Humidity issues in very full incubator (Rcom 10)

[PippinChicken]

I've got a practice run going in a new Rcom 10 and am expecting some actual fertile eggs to set later this week. This incubator has a central well divided in two, and an external port to pour water in for refilling the primary half of the well without taking off the lid. It also has one ventilation hole with a sliding cover. The instructions say to fill one half of the well (the one connected to the port) when you begin incubating, and to fill the second half to raise humidity during lockdown. If levels aren't right, then it suggests playing with the ventilation cover. I've had it running for a while now and found that to stay in the 40s, it needs the vent totally shut. I filled the second half of the well to see if it would get to appropriate levels for lockdown, and it barely changed. There is very little space left in the incubator when it has 10 eggs in it so there isn't room for damp cloths or large sponge pieces. I tried putting a small damp sponge piece in the very limited space above the wells and it has raised the humidity to the 60s, still with the vent totally shut.

My main question is if anyone has any tips for raising humidity in a very tightly packed incubator. I'm guessing it would be a bad idea to have a damp sponge piece anywhere that it could touch the eggs since it's not good to have moisture on the shell. My other question is if it is a problem for the only vent the incubator has to be pretty much closed for the entire incubation.

 

[Skipper81]

I wonder if the humidity would go up if it had eggs in there due to less space if you know what I mean if it's a really small incubator it might you should try putting non fertile eggs in there an see

 

[PippinChicken]

I wonder if the humidity would go up if it had eggs in there due to less space if you know what I mean if it's a really small incubator it might you should try putting non fertile eggs in there an see

I’ve got four in there right now but I could fill it up completely and see if that changes things...

 

[Skipper81]

You could also do 2 less eggs and put a sponge in there place

 

[Alaskan]

closing the vent completely will reduce hatching since the eggs actually do need to breathe.

Since you are playing around with things I would first just try out eggs and weigh them and see how they do at the lower humidity.

Incubating by following weight change is really informative for the first couple of hatches since it will give you a more precise idea of what humidity works best for you in your house/location /and climate.

Personally my eggs tend to hatch best with humidity in the low 30s for the first part of incubation.

Another way to increase humidity with zero space... thin strips of paper towel.

 

[PippinChicken]

closing the vent completely will reduce hatching since the eggs actually do need to breathe.

Since you are playing around with things I would first just try out eggs and weigh them and see how they do at the lower humidity.

Incubating by following weight change is really informative for the first couple of hatches since it will give you a more precise idea of what humidity works best for you in your house/location /and climate.

Personally my eggs tend to hatch best with humidity in the low 30s for the first part of incubation.

Another way to increase humidity with zero space... thin strips of paper towel.

That was my suspicion about the vent I will play around with it more and work out a way to get good humidity levels with it at least half open...

Great idea about paper towel strips instead of sponge! I'll have to give that a shot. If that doesn't work then it sounds like it may be worth putting some eggs in my older less stable incubator so there's enough space for humidity raising tricks in the smaller one.