Humidity issues any ideas?

[Kgbao]

Ok so it’s a homemade i get the fact it won’t work like a store bought.

@DobieLover can you tag anyone that might have an idea? Thanks

I built an incubator out of a styrofoam cooler, there is below the egg shelf, six 1/2” vent holes, 3 inches below the top there is also six 1/2” vent holes. So I have ventilation? No fan it’s a still air build.

My problem is this my in the house / current humidity is around 75%, so in my bator it is also 75ish how can I get this down??

Welcome to the south we love our humidity ( not so much )

Kory

 

[Kgbao]

Bump

 

[hysop]

Wow 75% inside your home? I would not be a happy camper. Mine is usually 50%

You can just run it dry and not bother with adding any water. I know that’s pretty high for incubating eggs the first couple of weeks but I’ve had hens that have hatched eggs in the middle of summer with the humidity super high so it’s possible.

 

[Old McRonald]

Have you put a hygrometer in there to actually measure the humidity? My incubators are in a room that runs about 50% but the heat must dissapate some of the moisture because the bators run around 20-25%. I'm only running 2 total 1/2 inch ventilation holes, how is your temperature holding up?

 

[mdees88]

A pic of your incubator would be helpful. There's no way the humidity inside the bator should be the same as your house, especially if you don't have water inside your bator (you didn't mention if you did). The heat inside the incubator dries out the air which reduces the humidity. That seems like a lot of vent holes too.

Do you have water in the incubator?

A good way to control the humidity is having a little bit more water inside the incubator than you need, then you open your vents up to lower the humidity to where you want it at. You can add some covers over your vent holes and open and close them to regulate the humidity. But you need an accurate hygrometer inside the incubator to know what the humidity is.

I would HIGHLY recommend adding a fan also.

 

[easterbun]

There's no way the humidity inside the bator should be the same as your house, especially if you don't have water inside your bator (you didn't mention if you did). The heat inside the incubator dries out the air which reduces the humidity.

Technically this isn't completely accurate - relative humidity decreases with temperature, but not because there is "less" water in the air, it's because warmer air has more water carrying capability, thus decreasing the "relative" amount of moisture that it contains as the temperature goes up.

75% humidity at room temperature (assuming 76˚ for the sake of the example) would make the incubator held at 38˚C about 35% humidity - but it would still contain the same "volume" of water in the air.

 

[mdees88]

Technically this isn't completely accurate - relative humidity decreases with temperature, but not because there is "less" water in the air, it's because warmer air has more water carrying capability, thus decreasing the "relative" amount of moisture that it contains as the temperature goes up.

75% humidity at room temperature (assuming 76˚ for the sake of the example) would make the incubator held at 38˚C about 35% humidity - but it would still contain the same "volume" of water in the air.

Cool, nice to know.

 

[Kgbao]

@mdees88 @easterbun @Old McRonald @hysop

Ok so now I’m confused but with good news I guess..

I checked calibration on the hygrometer last night, (non calibration style), also did it the night before, both times was reading low by 5%. So I know to add 5, and have my humidity. Now after posting this, this morning I pulled the batteries and let the hygrometer sit for a hour or so, turned it back on, and waited. I was down by the coop a little while ago when my daughter brought me a cup of coffee, and said hey dad btw meter is reading 40 plus 5 so 45!! Dunno maybe it had a brain fart. It’s been holding steady now for a few hours so I’m going to move forward with this hatching.

Yes I have water in the incubator just a little in the water tray. I can add and take away without opening the lid, so it’s easy to maintain.

Temp is at 102-103 and holding steady. I made enough vent holes to be able to regulate everything easily, tape over a hole is easy to remove instead of having to make a hole mid hatching. Might be to many but I rather cover and remove if needed instead of trying to add.

 

[Kgbao]

Wow 75% inside your home? I would not be a happy camper. Mine is usually 50%

You can just run it dry and not bother with adding any water. I know that’s pretty high for incubating eggs the first couple of weeks but I’ve had hens that have hatched eggs in the middle of summer with the humidity super high so it’s possible.

I was assuming since I checked hygrometer twice for calibration that it was reading right , my daughter and I sat here for about a hour discussing, is it really that humid in here, even turned the ac on trying to pull some out ( wife was not happy about this, with it 40 outside lol ). I knew we had rain coming so I figured it was right..

 

[Kgbao]

A pic of your incubator would be helpful. There's no way the humidity inside the bator should be the same as your house, especially if you don't have water inside your bator (you didn't mention if you did). The heat inside the incubator dries out the air which reduces the humidity. That seems like a lot of vent holes too.

Do you have water in the incubator?

A good way to control the humidity is having a little bit more water inside the incubator than you need, then you open your vents up to lower the humidity to where you want it at. You can add some covers over your vent holes and open and close them to regulate the humidity. But you need an accurate hygrometer inside the incubator to know what the humidity is.

I would HIGHLY recommend adding a fan also.

I’ll grab a pic for you when I pop the top to turn them tonight.