Hard Water in incubator

[mstricer]

I have a question for those who have hard water. Do you use your tap or bottled water? I have not been having good hatches lately and have noticed white sodium rings in the dog bowls, do you think that could have an effect on my hatches?
Michele

 

[mstricer]

Am I the only one with yucky well water?

 

[GonzoChickenLady]

I got a relatively cheap (like $160) reverse osmosis machine that I can hook up to my garden hose to generate pure water for us & the chickens to drink. I ran a test on our tap water & was horrified to see that it has 505 ppm (parts per million) of gosh knows what. The EPA doesnt recommend drinking anything above 500 ppm. I'm in southern California so it's probably pesticides. The pH of the water here is also really high, like almost 8.6. Terrible!

Anyway, I've been using the RO water in the incubator as well. There are a variety of RO machines out there & I'm sure you'll be able to find one that suits your purpose. The only problem with them is that they waste seven drops of water for each drop of pure water generated. I like to conserve so I hooked mine up so the waste water would drain into a garden bed.

 

[TwoRiversPoultry]

No,
I don't think hard water is the issue, I'm on HHHHHard well water and run 90 to 100% hatches, although you have to clean the deposits out of the water trays from time to time but humidity amount is not affected by hard water.

need more info like - where is your incubator setup? what model is it? what temp and humidity are running it? and how do you take the temp reading?

 

[mstricer]

Humidity isn't a problem, I'm wondering if the salt can some how absorb through the egg and effect the chick. I am doing a test on this hatch and using only bottled water to see if there is a difference. Oh, I clean out the water tray every hatch and replace it every 6 months if using a lot. They cost a little over 9$ at Meyer hatchery

 

[ILOVELEGHORNS]

I have hard water and excellent hatch rate.

 

[mstricer]

Well that answers that question thanks everyone. I just stink at hatching. but could be shipped eggs also. I have both in bator now mine and shipped. See how it goes.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
Oh I saw your name, i thought you would like to see the pic of the beautiful leghorn rooster from the Ohio National Show

 

[reereechickens]

I have well water and I don't know for sure if the water is hard. But I have converted to bottled water and my hatch rate has gone up! I also made other changes so it could be something else. Look on My BYC page to see if you can related to anything?

 

[MamaMarcy]

We're on well water with sulfer smell...

the minerals/salt should stay behind when the water evaporates.

I have the dreaded LG bator (which I actually like just fine except my cata keeps eating bits of styrofoam))