Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[cmom]

Quote:
I'm really struggling getting the humidity up. Other than the fan, I have the same set up. Instead of 1 jar, I have 3! My humidity, with the same hygrometer you have, is sitting around 45%! There is even fog on part of the windows. Should I consider my hygrometer to be malfunctioning? I'm in a bit of panic at the moment because of the low humidity. There isn't much more water I could add.

Maybe your hygrometer is off. Have you calibrated them? I had another hygrometer I was using and I couldn't get the humidity to read higher than 50% during lockdown so I decided to do the calibration test and it wouldn't go any higher when I did the test so then I did have another one I put in there. I would think if there is moisture on your viewing panes then surely the humidity is higher than you think.

 

[jabowery]

Quote:
Well, so much for that idea! Two more chicks hatched yesterday morning and one of them got caught in the fan. It wasn't hurt and both chicks are doing fine but I did open up the LG to take out the fan so I could put cheese cloth over it with a hot glue gun holding the edges taught. I also took the chicks out and put them in the rabbit cage with the first hatchling. They're peeping away and chowing down.

No hatches since yesterday morning.

 

[Jeffross1968]

Quote:
Unfortunately, this one does not appear to be able to be calibrated. When I originally went into lock down this morning, there was an initial spike to over 80% humidity. It then slowly fell until finally resting now, at 41%. I've tried adding more water, but realistically, it's filled to the brim. I'm now worried about drowning them, completely unawares of what the actual humidity might be.

 

[ChicwannaB]

I will be doing my first incubating as soon as fertile eggs arrive. Lemon Cuckoo Orps.
Im using a LG 9200, still air. Brand new to me. Have been going nuts with three different thermometers, all giving me a different reading (see MYPAGE)
Nervous as a new Mother Hen that too much will go wrong and nothing will go right.

Im set up in a small bathroom (so I can lock out other family critters), thinking when I go to turn eggs I'll jack up room temp with a portable heater and turn on the shower to raise humidity in the whole room. Then when I close the bator it won't take so long for them to readjust?? does this sound feasible or stupid??

Please respond. Thanks

 

[cmom]

To calibrate a hygrometer you will need:

1/2 cup table salt
approximately 1/4 cup water
coffee cup
hygrometer
large resealable freezer bag

Place 1/2 cup of salt in the coffee cup, and add the water. Stir for a bit to totally saturate the salt. The salt won't dissolve in this amount of water; instead, the salt should have the consistency of wet sand.

Carefully place the cup containing the salt/water mix in a resealable plastic bag. Place the hygrometer in the bag, away from the cup of salt and water. Note: make sure none of the salt/water mix comes in direct contact with the hygrometer, or the hygrometer may be damaged. Completely seal the bag.

Place the sealed bag aside at room temperature for 8-12 hours. Pick a location free of drafts, out of direct sunlight, and away from heating or cooling vents. The temperature should be fairly constant.

After being in the sealed bag for 8-12 hours, check the reading of the hygrometer. It is best to read it while still in the bag, since if your house air is dry the reading may go down quickly once you take the hygrometer out of the bag.

The relative humidity in the sealed bag with the salt/water mix should be 75 percent.

If yours is the adjustable type, adjust the screw or setting so that it would have read 75 percent. You will have to do this very quickly, or remember how much you need to adjust the setting (e.g. for mine, it read 72 percent when it should have been 75 percent, so I would need to set it ahead by 3 percentage points). You may want to put the hygrometer back in the bag for another 8 hours to double check your adjustment.

If yours is not adjustable (like mine), simply make a note of how "off" your hygrometer reads. If it reads below 75 percent, you will need to add the difference to your actual readings. If your hygrometer read above 75 percent on the calibration, you will need to subtract the difference from your actual reading. Here are some examples to help:
Case 1: after sitting in the bag for calibration, my hygrometer read 72 percent. It should have read 75 percent, so the difference is 3 percent. I will now add 3 percent to the readings I take on the hygrometer (e.g. in a tank) to get the actual relative humidity.
Case 2: after calibrating in the bag, a hygrometer read 80 percent. It should have read 75 percent, a difference of 5 percent. I would have to subtract 5 percent from readings when using the hygrometer to get an accurate relative humidity.

Remember: always give a hygrometer about 2 hours to stabilize before taking a reading, as changes in the relative humidity may take a while to register accurately on a hygrometer.

 

[ChicwannaB]

Quote:
WOW, that is amazing, and great to know. Thanx

 

[cmom]

I have heard of some people using a humidifier in the room they are incubating in.

 

[ChicwannaB]

I saw a little thermometer/hygrometer with an egg on the end, to fit thru the vent hole on the incubator...are these pretty reliable?? I think it was on ebay

 

[cmom]

Quote:
Incubator Warehouse has them. http://incubatorwarehouse.com/egg-incubator-accessories/eggometer.html

 

[kizanne]

this is my first hatch and I fortunately/unfortunately have the LG. I do have the egg turner and fan thanks to DH. I assigned him to build me a cheap incubator and he just ran out of time/energy (since he also had to build a temp fence and coop for the 25 meaties arriving Thurs.) So his solution was look TSC has this incubator turner and he ordered the fan since they didn't have it in stock. Had I known that was going to be the case before my eggs arrived I would have sprung for a slightly more expensive but better rated incubator but I was hopeing for the $25 homemade job, plus he always does great work.

anyway.... After setting them Sat. morning and reading more and more of these threads (read some before but you now still catching up). Found this thread in particular about the reliability of the incubator and started worrying about the humidity because it doesn't have a gage for that. I went down to HomeDepot and got a $10 temp/humidity reader. Takes up 2 egg holes but I only have 15 setting so plenty of room. The humidity was only 43%. I took everything out quickly and added wet bathroom towel strips (from old but nice cotton absorbant towels) in the bottom beneath the screen. I couldn't add a cup of water because I have the turner which takes up the whole space but is elevated. Humidity is now at 57% and may still be climbing. I'm glad the humidity has a higher range of acceptable values because I don't think I could achieve one set humidity right now.

Other than that the temp is stable and all three thermometers agree at 99.5 to 100.

Hope I can achieve a successful hatch cause right now if they all hatched (which I realize most likely won't since they were shipped and I"m inexperienced and life doesn't always give you 100%) they would be $10 /chick of course they are some black copper marans, ameracauna's and Barnvelders so maybe $10 / chick isn't so bad.

I am glad for all the tips and hope there are more to come as I really want a successful hatch.