Incuview Incubator Woes. Advice Needed

[Gilbird]

I am an absolute novice when it comes to incubating. As in started today I am so overwhelmed and am hoping for some advice. I will list the facts/problems and any advice you can give is greatly appreciated! I apologize for the length!

-The incubator I am using is the Incuview. The newer model with the digital humidity meter.

-In preparation for the incubator I got a couple humidity meters (Petco one and Acurite) and calibrated them using the salt and bag method I read about here. They were both off by 5% (in opposite directions). I also got the Brinsea Spot Check thermometer and a couple non digital thermometers in case I needed to make a wet bulb thermometer.

-The incubator comes and I set it up and want to do a dry run before adding eggs. The built in humidity monitor does not work, as it reads 15% and I know that the humidity here is, like, 70%. I change the battery. It now reads 10% and does not budge. It has not chaged a bit since I plugged it in, added water, etc...I am going to call the company on Monday and see if it’s something I am doing, or if it is malfunctioning.

-It reaches temperature and has done a good job of maintaining it. However, I have the Brinsea probe in the water snake (which I read about here too) and it is reading between 100.5-101.7. The non digital thermometer (the dry part of the wet bulb thermometer I ended up setting up) is reading just a little over 100–about 101, I believe and the Acurite digital is reading 100 as well.

-The humidity is reading as 66% (Acurite), 58% (Petco) and there is a 13 # difference between the wet and dry thermometers.

Now my questions:
A. Is the 100-101 temp too high? Should I trust the incubator reading or the Brinsea probe/water snake reading? If it is too hot, what is the best way to cool it down? I already have the vent hole open.

B. I know the humidity is too high, but which gauge should I trust? And how do I lower the humidity? Stop adding water completely?

C. If I go by the wet bulb for the humidity, does anyone have a good chart or calculator to figure out the humidity percentage?

And because posts with pics are the best (even if they lack cute or funny chickens), here is a pic of the craziness that is messing with my mind

Thank you for your patience in reading this novel and your help!

 

[ChickNanny13]

I feel your "pain" ... Went through the same thing with the Janoel 12 I just purchased, the digital hygrometer I purchased don't agree with the analog one (humidity) although the temps are more or less in agreement. Called the hygrometer company, they apologized & sent me 2 new digital hygrometer, they agree with each other but not the analog one Luckily for me, I have no eggs to hatch yet.

I really wanted the InterView incubator, the reviews are great & the best was what I've read about their Customer Service. You may want to email your issues to them. There is a thread on the InterView and someone from the company "monitors" it. You may want to PM that person ... Search the Forum for InterView Incubator = Discussion in 'Incubating & Hatching Eggs' started by thunder83, Feb 1, 2014.

 

[Gilbird]

Thank you so much! I will look into that. One of the reasons I chose the Incuview is because of the customer service reviews, so I am really hoping that they can help me figure out what is going on.

I hope that you can get yours figured out too! I think that I’ve put more prep work and worry into that that I did when I had my own kids! I just want it to be successful.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I know what you mean, spent 3wks "testing"
The eggs I wanted to get were pricey and shipping threads made me rethink my wants. So packed the unused Janoel 12 & decided ordering pullet chicks from the hatcheries maybe the "easier" way to go. I can't have males so hatching don't make much sense

Good luck with your hatching ...

 

[SimoneG]

Just checking to see if you got things figured out? I'm about to fire up my new incuview this weekend and give it a test b4 trying out some eggs from the neighbor. Any tips or tricks that you learned?

 

[Gilbird]

I am a week into my first set now—I have been keeping a pretty tight record off the numbers, so I have recognized the way that it heats. This is a short summary of my thoughts so far:

The Good
-Really easy to use—easy controls, good turner, big clear lid makes it easy to check on everything
-Easy to fill water. I just keep the vent hole open (I have my Brinsea thermometer probe running through it) and use this to add water. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7KDT9G/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It takes me about 60-70ml of water a day to keep a steady humidity. But that will be different for you depending on your climate.
-The temperature is really steady. It usually only flucuates .2 of a degree. The Incuview thermometer is about one degree off (cooler) from the Brinsea probe, which I have stuck in a water snake toy (like I read about here). I am trusting the Brinsea spot on reading and it seems to be working.

The Bad
-Very Little. However, the humidity reader on mine is just wrong. It’s a dud. I thought it was working, and it does. Sometimes. Then it will default to 10%. Then jump to a correct reading. Then jump back down to 10%. Who knows. I still need to contact Incuview about this. Right now I have two calibrated humidity readers and am just using those.
-I do wish it was a little bigger. After adding the extra thermometers and humidity readers there is just room for a little over a dozen eggs. After this first hatch I hope that I can get rid at least one extra reader to free up some space.

Overall, I am happy with it. I candled on day five and 12/13 showed strong veining. I think that the one that didn’t was just infetile. Here’s a pic of a day five egg.

Please just ask if you have any other questions!

 

[aart]

It takes me about 60-70ml of water a day to keep a steady humidity.

Which reservoir are you filling?

 

[Gilbird]

Which reservoir are you filling?

The second one in from the outside. At the beginning of last week we were quite humid here and I was only filling up a small dip cup (like you would use if you packed your lunch) with about 20-30ml water ( you can see it pictured in the bottom right of the incubator in the pic below). The air has dried out now a bit and so I’m using the reservoir with the 60-70ml.

 

[aart]

Remember that humidity is controlled by size of surface area, not amount of water.

 

[SimoneG]

I am a week into my first set now—I have been keeping a pretty tight record off the numbers, so I have recognized the way that it heats. This is a short summary of my thoughts so far:

The Good
-Really easy to use—easy controls, good turner, big clear lid makes it easy to check on everything
-Easy to fill water. I just keep the vent hole open (I have my Brinsea thermometer probe running through it) and use this to add water. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7KDT9G/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It takes me about 60-70ml of water a day to keep a steady humidity. But that will be different for you depending on your climate.
-The temperature is really steady. It usually only flucuates .2 of a degree. The Incuview thermometer is about one degree off (cooler) from the Brinsea probe, which I have stuck in a water snake toy (like I read about here). I am trusting the Brinsea spot on reading and it seems to be working.

The Bad
-Very Little. However, the humidity reader on mine is just wrong. It’s a dud. I thought it was working, and it does. Sometimes. Then it will default to 10%. Then jump to a correct reading. Then jump back down to 10%. Who knows. I still need to contact Incuview about this. Right now I have two calibrated humidity readers and am just using those.
-I do wish it was a little bigger. After adding the extra thermometers and humidity readers there is just room for a little over a dozen eggs. After this first hatch I hope that I can get rid at least one extra reader to free up some space.

Overall, I am happy with it. I candled on day five and 12/13 showed strong veining. I think that the one that didn’t was just infetile. Here’s a pic of a day five egg.

Please just ask if you have any other questions!

View attachment 1282000

Thanks! My humidity reader was doing the same thing. they recommended that I replace the battery (its a LR44 size) so I did. now it seems to be pretty close to correct. Keep me posted on your hatch I started a hatch a long for March 7th when i put mine in. so we'll see how it goes.
Thanks for the tips.