Humidity?

[TinyTotsSeramas]

I have been trying to get my humidity to rise to 45-50% but it wont go over 33%... I cant keep opening my incubator as I just set 16 Quail eggs in it 12am this morning!
Any advise as to how I can get the humidity up? I dont have much room in my incubator as its a tiny tote box with just a reptile heat pad on the bottom, bedding covering the heat pad so it defusses the heat throughout the tote and a wire shelf that use to be in a bird cage of mine so the eggs arent sitting directly on the heat pad. I had plastic lids off of baby food containers filled with warm water and strips of paper towls in them but it actually lowered my humidity!!

 

[hlf1996]

Put a wet sponge or two, It should raise humidity pretty fast.

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

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Ill try that! thanks!!

 

[NewToFarming]

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X2...I also wet the sponge with warm water to not drop the tempurature too much when adding them...Don't use real hot water either or that makes the temp go up.

 

[Gypsy07]

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If you increase your surface area of water, your humidity will rise. It has to. It can't lower it. I think what's happening here is because you're not seeing an immediate rise in humidity you keep opening your bator to try and adjust it, and that's what's keeping it low. You're just not giving the bator time to build up a decent humidity. I think if you leave the paper towel strips in and leave the lid shut for at least 12 hours, it will rise slowly.

 

[Gypsy07]

Either that, or your hygrometer is not accurate!

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

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If you increase your surface area of water, your humidity will rise. It has to. It can't lower it. I think what's happening here is because you're not seeing an immediate rise in humidity you keep opening your bator to try and adjust it, and that's what's keeping it low. You're just not giving the bator time to build up a decent humidity. I think if you leave the paper towel strips in and leave the lid shut for at least 12 hours, it will rise slowly.

Its been sitting like that since I sat the eggs thismorning at 12am. it sat at 33-34% without any water for the past 3 days I had it test running and then thismorning when I woke up and went to turn the eggs it had lowered to 32%! I just tried the sponge thing with the actual plastic baby food container and it jumped to 36%!
But I just noticed on one of the eggs on the bottom when I went to turn them that there is condensation on the bottom of it. will that drown the babies?

 

[Gypsy07]

Okay, that was my first idea. But obviously if you've not opened the bator all day it's not correct! Hmm. Condensation? That really sounds like your hygrometer might not be accurate. Even when I go up to 75% humidity for lockdown, I only occasionally get condensation on the door of my bator, and I absolutely never get condensation on the eggs themselves. Condensation on your eggs won't drown them right now, but if it IS a sign that your humidity is too high, you could have problems come hatch time if you don't get it sorted out. A too-high humidity all the way through your incubation will mean your eggs don't lose enough moisture and your chicks will be soggy and might not manage to hatch.

The immediate danger of condensation is that it increases the chance of bacteria getting into your eggs by being absorbed through the shell. It's much better if your eggs are dry. I think you should calibrate your hygrometer and see how accurate it is. Then you can take things from there.

Don't panic about your humidity problems just yet, it's not as important to keep it steady all the way through the incubation the same way it is with temperature. As long as your eggs get to day 18 with the correct moisture loss, a few fluctuations in humidity during those 18 days won't really matter.

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

I think I figured out why I have condensation... Someone bumped into the box and spilt a little bit of the water into the bedding! My guess it was my MIL this morning. I just had DH lift the egg rack and I hurried up and scooped out all of the wet bedding... This is not going to be a good first hatch at all :'(