Humidity in Incubator

[indigo flats]

Does humidity effect the temperature inside the incubator?

 

[FluffyButt789]

I'm new to incubating eggs but from what I have experienced, no. When you open the incubator to add more water to raise humidity, the temperature and humidity drop. Cover it back up and be patient, wait about a hour, and watch the levels. I suggest reading about the "dry hatch method" if you are incubating eggs. Best of luck to you!

 

[Mellowmalt]

So hatch day is here and I have got proof as far as I'm concerned that humidity levels do affect temperature in the incubator.

I know this thread is 3 years old but since it didn't get a good discussion and this question has already been asked I will carry on with my observations here.

So my main observation is the evaporative cooling effect that humidity can have in the incubator.

I am suspecting most people faced with the question - does differing humidity affect temperature in the incubator would answer no like the previous poster and why no other answer was given however this surprises me as we as humans notice the evaporative effect the most out of all animals.
Because we sweat. Look up the evaporative cooling effect on google if you don't know what sweat does.
So the more moisture we produce the cooler we feel as a result. This is not just a psychological effect - sweat does physically cool our skin as it evaporates it takes heat away with it.

So would the same happen in an incubator? We all know that when chicks start pipping and hatching the humidity in the incubator goes up. Now I am watching it carefully and I can see based on the humidity readings when chicks are hatching.

Interestingly that has not been the only thing that has changed - I have double checked the settings and the probe and they are all the same but as humidity went over 80% (yes too high but it is going down again so no worries) it has cooled temps by as much as one whole degree C.

The first hatched chick lowered temps by 0.5C, then the next one hatched and temps have dropped even further which I think is interesting and confirms my suspicion that high humidity will lower temps in the incubator.

The probe is set to the right temps and has not changed but my external thermometer has picked up a noticeable change.

Since they are hatching I am not worried about this temp change as lowering temps towards the end of incubation seems to be beneficial but it is interesting to see this really noticeable change just because humidity went over 80%

another important point is how wet bulb thermometers work.
They measure the evaporative cooling effect to determine what humidity levels are thus in my opinion further confirming that a higher humidity will make temps seem lower than they really are as the wet bulb will have 2 readings, one dry reading and a lower wet reading.

ps: I did not open the incubator in this graph, it might look like I opened the incubator, temps dropped and humidity went up as a result, no, humidity went up due to hatching, incubator has stayed closed this whole time and the probe is set to the same temp and has not changed.

 

[als77]

So hatch day is here and I have got proof as far as I'm concerned that humidity levels do affect temperature in the incubator.

I know this thread is 3 years old but since it didn't get a good discussion and this question has already been asked I will carry on with my observations here.

So my main observation is the evaporative cooling effect that humidity can have in the incubator.

I am suspecting most people faced with the question - does differing humidity affect temperature in the incubator would answer no like the previous poster and why no other answer was given however this surprises me as we as humans notice the evaporative effect the most out of all animals.
Because we sweat. Look up the evaporative cooling effect on google if you don't know what sweat does.
So the more moisture we produce the cooler we feel as a result. This is not just a psychological effect - sweat does physically cool our skin as it evaporates it takes heat away with it.

So would the same happen in an incubator? We all know that when chicks start pipping and hatching the humidity in the incubator goes up. Now I am watching it carefully and I can see based on the humidity readings when chicks are hatching.

Interestingly that has not been the only thing that has changed - I have double checked the settings and the probe and they are all the same but as humidity went over 80% (yes too high but it is going down again so no worries) it has cooled temps by as much as one whole degree C.

The first hatched chick lowered temps by 0.5C, then the next one hatched and temps have dropped even further which I think is interesting and confirms my suspicion that high humidity will lower temps in the incubator.

The probe is set to the right temps and has not changed but my external thermometer has picked up a noticeable change.

Since they are hatching I am not worried about this temp change as lowering temps towards the end of incubation seems to be beneficial but it is interesting to see this really noticeable change just because humidity went over 80%

another important point is how wet bulb thermometers work.
They measure the evaporative cooling effect to determine what humidity levels are thus in my opinion further confirming that a higher humidity will make temps seem lower than they really are as the wet bulb will have 2 readings, one dry reading and a lower wet reading.

My horrible incubator went completly nuts when my quail started hatching today, so it is difficult to say for sure (nuts=even more temperature difference between different spots in the incubator), but it is my impression as well (from this one hatch...) that temperature indeed drops during hatches (which might also be part of why RH goes up in addition to the wet chicks)