Humidity (again)!

[Dirty Dozen]

I have a hovabator/turner/fan. I am having a HORRIBLE time with humidity! Been getting bad-footed chicks, yesterday a splay leg chick. Taped her feet & seems better. Also lousy hatch rate. For 3 weeks I fight to keep up humidity. Never had this problem when I 1st started hatching. Day 22 I got 1 chick & 1 pipping. Any ideas? I put in sponge but is seems as soon as humidity is up, it drops like a rock. I was gone 12 hours and it had dropped to 16! Hate to waste eggs. Last hatch was 19 out of 38! Anybody?

 

[bilbothebanty]

Perhaps you could put the sponge in a shallow pan of water, so that the sponge can keep taking up moisture? I have a still air incubator that has a little water tray in the bottom that I have been keeping full that has kept humidity around 45-50% the whole time. I am having trouble getting humidity higher than that though, so I'm a little worried about my eggs since they are supposed to hatch today.