Incubator question

[Tdubg22]

New at this hatching thing. Just got my incubator yesterday, sat it up to get it figured out before I order eggs. Bought a farm innovations pro series 4200 forced air. Got the temp to hold at 99.5 overnight, but my humidity is holding about 75%. How do I get it down to around 50? I've tried removing vent plugs with no luck. Is it possible I put too much water in the bottom, would removing some help lower it? Just want to get it zeroed in before I buy eggs. Thanks for any info you experienced hatchers can offer this newbie.

 

[dheltzel]

Search for threads about "dry hatching". Basically, remove the water from the bottom and use only a little to keep the humidity over 30%. You might want to check your humidistat too, they can be way off. There is info here about calibrating that too. So much info on this site.

 

[dc3085]

New at this hatching thing. Just got my incubator yesterday, sat it up to get it figured out before I order eggs. Bought a farm innovations pro series 4200 forced air. Got the temp to hold at 99.5 overnight, but my humidity is holding about 75%. How do I get it down to around 50? I've tried removing vent plugs with no luck. Is it possible I put too much water in the bottom, would removing some help lower it? Just want to get it zeroed in before I buy eggs. Thanks for any info you experienced hatchers can offer this newbie.

You most likely have a cracked egg.

 

[Tdubg22]

I don't have any eggs yet. I want to get the incubator completely figured out before I try putting any eggs in it.

 

[dc3085]

Look for a mark in water tray to see if you have over filled it. Another thing you can do is put a bowl of water instead of filling the water tray. Make sure the bowl has a smaller exposed surface area than if you were filling the tray. The more surface area of exposed water the more potential evaporative surface. If the bowl still proves to be too much a wetted sponge can be ok but keep in mind these dry quickly and can be high maintenance. Also double check to make sure there isn't another vent somewher that you are missing. Also try moving it to a different room in your house to see if your ambient humidity is playing a role. FyI if it is near your laundry room it will pick up humid air from your clothes dryer.

Edit to add the temperature of the room can also affect the humidity of it.

 

[Tdubg22]

Thank you. I will try moving it out of the bottom level of the house. Seems to be drier on the two upper levels.

 

[dc3085]

If you are handy you can also just drill another hole in it somewhere and glue in a short piece of PVC which you can later cap with different PVC caps you drill out with different patterns (ie one hole, two hole, three holes, etc). I build homemade incubators and this is how I install vents to regulate humidity. Keep in mind when you get to lock down you will you need to achieve as close to 70% humidity as possible with your original vents wide open. I might not have made as much sense there as I needed too....

 

[Tdubg22]

No, I get what your saying, thanks for the idea, think I may do that and get it dialed in. Thank you.