I've never measured the humidity in my incubator before, but now I'm using a homemade one and thought that getting a hygrometer might be a good idea. So I bought one at Wal-Mart and stuck it in my incubator and it says that the humidity is 77%! From what I've heard, this is too high. What should I do?
If you have eggs in there it is high. You will need to take out any water you have put in and see if it helps. Also outside humidity has made mine go up, if it has been raining that could be another reason.
The water in a plastic dish that is glued to the bottom of the incubator, so how should I take it out? And yes, it has been raining here also.
Before you do anything--calibrate your hygrometer. It's unlikely that it's off by 20%, but it is also unlikely that it is completely right. Put a cup of wet salt (texture of wet sand--NOT dissolved) in a ziplock bag with the hygrometer (not touching--use a large bag) and leave it over night. It should read 75% but if it doesn't (and it probably won't), make a note of how much it is off by. Then you will always add or subtract that amount to get the correct reading. Taking action before you calibrate might cause more harm than good. But do it soon, because you don't want your eggs running at too high a humidity for long. Where are you located? What is your ambient humidity (i.e., would you consider your area a high humidity area, low, or somewhere in between)? If your normal humidity is very high, then you may not need water in the incubator at all, and in that case, I would go ahead and take it out until after you calibrate, at which point you'll make necessary adjustments. But if you live in a dry area, leave the water in until after you calibrate. Good luck!
You can remove the water by soaking it up with a sponge, squeeze out the sponge, repeat until the water's gone, then dry out the container with a paper towel. Or suck it up in a syringe or a turkey baster.
