I have a homemade incubator and I have a problem with getting the humidity to the correct lockdown number (60-80%). I was wondering if everyday during lockdown can I very quickly open the incubator and mist the eggs with warm water using a hand held spray bottle? A lady on youtube has done this and she ended up having a 50% hatch rate. By the way, my whole bottom part of my incubator is lined with sponges and I have a watering system in there that I rigged up to keep the sponges moist at all times, but cannot get the humidity to go to the correct lockdown temp. Thanks in advance.
is there anyways you might be able to put a tube in the top that you can just pour water into instead of opening and also what are you putting the water in? a flat shallow container works better for getting hummidity up rather then a deep dish
I understand what you are saying. The overall surface area works much better for raising humidity rather then a tiny deep dish. I lined the entire bottom of the tank with sponges. The way my incubator works is I pour water in a funnel on the outside of my bator and I ran a tube from the funnel to the top of the sponges. That way my sponges can always be wet. I did have a pie tin in my incubator before but I had no luck. I am just going to try to mist the eggs I think. I just won't open the entire incubator when I do. I will just fit my hand in and do it very quickly. If it worked for the lady on youtube and she ended up with a 50% hatch rate then it must work. Isn't the point of raising the humidity at the end to soften the shells of the eggs? Thanks for your input. I appriciate it.
The purpose for raising the humidity during lock down is to prevent the chicks that have pipped from drying out before they hatch. Adding sponges to a pan of water should raise your humidity, unless you have too much ventilation. Always add warm water to prevent your temp. from going down.
