Help! Humidity keeps going down.

[Bradfordj]

Duh me... lol... 50% humidity... of course

I have eggs in the hatcher right now. Filled #1, @2 and  a small center 'bowl'

Can not keep the humidity up for the life of me. When the hatcher was empty for days, those water wells  filled with water kept the humidity at 60%

It keeps dropping down to 50% 
I am adding water through the vent hole  at least 3 times a day to keep the humidity up.

Do you need high humidity? If so you can try putting wet sponges or warmer water. The more surface area of water or porous material like sponges really help if you need it. Warmer water evaporates quicker so it will help as well.

 

[WalnutHill]

Duh me... lol... 50% humidity... of course

I have eggs in the hatcher right now. Filled #1, @2 and a small center 'bowl'

Can not keep the humidity up for the life of me. When the hatcher was empty for days, those water wells filled with water kept the humidity at 60%

It keeps dropping down to 50%
I am adding water through the vent hole at least 3 times a day to keep the humidity up.

No condensation on the incubator windows? No moisture to be felt on the incubator walls? No dampness on the shells?

With that much surface area, your humidity should be much higher, especially with respirating eggs. Unless the eggs are so dry they are sucking it up, or your incubator allows a lot of air infiltration.

I am going into hatch at 45%, simply because that is the amount of humidity that feels "right". It's moist but not soggy. My incubation humidity ranged from 25-55%, averaging 40% over the course of incubation. Air cell progression was right on target, at lockdown the air cells were just slightly more advanced than the 14 day image, and within a day advanced to hatch-ready state.

While you don't want your incubator to be a desert, you also don't want a swamp. I'm expecting my first pips tomorrow with hatch on Monday.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Duh me... lol... 50% humidity... of course

I have eggs in the hatcher right now. Filled #1, @2 and a small center 'bowl'

Can not keep the humidity up for the life of me. When the hatcher was empty for days, those water wells filled with water kept the humidity at 60%

It keeps dropping down to 50%
I am adding water through the vent hole at least 3 times a day to keep the humidity up.

With that much water it should be well above 50%. Have you checked your hygrometer for accuracy If it really is a true reading you can add a couple wet sponges to the bator, but I'd sooner think the hygrometer is off unless Illinoise is a very dry state??

 

[AmyLynn2374]

No condensation on the incubator windows? No moisture to be felt on the incubator walls? No dampness on the shells?

With that much surface area, your humidity should be much higher, especially with respirating eggs. Unless the eggs are so dry they are sucking it up, or your incubator allows a lot of air infiltration.

I am going into hatch at 45%, simply because that is the amount of humidity that feels "right". It's moist but not soggy. My incubation humidity ranged from 25-55%, averaging 40% over the course of incubation. Air cell progression was right on target, at lockdown the air cells were just slightly more advanced than the 14 day image, and within a day advanced to hatch-ready state.

While you don't want your incubator to be a desert, you also don't want a swamp. I'm expecting my first pips tomorrow with hatch on Monday.

Do you always go into hatch at 45%?? I use 75% and am very happy with that, I can't imagine being that low at hatch.

 

[WalnutHill]

No, with this incubator I need to find the optimal humidity. I've gone up to 47% now that the first two have pipped, and will likely climb it up to 60.

I've had really poor results with humidity over 65%, especially when the incubator humidity and temp are very different than ambient temperature.

I just found one of the 4" holes in the recycled foam sheathing was wide open. I've closed it most of the way so humidity should climb quite rapidly.

 

[WalnutHill]

9 minutes later it's at 63%. This is a very responsive incubator considering it is 16 cubic feet.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

No, with this incubator I need to find the optimal humidity. I've gone up to 47% now that the first two have pipped, and will likely climb it up to 60.

I've had really poor results with humidity over 65%, especially when the incubator humidity and temp are very different than ambient temperature.

I just found one of the 4" holes in the recycled foam sheathing was wide open. I've closed it most of the way so humidity should climb quite rapidly.

That's another thing, I feel, people don't take into consideration when they swear that their way is the best way- the difference in the incubators. I think there's a bigger difference in hatching with the styro bators than is realized. Especially where humidity is concerned.

 

[WalnutHill]

Absolutely. My foam incubators reminded me of a pair of soggy shoes. They just seemed swampy. With this incubator, if I pull the top plug, the air is moist but it's also fresh, more like being in an indoor pool atrium than in a closed up camping tent.

Humidity is up to 66% and climbing, time to open vents.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Absolutely. My foam incubators reminded me of a pair of soggy shoes. They just seemed swampy. With this incubator, if I pull the top plug, the air is moist but it's also fresh, more like being in an indoor pool atrium than in a closed up camping tent.

Humidity is up to 66% and climbing, time to open vents.

I don't get that feeling with mine. I guess the fan is adequate enough to keep it from being stale and wet. Not adequate enough however to keep the temps even throughout the bator.

 

[WalnutHill]

I don't get that feeling with mine. I guess the fan is adequate enough to keep it from being stale and wet. Not adequate enough however to keep the temps even throughout the bator.

I had fans in both my LGs. I ran them on wire rack shelving for good ventilation. I may in the future use them as hatchers because they do retain moisture so well, but I don't like using them for the entire incubation period. This new homemade incubator is pretty much plug and play, once I get the operating profiles down (changing the temp and humidity settings at day 19 or 20) then I will just set it and forget it.

Ha. I peek at the webcam every 10 minutes anyhow.