Im sorry for bringing this up in yet another post.

[Ravynwood]

BUT I need help. I have a LG set up right now, its my first bator EVER and the humidity in the air now is 42 ish, inside the bator at most I can get it up to 58.

I have sponges and all 3 troughs filled and taken out two of the turner trays and have a tray with sponge in there as well.. and it still does not increase. I have heard stories of taping the top and bottom together. I have read that 50 ish is fine during the first 14 days but it really needs to be up'd to 70 the last 3.

I also have a Hova coming on Tuesday. the eggs just arrived today. (coturnix) The Hova is a Still Air one, I am working on getting a fan to put in it. I do have the turner with quail rails coming on tuesday as well.. right now in my LG I have a turner with the standard rails.. the eggs fight alittle low in it, but they still do not fall right through. Could I still put them in there and start them in the morning and they will be fine till wednesday (a day to get the hova set up and situated)? would putting them in the normal rails hurt them in some way? they will still get turned and rotated.

I am a complete beginner and would appreciate all the help I can get.

Ravyn

 

[feedstorechick]

Everything sounds good for now. With that much water in your incubator, I would think your humidity should be higher that your hygrometer is reading.

Have you checked it to see if it's accurate? Read the third post in this thread for the instructions: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=240748. Good Luck!

 

[Ravynwood]

I have been trying to find the salt water test that I saw once on here for calibrating the hydrometer. I know people have said the Hova will hold it alot better and that having the fan put in the LG makes it tougher to maintain it. I am going to put them in tomorrow and keep a close eye on everything and wednesday move them to the Hova once it is set up. Then I will not have to fight it so much and can fret over other aspects of all this..LOL

Another question I have. Can the fan from the LG be used on the Hova? I look at pictures and they look the same. I installed the fan into my LG and really wish I would have read the posts I found today before doing that. Would it be so bad to un install the fan and just install it on the Hova on tuesday?

 

[feedstorechick]

Is the Hova a still air or does it come with the fan?
I'd leave the fan in the LG, mine works much better with it.

 

[Ravynwood]

The Hova does not have a fan preinstalled.

I want there to be a fan on it, I had misread the item when buying it. Actually I was sick and on some medication when I bought it.

Does a Still air hova work ok?

 

[neferset]

What is your hygrometer like? It sounds like you are going through what I did on my first hatch. I had one of those Acu-Rite Thermometer/Hygrometers with the probe. In several places on this board, others mention that this Hygrometer doesn't work with the probe. It's giving you the room humidity, not the humidity from "outside." What I do is take out the plug hole on top (I run with one open, always) and put the unit on top of it. I don't know if the reading I get that way is accurate, but it stopped me flooding my bator.

 

[jenjscott]

Also, it you have the plugs out, it is hard to hold humidity up. On my Hova, I leave my plugs in until the windows steam up after upping for the last three days. which is usually after the hatch has started.

 

[Ravynwood]

on my LG, i have taped over al top holes.

I am using a calibrated springfield Hyrdo inside @eggevel

a calibrated Acu-rite in my wiggler, but i have the base outside the bator, so the hydro part doesn't count.

I have been told 45% during the first 14 and 58% is ok for the last 3.

The hova will be here tuesday and if it holds the humidity better i will move them over while i get use to the LG

 

[jenjscott]

I have always heard last three days should be a minimum of 60, preferaby higher, but I know there are a lot of opinions floating around out there.