incubation help needed asap!

[BLT79]

I am sure this answer is somewhere in forum, but I am panicky! We set our eggs in our incubator, we took our lizards old thermometer and humidity reader and put it in! the temp is now reading 92 f and humidity is reading 76%. Please how do I fix this? it's my mother in laws incubator and I don't think she'd like me drilling holes in it! We just put the eggs in this morning. Thank you all for your help and knowledge, I want this to be as successful as possible as it's our first year with chickens and first time incubating. Our girls' are very excited and I don't want it to be my fault that they didn't even have a chance! we have taken the two vent pieces out as well to let humidity out but now I am wondering if that dropped the temp.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

do you have water in it? use a sponge or paper towel and let it suck it out. need to get that temp. up

 

[Granny Hatchet]

could also be your "old" thermometer do you have a different one to compare it to?

 

[BLT79]

I do have water in the troughs. so I should get some of that water out then? that will help both? I have two thermometers in there now.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Not some of the water, all of the water. Likely even the small troth will be too much humidity. Remember it's not the depth of water that relates to humidity it's the surface area. You can use cling wrap to cover most of the troth to reduce surface area or just use a smaller cup to adjust humidity. I'd take all the water out and let it dry out first.

The incubator must have a dial to increase the temperature. Not knowing how long the incubator has been on already it's hard to say if you need to adjust it yet. It takes time to get up to temp once the mass of eggs are in there. If you had the incubator on and had 100F before the eggs were set then don't worry about it.

 

[BLT79]

We had the incubator on for a day before setting the eggs and temp was 100. I will suck the water up now with some paper towels and sponges. where will the eggs get the humidity from without the water? thank you so so much!

 

[Granny Hatchet]

you can re add later. some people dont add until hatch time but i dont know how that works out. just dont use as much, only fill one tray or whatever you have until closer to hatch and there should be only one air vent until closer to hatch too

 

[Granny Hatchet]

when you put the water in was it warm?

 

[BLT79]

just wondering how to get water out without disturbing the eggs since they are already on the metal mesh over the trough,

 

[Bens-Hens]

What sort of incubator is it?

I have a Hovabator, it has two troughs, one is used for the first 18 days, both are used for the last 3. The one gets humidity to 50-55% and both are 75-80%.

Sounds to me like you have both full, so if this is the sort you have, soak up the water in the central trough.

Being the first day, the eggs will be able to cope with being moved or cooling off a bit, think of nature when the hen would sit on the eggs to lay her next one then leave until her clutch was the right size. It takes a day or so of being the right temp to start the process.

Then, close the lid and wait for temps to stabilize, may take at least an hour to warm the eggs as well as the air around them. Then very small adjustments otherwise you will be chasing your tail trying to get the emp right.

Good luck.