Humidity, Or nah?

[Farmer Viola]

Quote:

I am currently incubating eggs in a hovabator. This is my first time. I read your dry hatching method but are you using a still air incubator? My incubator has a fan. Should I turn the fan off on hatch day or leave it running? Im not sure it can be disconnected, but I was thinking the fan might be more drying. I have been adding a little water every few days because the humidity was dropping very low (around 20%). I suppose I could stop adding water... or with the fan is it necessary to keep some humidity?

I use the dry incubation method in both my incubators. I have 1 still-air and 1 forced air. the only difference between Still and Forced is the temperature:

Forced air (with fan): 99.5F - measured at the top of the eggs, not above or below it
Sill air (no fan): 101F - measured at the top of the eggs

I find that the still-air incubator will hold water for a long time. The forced-air will evaporate and need to be refilled after about 3 days.

25% is the lowest humidity I would go, 45% being the highest (without adding any water). I personally have the best hatches right around 30-33%

humidity is affected by surface area, not by depth of the pool. so filling a wide surface area will give you a higher humidity % than a small surface area of water

idk i would really like to know as well, do we need the fan running during lockdown?

if your incubator uses a fan, then I would not turn it off for lockdown. the fan will affect the temperature, and could cause your temperature to rise. it would be better to keep everything exactly the same, no variance in temp.