Incubator Does not produce humidity

[Christin]

I recently bought a used still air hova bater, I cleaned it, set it out in the sun to dry, and set it up as it said to in the manual and it never produced humidity and the water never went down. The temp remained 100 degrees the entire time ( except when i lifted the lid.) and the incubator looks hardly used.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good job on the cleaning. Does the hova bator have its own humidistat? The one you are using may not be accurate.

Surface area increases humidity rather than volume. Try a sponge in the water.

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

X2 on the sponges. I use them all the time. You can also use a wet sock as well. I use the sponge method. I get a brand new, never used kitchen sponge and cut it into pieces. Soak them down. Give them a gentle squeeze. You don't want to wring them out, but you don't want them dripping wet either. I keep adding sponges until I get the desired humidity level. Keep a small bowl of water inside the bator as well.

You only need about 45% or 50% during the incubation cycle. So come lock down, just add more sponges to get it up to 65% or 70%.

Good luck with your incubator and welcome to our flock!

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC - I agree with ChickenCanoe - you may need a new humidistat.

 

[drumstick diva]

Maybe it doesn't work right and that is why they were selling it. Buyer beware!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Welcome to BYC - I agree with ChickenCanoe - you may need a new humidistat.

In my experience, even good ones need calibration. I've had them off by a mile.

Since I haven't had luck with them, I just keep a little humidity in the incubator and use the weight method to track humidity.
Weigh the eggs when you collect them and again when you set them. They should lose 0.65 % of their weight every day. You can make a chart with graph paper and you can weigh at intervals (like each week) and chart weights to see if they're losing more or less than they should and adjust humidity accordingly.
Then when they go to the hatcher, it can maintain much higher humidity so I shoot for something over 60% and if the glass condensates, it's too high.

 

[Christin]

It does not have a humidistat. but i will try the sponges. Much thanks!