Need a little help......

[trulefty]

Hello, I'm new at this and need a little help. I built on incubator out of a styrofoam ice chest and only lack putting the plexiglass in which I will do tomorrow. Right now it's running at 102 degrees with 83% humidity. I know I can turn my thermostat down a little but how do I get the humidity down? I believe the temp should run 99 to 100 degrees but what exactly should the humidity be? Aren't you suppose to raise the humidity at the end of the incubation??

 

[Kennyog]

Your humidity is too high.It should be 45%-55% during incubation. At hatching,it should be 55%-65%.

 

[kathyinmo]

I incubate at 30 - 35% and then on day 18 turn it up to 60 - 65% for the hatch. If it is too high the first 18 days, they will be drowned in there. Also, be sure you have oxygen holes in the styrofoam bator. You can also use these holes in decrease your (too high) humidty, by keeping them open/unblocked.

 

[hinkjc]

What are you using for a water supply for humidity? Humidity goes up based on surface water, so you need less surface to bring it down. And it does take time to adjust the reading on a hygrometer, so be sure to wait an hour or so between adjustments.

 

[trulefty]

I have a pie plate with water in it, so I need to change that to something smaller and enlarge my air holes. Is that right?

 

[flgardengirl]

I live in a really humid enviornment near the ocean and a large river. It is raining here a lot lately and driving the humidity even higher. Our house inside is around 52-64 percent humidity. If I turn the heat on at night it drops a little but not much. We dont have a house dehumidifier as the humidity does not bother us. I am having the same problem with getting my humidity down in the incubator. It is a hovabator with a fan and I only filled up the water reserviors (shallow depressions in the bottom of the bator) to begin with and keep taking more water out with a syringe. Now there is hardly any water at all and it is still running 62 percent. I took the plugs out of the top of the bator too for a day, and then put them back in didnt seem to change anything. I put a small heater in the room with the bator (on the other side of the room so as to not mess with the temps) to maybe dry out the air in there. I didnt work lol. DH suggested putting dry rice (which can absorb moisture) or maybe those pellets used to dry flowers etc. I havent done that yet. I have incubated eggs before in this bator and didnt have these kind of problems but I lived in a much drier enviornment then. I have the temperature at a steady 100 degrees. I am supposed to set my eggs tomorrow.
Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[hinkjc]

Yes, you will need a smaller water surface. Try measuring humidity without any water. Depending on what it is, start by adding a small container and gradually increase surface water to get to the desired humidity.

 

[trulefty]

Okay, I'll do that right now. Thanks for your help hinkjc

 

[trulefty]

It's been an hour and a half since I took the water out and my humidity is at 59%. I will make my air holes larger tomorrow to see if that brings it on down..

 

[kathyinmo]

How big are your air holes? They don't need to be too big. In the Hova Bator, they are on the bottom, near the corners I believe, and are only like 1/4 inch or so. But, being on the bottom, the bator has little feet like projections of styrofoam to hold it up off the floor a bit.

If you have no water inside, the humidity should drop on it's own ... especially overnight.