Frustrated with incubator

[txredneckmedic]

IDK whats going on...all of a sudden the weather changes a lil and I cant keep my humidity stable. Letting my bator dry out tonight and try a small container tommorrow evening. I think im just gonna get rid of 2 of my BSL's and get 2 buff orpington chicks.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

When you say out of wack, what do you mean? Because there is a wide range of acceptable percentages.

Is your incubator in a stable room? Otherwise, there might be your problem.

Also, you could invest in a humidistat. Look up the Confederate Money Farm; there is a cheap way to make a humidistat, like a thermostat, except for the humidity.

Let me know!!!

 

[txredneckmedic]

Ive got a humidity guage and my humidity keeps going up to like 70% lately. Im just tired of fighting with it.

 

[monita]

just wanted to say i am sorry you are having such a hard time and i hope everything gets better for you ***HUGS***

 

[Akane]

Humidity isn't that important until right around hatching time. If it sits at 70% for a day it will do no harm. If it runs dry and sits at 20% for a day it will do no harm. The importance of humidity during incubation is that over the weeks leading up to hatching the egg needs to lose so much moisture without losing too much. The loss of moisture makes the air sac and room for the chick to grow. However water isn't going to be lost or gained quickly so it only really matters what the humidity is over several days. If it's running 70% with any water in it then you can probably run it dry and keep a high enough humidity. I try to keep mine between 40-50% most of the time. When I first refill everything or if we get a heavy rainstorm it will go up for a day and if we don't get much rain and I forget to refill it then it may run low for a day or 2. In the end it averages out to the right amount of moisture loss.

Now during hatching time you need the humidity to stay in a narrower range. That's when humidity becomes very important. It needs to be wet enough to keep the membrane from drying out so the chicks can hatch but not with excess moisture collecting in the egg and drowning the chick.

Before you assume the incubator is having trouble and start messing with things make sure your hygrometer is accurate.
http://exoticpets.about.com/od/herpresources/ss/hygrometer.htm
Many digital hygrometer don't have the option to calibrate them so you just have to write down how much it's off and add or subtract every time.

 

[toxo]

Quote:
Although i've just built a larger incubator (check my BYC page), my daughter gave me a Brinsea Octagon 10. I decided to check that all was well so I put it in what I call the utility room (washing machine/dryer/freezer) It's also where the back door to the garden is. The temperature held fine but the swing in humidity was awesome. OK ish when good weather, went up a lot when it rained for couple of days, then I hung some washing to dry and it skyrocketed. When I run it for real I won't be keeping it in the utility room.

 

[txredneckmedic]

Im gonna try a small dish of water in it tonight....but probably still get the other hens