How much can I expect the humidity to rise?

[RollinWithTheStones]

During the hatch and humidity rises, but by how much? I'm having a heck of a time getting my humidity up. I have a forced air and I'm on day 19. If I turn the fan off will the humidity go up any? I have a large cake pan with 8 sponges standing up in it. I poured boiling hot water in it to start and the humidity went up to 69%. It then stayed study at 45% and has now in the last hour went up to 50%.

 

[Arielle]

Yes, if you stop the fan the humidity will go up HOWEVER the fan is very important for regulating the distribution of heat inside the incubator. You could loose some eggs if you shut off the fan now.

How large is your incubator??? 8 sponges is a lot. ANd yes hot water will cause high RH initailly but it will drop. THe long term effect will come from the sponges themselves. How long have the sponges been in??

I use a picnic cooler and I can get the RH up quickly with 3 index card size sponges, especially if I can get the fan to blow on one.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Yes, if you stop the fan the humidity will go up HOWEVER the fan is very important for regulating the distribution of heat inside the incubator. You could loose some eggs if you shut off the fan now.

How large is your incubator??? 8 sponges is a lot. ANd yes hot water will cause high RH initailly but it will drop. THe long term effect will come from the sponges themselves. How long have the sponges been in??

I use a picnic cooler and I can get the RH up quickly with 3 index card size sponges, especially if I can get the fan to blow on one.

It's a table top wine cooler, it's holding 50 eggs right now. Sponges have been in since yesterday. I have a thermometer so if I turn off the fan won't it still stop at the desired temp?

 

[Arielle]

It has a fan for reason--to move the air around. THis keep the temps even throughout the entire incubator. ALso your eggs need fresh air, they breath a lot of air especiallly when they are pipping and zipping. Also this pip and zip allows the moisture from inside the shell to be released and will increase the moisture level.

I'm wondering if the sponge is a closed cell type or an open cell type.

Do you have paper towel??? If you roll one to be about the size of a tp roll in diameter and clip or staple the "tube" , set that in the water and see if the RH will go up. You may need to trim the paper towel tube to fit the height allowance. Oh, the end of the tube needs to be in the pan of water or a cup to support the tube. Often paper items that get wet just fall over. THat is less effective but might help anyway.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Thanks I'll give it a try. I built the incubator and it has a source of fresh air even with the fans off. It's still early in the hatch and the humidity is up to 52% now so maybe i'll keep climbing.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

How big are your air holes? I put 4 cork size holes in mine but found out that was too big, too much moisture escapes. I put tape over half of the hole and it works great now. Good luck.
Edited to add. I see you are in Ohio, so if your house is dry from your furnace running, it will suck the moisture out of the bator as well. When I incubate at this time of year, I put the bator in my laundry room and keep a humidifier handy to put some moisture in the air as well.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

It's a 2inch x2inch grate. I put a piece of cardboard over it and it helped some, but didn't cover the whole thing up. I've definately made a improvement list for the Easter hatch.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Check my edit as well.

 

[jimmythechicken]

we always hatch with 50% humudity i wouldn't worry about it.52 is not that bad if they were turkeys i would say try to get it up but chickens i do 50-60

 

[Arielle]

Good luck, sounds like you just need to sit and wait. Have fun tinkering with the incubator for the next go round. My LG has only 8 hole on the top, each about 1/8 across. Matches te 8 on the bottom. Maybe this will help with adjusting your vents.