Humidity question

[Ridgerunner]

Thanks. I can't tell from what I found online how to adjust the humidity, the video just shows how to add water. Did you get operating instructions on how to adjust the humidity? The best I can tell that display screen shows you what the humidity is, it does not look like you can set what humidity you want. Some incubators do that.

You might try contacting the manufacturer if you can find an e-mail address and ask them how to adjust the humidity. They clearly tell you that it needs to be adjusted, they should tell you how to do that.

 

[KDawn02]

Thanks. I can't tell from what I found online how to adjust the humidity, the video just shows how to add water. Did you get operating instructions on how to adjust the humidity? The best I can tell that display screen shows you what the humidity is, it does not look like you can set what humidity you want. Some incubators do that.

You might try contacting the manufacturer if you can find an e-mail address and ask them how to adjust the humidity. They clearly tell you that it needs to be adjusted, they should tell you how to do that.

Thank you, I will try to contact the manufacturer. The "manual" they sent doesn't have any info on humidity, just how to read the display

 

[KDawn02]

Thank you, I will try to contact the manufacturer. The "manual" they sent doesn't have any info on humidity, just how to read the display

Although, in the manufacturers book, it says humidity should be 55-75% for days 1-18 and 65-85% for days 18-hatch. That seems high compared to what every other incubator says. I wonder if I should go by their guidelines

 

[Yardmom]

I personally would not go by those instructions for humidity. 30-50 prelock down and 60-75 after

 

[KDawn02]

I personally would not go by those instructions for humidity. 30-50 prelock down and 60-75 after

Ok thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Different humidities work best for different ones of us. Incubators are different and the conditions you are in can affect what works. The temperature and humidity of the air going in the incubator, height above sea level, and who knows what else. Even moving it in the same room can have an effect because of the different air flows in the room. My main suggestion is to pick a humidity and try to be as consistent as you can, then evaluate your results. That means opening unhatched eggs to see if you can determine what went wrong. That's not always easy because there are so many things that can affect hatch. I'll add links that might help you with that.

I often suggest you go by the manufacturers suggestions for your first try. But I agree with Yardmom, those are too high. Some people do OK at 30%, 55% can work for some people during incubation. I'd pick something in between and see how it goes.

I'm not that concerned about really high humidity during lockdown, I've seen humidity spike to 85% or higher when eggs start hatching and release a lot of moisture inside. The later eggs still hatch OK. But I try to start out around 65% humidity for lockdown. It will get higher later.

Incubation Troubleshooting - Incubation and Embryology - University of Illinois Extension

Trouble Shooting Failures with Egg Incubation | Mississippi State University Extension Service (msstate.edu)

Common Incubation Problems: Causes and Remedies (ucanr.edu)

There is some science in hatching but a lot of art too, figuring out what works best for you. You get better with experience.

 

[KDawn02]

Different humidities work best for different ones of us. Incubators are different and the conditions you are in can affect what works. The temperature and humidity of the air going in the incubator, height above sea level, and who knows what else. Even moving it in the same room can have an effect because of the different air flows in the room. My main suggestion is to pick a humidity and try to be as consistent as you can, then evaluate your results. That means opening unhatched eggs to see if you can determine what went wrong. That's not always easy because there are so many things that can affect hatch. I'll add links that might help you with that.

I often suggest you go by the manufacturers suggestions for your first try. But I agree with Yardmom, those are too high. Some people do OK at 30%, 55% can work for some people during incubation. I'd pick something in between and see how it goes.

I'm not that concerned about really high humidity during lockdown, I've seen humidity spike to 85% or higher when eggs start hatching and release a lot of moisture inside. The later eggs still hatch OK. But I try to start out around 65% humidity for lockdown. It will get higher later.

Incubation Troubleshooting - Incubation and Embryology - University of Illinois Extension

Trouble Shooting Failures with Egg Incubation | Mississippi State University Extension Service (msstate.edu)

Common Incubation Problems: Causes and Remedies (ucanr.edu)

There is some science in hatching but a lot of art too, figuring out what works best for you. You get better with experience.

Thank you!

 

[samanthaoverton]

Side note..my favorite incubator is a 12 egger. I use one of those little like medicine syringe type things that way I only put so much water in. There the medicine doses you get for dogs and cats to shoot it down their throat. I find I have a lot of control using those.

 

[KDawn02]

Different humidities work best for different ones of us. Incubators are different and the conditions you are in can affect what works. The temperature and humidity of the air going in the incubator, height above sea level, and who knows what else. Even moving it in the same room can have an effect because of the different air flows in the room. My main suggestion is to pick a humidity and try to be as consistent as you can, then evaluate your results. That means opening unhatched eggs to see if you can determine what went wrong. That's not always easy because there are so many things that can affect hatch. I'll add links that might help you with that.

I often suggest you go by the manufacturers suggestions for your first try. But I agree with Yardmom, those are too high. Some people do OK at 30%, 55% can work for some people during incubation. I'd pick something in between and see how it goes.

I'm not that concerned about really high humidity during lockdown, I've seen humidity spike to 85% or higher when eggs start hatching and release a lot of moisture inside. The later eggs still hatch OK. But I try to start out around 65% humidity for lockdown. It will get higher later.

Incubation Troubleshooting - Incubation and Embryology - University of Illinois Extension

Trouble Shooting Failures with Egg Incubation | Mississippi State University Extension Service (msstate.edu)

Common Incubation Problems: Causes and Remedies (ucanr.edu)

There is some science in hatching but a lot of art too, figuring out what works best for you. You get better with experience.

Ok another question. I have a hygrometer in the incubator as well as the built in thermometer. They seem to be pretty accurate when I have them in the same spot. The problem is, the heating vent is on the side of the built in thermometer. When I place the hygrometer in the middle, the temperature is reading much lower (like 35.8) compared to 38.0 on the side. It seems like it's not adequately heating the eggs in the middle of the incubator. Should I increase the temp of the incubator to 38.4? It's set at 38 right now. Thanks!

 

[samanthaoverton]

Ok another question. I have a hygrometer in the incubator as well as the built in thermometer. They seem to be pretty accurate when I have them in the same spot. The problem is, the heating vent is on the side of the built in thermometer. When I place the hygrometer in the middle, the temperature is reading much lower (like 35.8) compared to 38.0 on the side. It seems like it's not adequately heating the eggs in the middle of the incubator. Should I increase the temp of the incubator to 38.4? It's set at 38 right now. Thanks!

You can also wrap a towel around the incubator..so long as your not blocking the air vent. You can try that then check your temp after a bit.