Humidity in Sportsman cabinet incubator?

[ChickenMath101]

My humidity is sitting at 53-55% in my new incubator. (Day 2) Temps and humidity have been sitting stable @ 99.7 degrees Fahrenheight and but I'm concerned humidity is too high this early on. According to directions I can partially cover my water pan with foil to lower humidity-do I need to? (I don't have any sponges in there, just the pan connected to the watering system bucket.)

 

[Alaskan]

I would completely remove the water.

See what the humidity level is with zero water in the incubator.

because yes....50 is much too high.

 

[ChickenMath101]

I would completely remove the water.

See what the humidity level is with zero water in the incubator.

because yes....50 is much too high.

Thanks! Took out a plug and humidity is sitting @ 45%. If I take out the water entirely the incubator runs around 20%, so I need some water in there.

 

[Alaskan]

Yeah, 20% is low... I like it in the 30s.

Are there more plugs that you can take out? Oxygen is good for them anyway. You never want all plugs in.

 

[mill-j]

I've never have my humidity under 50% than bump to 60% before hatch and I've had 90+% hatch rates. Remember these cabinet incubators are not still air so you'll need a little more humidity. With turkey i like 60% humidity than up to 70% before hatch.
For me I'd like humidity a little higher than a little lower, because then the chicks are less likely to dry out while hatching.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

Just starting to run our Sportsman myself again and was curious as to humidity levels everyone used and what hatch rates. We also have the Sportsman Hatcher we use for the hatch.

 

[mill-j]

My humidity preference is stated above. But last year I got a record of 98 percent of fertile in 4dz eggs. Most of the time I averaged over 90. The quality of the eggs did make a difference too.

It'll help to have a separate hatcher so you can jack up the humidity without creating problems for other egg that are incubating.

 

[TNBEARCHICK]

So are you at 50 percent or 50 something?

 

[mill-j]

I'm not currently hatching, I'm on a winter break But I like to keep it ~56 percent. Of course your location and height above sea level is a big factor too.

Back when I used the little Styrofoam incubators I could easily get humidity too high. However since I switched I've never had a bad hatch because of humidity.

I'd suggest a humidity of about ~55%, your first hatch will easily tell you if you need to go up or down.

Hope this helps