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Without a means to measure the CO2 levels inside of the incubator I would be really hesitant trying supplement what the egg normally produces. From the studies that I have read, anything over .05% starts to inhibit hatch rate and anything over 1% becomes lethal. Optimal levels are right at .04%. Outside air has a concentration of about .01%, so if you assume opening the bator returns its atmosphere back to ambient you would have to add .03% by volume to get back to the optimal level. In a 1 cubic foot incubator that would mean adding 5.184 cubic inches of CO2, something that would be hard to do without good instrumentation. That of course does not take into account what the eggs are continuously producing or what the air exchange rate is in each individual incubator.
Better off just leaving the thing closed.
Without a means to measure the CO2 levels inside of the incubator I would be really hesitant trying supplement what the egg normally produces. From the studies that I have read, anything over .05% starts to inhibit hatch rate and anything over 1% becomes lethal. Optimal levels are right at .04%. Outside air has a concentration of about .01%, so if you assume opening the bator returns its atmosphere back to ambient you would have to add .03% by volume to get back to the optimal level. In a 1 cubic foot incubator that would mean adding 5.184 cubic inches of CO2, something that would be hard to do without good instrumentation. That of course does not take into account what the eggs are continuously producing or what the air exchange rate is in each individual incubator.
Better off just leaving the thing closed.
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