Increasing humidity...

[MissPrissy]

considering the type of cooler you have, you could pour a little water into the bottom to give it more surface area and see how high it will go up that way.

 

[speckledhen]

Dont know if you can find any, but those blue shop towels that are really thick placed in the bottom of the bator and wet down will help tremendously.

 

[chicksnducks]

Does the humidity have to be up from day 1? I am not sure if I understand .....

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Your humidity for the first 18 days should be kept around 40 to 50%...the last 3 days when you don't turn anymore up your humidity to 70 to 75%.....thats how most people keep theirs....

Hope this helped...

 

[speckledhen]

Tuff is correct. My humidity the first 18 days goes between 35-50% and then I raise it up to 65-70 on Day 18. When they start to hatch, usually the humidity will rise a little as the eggs pip, but if it doesn't, I make sure it's at least 70%.

 

[edster951]

Quote:
I know that, but whats the point of setting eggs if I haven't figured out how to increase the humidity. I'll get to day 18 and say..."Now what". It'll be too late.

I'm experimenting with increasing the humidity first, so when day 18 comes I'll knw exactly what to do.

 

[speckledhen]

Ed, do you have those thick blue shop towels? They are like very thick paper towels. They hold water very well. Spread a couple underneath the turner/rack and wet them down. In lieu of that, try a hand towel or washcloth. It's good that you are doing a test run; always a good idea. Surface area is more important than how deep the water is so a towel just spread out and wet down that can be re-wet during incubation should do it.

 

[Mareloo]

Quote:
My first thought to... What you gonna do?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Ed...Your really not going to get the humidity exactly right until you have eggs in there...having eggs in the bator is a whole new ballgame when temps and humidity is concerned...you can try to simulate it but until there are eggs thats when you have to work with temps and humidity...Least thats how I had to do mine....

hope that helped.....

 

[Silkie_boi]

I got my bator off ebay at £48 (im scottish lol) and it came with the temperature already pre-set. It also has an in-built water trough, all I have to do is lift the top off and pour the water in the small trough every couple of days and it keeps my humidity roughly at 45 - 55 on the hydrometer and when it comes to the last 3 days, theres another section round the small water trough where i can put more water in so it gives it more surface area and a higher humidity. So far 5/6 eggs bought off ebay are developing ok.