Incubator in classroom

[chicken83]

Hi I have a R COM incubator and I cant get the humidity to rise above 19%. I have added water and it has been on for a couple of hours. When is it safe to put the eggs in to start the hatching process?

Really grateful for any advice.

Thank you

 

[1muttsfan]

Your hygrometer may not be working properly. You might get another one just to double check it - make sure to calibrate any hygrometer (and thermometer for that matter) before relying on it.

Many of us use the dry hatching method with better results -

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Some hygrometers take an hour just to get a reading then as 1muttsfan said you can't rely on it until you calibrate it with a salt test. If this is a built in hygrometer then don't trust it at all.

Dry incubation is a very common method and if polled probably would be the BYC prefered method. Simply put you don't add water until day 18 when you stop turning or decide to raise humidity early to stop the air cell growth. By candling the egg you can monitor the cell growth, if most the eggs are the size of day 18 on day 14 then raise the humidity early. Easy enough, fill the water tray.

I use a hygrometer/thermometer combo unit and calibrate the humidity with a salt test. I calibrate, rather fine tune incubator, with an oral thermometer inserted through vent hole. Still air incubators incubate at 101-102F measured at top level of upright eggs. Fan units incubate at 99.5F. I run 30-35% humidity first 18 days then up it to 65-70%. Running 30% RH will achieve the proper air cell size (moisture loss in egg which also can be calculated by weight loss to achieve 13%).