cheapie eggs to start out. Some of my own serama x silkie, a few mutts, and a few of my neighbor’s extra eggs. It should be an interesting turn out! I’m hoping to do showgirls, silkies, seramas, and guineas after I test my hand at this kind of incubator. It definitely wasn’t my first choice in incubators but it was all that I could find - and, unfortunately, I can’t afford a Brinsea. I’ve hatched out of a smaller Brinsea before but I’m hoping to hatch more out this time since some in my local chicken community are looking for more of my backyard mutts.

 

[baby-blue]

I just checked it after taking the sponge out about 30min ago and the humidity is 51% on the top, 63% on the bottom. Is this okay? I usually have it at 58-62% for my smaller bators but not sure if this one being larger would affect that at all.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I just checked it after taking the sponge out about 30min ago and the humidity is 51% on the top, 63% on the bottom. Is this okay? I usually have it at 58-62% for my smaller bators but not sure if this one being larger would affect that at all.

I suggest removing the top level and only using one level for your first try.

If and when you use both levels... you can see there will be a difference between top and bottom development... So I moved the eggs to a new spot in the bator daily to help keep development equal. I would suspect that in addition to being a lower humidity up top it also a higher temp than down below.

Honestly I consider your normal 58-62% as generally high for standard incubation... but if your hatch rates are good then maybe it's fine. Humidity doesn't have to be exact... too high humidity the air cell won't grow as much and the chick could grow to big to turn and get into position to hatch, so possibly a malposition. The other concern about high humidity during incubation is if the air cell doesn't grow enough, they can drown at pip. Since discovering "dry incubation" that's my preferred method... between 35-45%.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...h-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method.47694/

 

[baby-blue]

I suggest removing the top level and only using one level for your first try.

If and when you use both levels... you can see there will be a difference between top and bottom development... So I moved the eggs to a new spot in the bator daily to help keep development equal. I would suspect that in addition to being a lower humidity up top it also a higher temp than down below.

Honestly I consider your normal 58-62% as generally high for standard incubation... but if your hatch rates are good then maybe it's fine. Humidity doesn't have to be exact... too high humidity the air cell won't grow as much and the chick could grow to big to turn and get into position to hatch, so possibly a malposition. The other concern about high humidity during incubation is if the air cell doesn't grow enough, they can drown at pip. Since discovering "dry incubation" that's my preferred method... between 35-45%.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...h-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method.47694/

It was at 30% on the top this morning, 45% on the bottom. I’m considering doing both racks since I’ll be getting duck eggs as well and they need higher humidity anyways.