how do I increase humidity?

[they'reHISchickens]

I am on lockdown with my first hatch in a still air LG. Humidity had been running in the low 30s with *some* water in the wells and i thought "ok... so it's a dry incubation." I wet some 3x4 sponges and put 2 of them in at lockdown yesterday and even with those, I cant' get the humidity up above 50%. I've started a humidifier in the small laundry room that the incubator has been in the whole time. No change. The wells are full, the sponges are wet and yet there is no condensation on the windows and the hygrometer reads 50.
Suggestions?
This hatch may be a bust anyway because I've only seen a couple positive eggs for sure. I'm basing all my observations on 2 white eggs that I can actually SEE to candle and am optimistic only on one of those
. The rest are EEs and I am not seeing anything I can be certain of in them. The blue eggs are more opaque than the olive ones.
I've decided that each batch I incubate should have a few white eggs in it as reference samples!
I started these three weeks ago this time. Where is the peeping?!?!?!?

 

[RedfogsFlock]

We put a thick washcloth in ours right under the vent hole this way we can add water to it when needed. BUT make sure your bator is on something water proof in case water leaks out the bottom, cuz ours did! A sponge in a shallow bowl. You must make sure the sponge takes up enough of the bowl though so that the babies don't fall into the bowl and get stuck, or just put a sponge on a washcloth!
We're hatching ducks and got our humidity up to 80% that way! Hope it helps

 

[they'reHISchickens]

Thanks! I already found out about the leakage
AM report: ... I have a pip and almost a zip! However it IS in the only egg I was definitely sure was alive- a white! I have no idea if any of my blue/green/olive eggs are active. it is actively bouncing and peeping and the dog is wondering what's going on

Humidity still at 49%. Wells look full. I'll pour more water onto the sponges outside the wells.

 

[darlin_dar]

I have been reading a lot about my babies.. to raise the humidity, it is not the amount of water but the size of space used.. a pizza pan thinly covered worked wonders for me in my old bator when I needed it up. My new bator has about the same size coverage.. sponges did not work well as they were too small..

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Did you check your hygrometer before you started to make sure it was accurate? My hygrometer was 10 off. So your humidity could be fine. Did you candle at 7 days to see if the EE's were growing then? Good luck.

 

[chkinut]

i started lockdown today. i've filled both wells in the bottom of the bator....i have 1 plastic baby food container full of a sponge and water.....i have the eggs laying on a hand towel directly under the vent hole in the top. i have a baby bottle nipple (with the tip of the nipple cut out) and that will be my funnel that i can put in the vent hole to add water (which will drizzle down onto the hand towel). i made sure no eggs were directly under the hole. my humidity is at 69% now so i just now added another baby food container. i'll see how it goes after it adjusts. i MAY need to add some water through the vent hole. we'll see. i'm kinda having a hard time keeping it up too! i've got a hova bator with a fan. i'm excited though! i can't wait to see the eggs start rockin' and peeping! i'm not expecting anything tomorrow (day 19) but on day 20.....i'll be kinda lookin'!!!

 

[Karrie13]

I have an LG forced air and am in lockdown too with today hatch day. I have one out and to pips. What I did to get my humidity up is along one whold side (ontop of the wire) I have a row of sponges. That got it up to about 55% but I wanted it a little higer so I added a wet wash cloth on one end too. I have a hardware clothe divider in my LG to keep the wash cloth and sponges away from the hatching chicks.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

What I am reading says I need to have a LOT more sponges or terry cloths in an LG than I thought. Now that I am in the middle of lockdown-- not just starting-- what should really be done? Bator is only about 1/2 full of eggs, and is notshowing any signs of life except for the single pip and zip who is not hatched yet after 12 hours. She seems to have zipped the top quarter of her shell, so I am hoping that is enough room for her to pop out.
I am thinking the best thing may be to open quickly, mist warm water and add a warm wet wash cloth all along the edge. i see NO condensation at all on the windows so even if the hygrometer is off, it certainly isn't raining in there.
I am starting to be concerned that the chick needs more humidity so it doesn't adhere to the membrane.

 

[equine chick]

It can sometimes take over 24 hours from a pip for the chick to hatch, so try to be patient. I keep a syringe and just squirt a few times in if I feel they need more humidity.

 

[kathyinmo]

they'reHISchickens :

i see NO condensation at all on the windows so even if the hygrometer is off, it certainly isn't raining in there.
I am starting to be concerned that the chick needs more humidity so it doesn't adhere to the membrane.

If I see condensation, then my humidity is tooooo high. I like to go with 60 - 65% for hatch (30 - 35% incubation). Too high humidity during hatch will cause sticky chicks.​