Incubator humidity

[CashewVulture]

I have 10 eggs in my incubator, they are on day 13. I am having a few problems with the humidity levels though. Generally what happens is I’ll leave for an hour or so and it’ll drop to 40%. Then when I add a bit of water, it spikes to 55%. It’s so hard to keep a steady humidity level! (I try to keep it around 48%-50%) It either is too low or too high. I suspect it is because of the sudden heat wave we are having of 95 degrees+ because it was way easier the previous week.

I am so stressed out, I feel like it’ll drop too low or too high If I don’t check constantly! Especially during the night, it gets annoying to have to set an alarm to check it

Will the eggs be okay?

 

[Susan Skylark]

Eggs will be fine, take care of your nerves! Humidity is a range, an average, temp must be a stable number. Ups and downs are very common especially in those cheap bubble incubators. Mine ranges 20-80% and I aim for 45% average or a bit lower, I’ve actually hatched at both extremes just fine though the chicks seem to really do well on a dry hatch. I was gone for a week days 4-12 and ran 2 incubators thinking one would be 20% and the other 75% due to an attached water bottle but a bubble got caught in the tube so both ran at 20% for a week, hatch rate was pretty good and I think the only unhatched eggs were infertile or early embryonic deaths from before I left (not recommending this as a general practice!). Temp fluctuations will devastate a hatch, humidity can cause issues for individual eggs but is much more forgiving. So just do your best and enjoy the process though the waiting always drives me buggy! I don’t know how emu people do it!

 

[CashewVulture]

Eggs will be fine, take care of your nerves! Humidity is a range, an average, temp must be a stable number. Ups and downs are very common especially in those cheap bubble incubators. Mine ranges 20-80% and I aim for 45% average or a bit lower, I’ve actually hatched at both extremes just fine though the chicks seem to really do well on a dry hatch. I was gone for a week days 4-12 and ran 2 incubators thinking one would be 20% and the other 75% due to an attached water bottle but a bubble got caught in the tube so both ran at 20% for a week, hatch rate was pretty good and I think the only unhatched eggs were infertile or early embryonic deaths from before I left (not recommending this as a general practice!). Temp fluctuations will devastate a hatch, humidity can cause issues for individual eggs but is much more forgiving. So just do your best and enjoy the process though the waiting always drives me buggy! I don’t know how emu people do it!

Thanks so much!

I think I’ll just try to put less water since less humidity seems to be best. Right now, it’s at 55%
But as soon as it goes back down I’ll just add a few drops of water to keep it there.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have 10 eggs in my incubator, they are on day 13. I am having a few problems with the humidity levels though. Generally what happens is I’ll leave for an hour or so and it’ll drop to 40%. Then when I add a bit of water, it spikes to 55%. It’s so hard to keep a steady humidity level! (I try to keep it around 48%-50%) It either is too low or too high. I suspect it is because of the sudden heat wave we are having of 95 degrees+ because it was way easier the previous week.

I am so stressed out, I feel like it’ll drop too low or too high If I don’t check constantly! Especially during the night, it gets annoying to have to set an alarm to check it

Will the eggs be okay?

What incubator do you have? Make and model name would help or maybe a link to describe it. My main interest is how it manages humidity. Do you have different sized reservoirs, water bottles, dials, or something else.

Where do you have it? Is it somewhere directly affected by fluctuations in temperature and outside humidity or in a climate controlled house?

If we know what you are working with we may be able to come up with something to let you get some sleep.

 

[CashewVulture]

What incubator do you have? Make and model name would help or maybe a link to describe it. My main interest is how it manages humidity. Do you have different sized reservoirs, water bottles, dials, or something else.

Where do you have it? Is it somewhere directly affected by fluctuations in temperature and outside humidity or in a climate controlled house?

If we know what you are working with we may be able to come up with something to let you get some sleep.

It’s a Kebonnixs 12 egg incubator. It’s in my bedroom away from the windows but the room is the one with the most light in the whole house. During the afternoon the sun shines through my windows. Generally that’s when the humidity levels rise the most so I usually turn on the AC so the room isn’t too humid and hot and that helps.

By the way, we’ve used this incubator 4+ times before (works really well) except this is the first time it’s in my bedroom and also the first time that I’m the one in charge of putting water in the tank

Our last hatch with this incubator was 100% hatch rate, all 12 eggs hatched successfully.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have not used that model. It has a port where you add water and a reservoir inside divided into two different parts. If you overfill the first compartment it overflows into the second, thus doubling your exposed water surface. That sounds like what you are doing. In your incubator the major control for humidity is water surface area. The more water surface area the more water can evaporate so the humidity goes up. It sounds like you are slightly overfilling your first reservoir so water spills into the second. When that second one evaporates dry the water surface area is halved so your humidity drops. That does not give you a very fine control.

For fine tuning, they say to use the air vent. They say to always leave it at least 1/3 open. Where is it set now? It sounds like it might be pretty open. I'd try putting water into the first part of that reservoir, being careful to not overfill it and adjust the air vent a little more closed to see where the humidity stabilizes.

Another factor is the temperature and humidity of the air in the room where your incubator is. The air going into the incubator from the room has an effect, that's why turning on your AC changes the humidity level in the incubator. If you can't keep the temperature and humidity levels of the room it is in steady then it is hard to stabilize the humidity inside the incubator. Another factor could be if sunlight through the window is hitting your incubator and heating it up. You may need to find a better room or a better location in that room for your incubator.

What counts during incubation is average humidity. That's what controls how much moisture the eggs lose. So if your target is 50% and it stabilizes at 40% or 55%, run it at 40% for one day and at 55% for two days. That will average to 50%. During lockdown and hatch you will want to fill both sides of that reservoir to raise the humidity.

In some ways it sounds simple but I suspect actually managing it can be a pain. Good luck!

 

[CashewVulture]

If you overfill the first compartment it overflows into the second, thus doubling your exposed water surface. That sounds like what you are doing.

I would have assumed that too, except I only pour approximately 2-3 teaspoons of water each day. And before I even set the eggs, I let the incubator run for 24 hours without any water at all and it was at 38% (if I remember correctly) humidity. When I put the eggs in, I added water until it rose to 50%. But the quantity of water could not have been more than a tablespoon.
I also can see the compartments easily and there’s just a thin line of water in the first one.

For fine tuning, they say to use the air vent. They say to always leave it at least 1/3 open. Where is it set now?

It’s 1/3 open. I never changed it throughout the 13 days.

Another factor is the temperature and humidity of the air in the room where your incubator is. The air going into the incubator from the room has an effect, that's why turning on your AC changes the humidity level in the incubator

Yes. The few times the humidity dropped was during the evening hours or early morning. I think my room is just incredibly humid and heats up easily due to the sun always coming in. So during the humid hot afternoons, humidity spikes without me doing anything, and then when the sun goes down, it gets dryer and then it drops.

My biggest mistake is panicking whenever it drops to 40%, I add too much water (like I said just a tiny bit of water will make a big difference), and then boom it spikes again…

I think next time it drops I’ll be really careful about the water I put in.

In some ways it sounds simple but I suspect actually managing it can be a pain. Good luck!

Yeah, next time I will likely put in elsewhere or incubate earlier in the year before heat waves