Incubators humidity is going down way to fast

[Quailquestions6498]

My incubator has a alarm for when the temp and humidity goes to low or high, my temp is fine, but the humidity goes up and down and always wakes me up at night! I will give you the incubation info so you can see what I’m doing wrong.
- My quail eggs take up only a eighth of the space in the incubator.
-every 100 minutes my eggs turn 90 degrees.
- To keep air circulation, I put empty plastic Easter eggs in the incubator (moms idea)
- Styrofoam from the boxing is on the incubator to keep up temp
thank you!

 

[JaeG]

You don't have to use the wells in the incubator. I find mine are too big. Experiment with different sized cups/containers to figure out what's going to keep the humidity in the right range. Remember it is the surface area that affects the humidity, not the volume of water. So try things with larger and smaller tops. I found with mine 2 shot glasses works well (but I do have to refill them every 2 days). For lockdown you should be fine using the wells in the incubator as you don't want open water near chicks.

 

[Quailquestions6498]

You don't have to use the wells in the incubator. I find mine are too big. Experiment with different sized cups/containers to figure out what's going to keep the humidity in the right range. Remember it is the surface area that affects the humidity, not the volume of water. So try things with larger and smaller tops. I found with mine 2 shot glasses works well (but I do have to refill them every 2 days). For lockdown you should be fine using the wells in the incubator as you don't want open water near chicks.

Thank you, I’ll try that!

 

[CastleRockFarm]

My incubator has a hard time holding humidity, so I keep a small washcloth inside and drip water on it as needed. It usually last a few days. I also made the decision to put the incubator on our screened in porch instead of in the air conditioned house (also where I moved the brooder box). This was a game changer. The summer humidity here in NC is very high. My chicks have had an easier time hatching when the incubator reads about 75%, sometimes I allow it to go higher if there are pipped eggs. Also careful to not keep it too high for the younger eggs.
While it isnt ideal, not all my egg clutches have the same hatch date. I just try to pay attention to what’s going on. At least with my incubator, and the the natural temperature here, I’ve had no issues with opening the incubator to candle, remove hatched chicks or add more eggs.
I imagine this will be a different story during the early spring.
Best of luck! Hope you have a happy hatch!

 

[Quailquestions6498]

My incubator has a hard time holding humidity, so I keep a small washcloth inside and drip water on it as needed. It usually last a few days. I also made the decision to put the incubator on our screened in porch instead of in the air conditioned house (also where I moved the brooder box). This was a game changer. The summer humidity here in NC is very high. My chicks have had an easier time hatching when the incubator reads about 75%, sometimes I allow it to go higher if there are pipped eggs. Also careful to not keep it too high for the younger eggs.
While it isnt ideal, not all my egg clutches have the same hatch date. I just try to pay attention to what’s going on. At least with my incubator, and the the natural temperature here, I’ve had no issues with opening the incubator to candle, remove hatched chicks or add more eggs.
I imagine this will be a different story during the early spring.
Best of luck! Hope you have a happy hatch!

Thank you very much! And I hope your next hatch will be great!