Humidity Question. Not new to raising chickens. New to incubating them.

[TheRealDane]

Greetings Chicklings.

I've raised chickens over the last 10 years, or so, but I always just bought from the feed stores. Now that I'm doing this bigger as a homesteading issue I've decided to incubate. Eventually I plan on building my incubator out of an old refrigerator, but a couple days ago I bought a Farm Innovators Model 4200 from TSC. I've finally gotten the temp set to hold at 99.5, but my humidity is up around 70%.

Two questions:
It was difficult o get the manual setting to rest at 99.5. Now that it has done so, is it just a matter of leaving it at that position, or does adding eggs change the temperature?

How do I get the humidity down to where it needs to be? Is it just a matter of adding less water? How do I replenish water during the 21 days?


Thank you in advance and I look forward to learning a lot more form all of you.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Greetings Chicklings.

I've raised chickens over the last 10 years, or so, but I always just bought from the feed stores. Now that I'm doing this bigger as a homesteading issue I've decided to incubate. Eventually I plan on building my incubator out of an old refrigerator, but a couple days ago I bought a Farm Innovators Model 4200 from TSC. I've finally gotten the temp set to hold at 99.5, but my humidity is up around 70%.

Two questions:
It was difficult o get the manual setting to rest at 99.5. Now that it has done so, is it just a matter of leaving it at that position, or does adding eggs change the temperature?

How do I get the humidity down to where it needs to be? Is it just a matter of adding less water? How do I replenish water during the 21 days?


Thank you in advance and I look forward to learning a lot more form all of you.

I love humidity questions! Humidity is controlled by controlling the surface area of the water, not the depth of the water. So if you want to decrease humidity you decrease the surface area of the water. I HIGHLY recommend using a low humidity incubation method, especially in the styro bators. I use the following method and if you have checked and accurate thermometers/hygrometers (never trust the gages on the bators unless they've been checked as they are often wrong,) and a steady bator I swear by it.http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

When you add the eggs it will mess with the temps and humidity. Give it a few hours for the eggs to come up to temp with the bator and then make any neccessary adjustments.

Humidity tip at lock down: sponges work great and they are easy to snatch out, rewet and slip back in w/out greatly affecting humidity. I usually add 2-3 regular kichen size sponges to the screen at egg level to get my humidity up to my prefered 75%. Some will even place the sponges under a vent hole so water can be dropped or tubed to the sponge w/o opening it.

Good luck. Hatching is addictive!!