HELP!!!!! 1st time hatching turkey eggs

[AmyLynn2374]

Granted I don't have an excessive amount of experience incubating in the styrofoam incubators I do have one that is used mostly for small hatches and on occasion incubation too and I don't find it to run any different as far as the environment goes. An egg incubating at 50% rh @ 99.5° knows not if its in a cabinet or a styrofoam incubator I'd think. Can you further elaborate on what the difference is??

Why is 50F in the summer cold but 50F in the winter is warm? Why can I run my bigger styro bator at 75-80% with no condensation but many hatchers with a mini or cooler bator will have swamp like conditions at the same percentages?

Don't get me wrong, it's a good question, I've pondered it myself and have never found a solid answer. I believe it has something to do with the material the incubators are made from and or the amount of space. I can't tell you the science behind it and not going to pretend I know. But I know this: the few people I know that use cabinet incubators tend to run humidity in the 50's for successful hatches, and don't have as much success with lower humidity methods. More than 90% of regular styro bator hatchers that I know (which is a lot greater than cabinet granted,) have found greater success (except in the cases of high altitude) with a low humidity method after having very bad hatches with the bator recommendations of 50% or higher. For some reason in a big majority of the cases I've seen 45%+ in the styro bators prevents the eggs from loosing the amount of moisture it needs to. Could it be the air in the smaller area at 50% is more dense than a larger area at 50% preventing the moisture from being drawn out? I would assume that if you were enclosed in a small area at 50% (with the same equivelant air circulation,)that it would still be harder or feel different breathing than in a bigger area at the same humidity level. I know the smaller the bator the less humidity it takes to produce condensation. Also I have to question, say your cabinet incubator is made of wood, does the wood draw in some of the moisture from the air? It would still attribute to the humidity, but the moisture would be in the material and not in the air? Styro bators don't absorb moisture, it hangs in the air.

I honestly don't know the exact whys. I just know from what I have noted, for some reason, the differences in bators do make a difference as to what will work for you versus what might work for others.

 

[JetCat]

Why is 50F in the summer cold but 50F in the winter is warm?

the answer is: humidity humidity humidity. haven't you ever been to Arizona? 110° isn't so bad because It's a dry heat!

but inside the incubator we're talking the same temp and same humidity and a humidity of 60% in a Styrofoam incubator is exactly the same if it was in any other type, 60% is 60%, it's a measurement of moisture in the air and there's no difference, that's scientific fact.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

the answer is: humidity humidity humidity. haven't you ever been to Arizona? 110° isn't so bad because It's a dry heat!

but inside the incubator we're talking the same temp and same humidity and a humidity of 60% in a Styrofoam incubator is exactly the same if it was in any other type, 60% is 60%, it's a measurement of moisture in the air and there's no difference, that's scientific fact.

Humidity has different effects in different incubators. Regardless of the why, you find what works for you and you use it.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Humidity is the amount of water (reletive to) what the air can hold, so in a bigger enclosed environment 50% is going to be different than 50% in a smaller enclosed environment. There is more air per space. 50% of a cup is going to be different than 50% of a half cup.

 

[JetCat]

Humidity is the amount of water the air can hold, so in a bigger enclosed environment 50% is going to be different than 50% in a smaller enclosed environment. There is more air per space. 50% of a cup is going to be different than 50% of a half cup.

actually the amount of water air can hold is it's dew point.

for someone with the title of 'Humidity Queen' you really don't have a very good understanding of humidity. again, 50% is 50%, it doens't matter if it's inside a 1 cu/ft space or a 5 gazillion cubic mile space. if you took the same volume of air from either environment they'd have EXACTLY the same amount of water in them!!! your cups with liquid water have NOTHING at all to do with humidity, that's apples and oranges.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

actually the amount of water air can hold is it's dew point.

for someone with the title of 'Humidity Queen' you really don't have a very good understanding of humidity. again, 50% is 50%, it doens't matter if it's inside a 1 cu/ft space or a 5 gazillion cubic mile space. if you took the same volume of air from either environment they'd have EXACTLY the same amount of water in them!!! your cups with liquid water have NOTHING at all to do with humidity, that's apples and oranges.

Really? You want to make it personal? For one the title is in reference to a personal joke. And I understand it fine.
amount of water vapor in the air relative to what the air can hold.

The air can only hold so much water. How much of that water vapor that is in the air is the humidity. The air can hold an x amount of water if you have 50% humidity the air is holding half of what it can hold.

If you have a 1/2 gallon jug empty except the air that is in it and a full gallon jug empty the gallon jug is going to have more air. It has more space. For the air to hold 50% humidity you are going to have more moisture to get to that 50% than in the smaller jug. While both containers are at 50% humidity it's going to take more moisture to get there in a bigger space.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-humidity-definition-measurements-effects.html

 

[JetCat]

And each little cubic inch in either will have the same. It makes absolutely no difference the size it's equally dispersed.

The air around each egg regardless of incubator type or size will be the same!!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

And each little cubic inch in either will have the same. It makes absolutely no difference the size it's equally dispersed.

The air around each egg regardless of incubator type or size will be the same!!

OMG!!! Really???
You really think the same amount of water in a big old cabinet incubator is going to give you the same amount of humidity as it will in a styro bator??? Each little cubic inch will have the same and you will have more little cubic inches in a bigger bator!!!!!!!!!!

I'm done with you!!!! Enough already!!!! Go away.

 

[JetCat]

OMG!!! Really???
You really think the same amount of water in a big old cabinet incubator is going to give you the same amount of humidity as it will in a styro bator??? Each little cubic inch will have the same and you will have more little cubic inches in a bigger bator!!!!!!!!!!

I'm done with you!!!! Enough already!!!! Go away.

here i'll try my best to type this in a way you can understand. if you have a styroform incubator that is at exactly 100 degrees and 60% relative humidity and you extract EXACTLY 1 cubic foot of air from it and remove all the moisture from that cubic foot of air, you'll get the EXACT same amount of water you would if you took a cubic foot of air out of an incubator 6 million cubic feet in size that was at exactly 100 degree and 60% relative humidity. just because YOU can't understand that doesn't change how the rest of the world works.

your way of thinking on this would mean that it's less wet at the bottom of a glass full of water then it is at the bottom of a pool full of water because the pool is larger.............nope, it's just as wet at the bottom of both.

 

[WalnutHill]

While 50% is 50% and 99.5F is 99.5F regardless of volume, several factors DO impact incubation conditions.

Air flow. With a large amount of fresh air exchange, more water will be taken up to maintain the same humidity. Warm, moist air will exit the incubator and cool, drier air will enter (assuming that you don't live in a tropical climate). Foam incubators, even forced air, do not have as much air exchange as the typical cabinet incubator. I can run my cabinet for months on end and it still smells clean and fresh (I don't hatch in it) yet when I ran foam incubators, I had to let them air out between sets or they'd smell like old socks.

Temperature gradients. In my GQF cabinet, the lowest shelf is the coolest, the upper shelf is the warmest. Relative humidity of the incubator as a whole doesn't vary too much nor does temperature. But locally, there will be a cooler, drier spot in front of the air vent. Temperature gradients in the foam coolers were more dramatic, with as much as 3-4F from the top of the egg to the bottom of the egg.

Condensation. Can be an issue in any incubator, but the more air circulation the less likely it is to happen even at the same average relative humidity. Condensation indicates dead air spots. A little fog in the corners isn't significant, but droplets show humidity is a bit high or room temps are a bit low.

At hatch I drop temp and raise humidity. Temp decrease is only a degree or so, and the humidity increase depends on air circulation. In the cabinet I kick it up with a humidity pad and in the Eco 20 I just add water and a blotter pad to the channels. In the tabletop redwood I needed every sponge I own.

All this says is know your own incubator and the conditions the eggs need for artificial incubation and hatching.

After a few years of practice I get 100% of turkey eggs that make it to day 10 to hatch nearly every set. My challenge has been fertility.