New to incubating and need help

[homeschoolchick]

Hello! This is my first time incubating and need some help. I have a genesis 1588. The directions say to fill with water about twice a week. I am having to mess with it everyday!

My room humidity is averaging 45%, but the bator will go from 57% when filled down to 25% in twenty four hours. I have tried putting foil in it but then the humidity gets too high.

It looks like I will have to fill it around once a day??? This is day six of incubation.

Is this weird? I thought this was more of a hands off incubator.

 

[homeschoolchick]

oops..meant to say foil would make it drop too quick when it was higher than I wanted

 

[chickmanna]

Theoretically, if the middle trough, for example has an 1/8" of water in it, or a 1/2" it shouldn't effect the humidity because its the amount of water surface that counts. Putting foil over part of the trough is supposed to make less surface, but unless it's touching the water, it really doesn't lessen the amount of surface. I have not noticed that much difference with or without foil.

Could it be something else that's effecting the humidity. Like the location of the incubator in a laundry room, etc.?

 

[homeschoolchick]

It is actually in my room, where the temp. is most consistant and away from my children The temperature varies between 67 and 72 degrees and humidity stays around 43%, in my room. I have the plugs in the bator and just keep watching it . It got down to 23% after I wrote this, so I added water and it is now at 52%. I bet by the morning it will be back in the twenties.

Will this flip flop of humidity hurt the eggs?

 

[chickmanna]

I'm no expert, but I've been doing a LOT of reading on this forum. I'm halfway through my first incubator hatch experience.

There's a lot of people on here who use "dry incubation". There's a paper on it in the Learning section. Most recommend about 40% during the first 18 days, then bump up to 60-65% during lockdown. So, it seems to me anyway, that if you are averaging something around 40 you'll be ok. It's all related to having the egg lose the right amount of moisture before hatching.

Most people say that the humidity is much less important than temp during the first 18 days. During lockdown it's important to get the humidity up, especially after eggs start pipping, so eggs don't dry out before chicks can hatch. I've also read to leave the plugs in the top of the 1588 until the hatch is well underway, then remove when/if the top window fogs at all. I guess it can get too humid at that point from the hatching activity itself.

 

[ncmtngal]

Howdy Chickmanna,

I have a Hovabator 1588. Mine didn't come with any "plugs". Could you tell me what you mean by that?

Thanks,
Kerri

 

[tmoore8595]

Originally Posted by tmoore8595
I have been hatching eggs for years with what I considered to be pretty good success, 60 to 75% hatches.
I was keeping my humidity around 55 to 65% for the first 18 days.
After reading this;
https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-DryIncubation.html
I started keeping my humidity at 35 to 40% (no added water) for the first 18 days, and then raised it to 75 to 80% for the last 3 days.
This increased my hatch rate dramatically. I now get 90 to 100% hatches.

 

[homeschoolchick]

Howdy Chickmanna,

I have a Hovabator 1588. Mine didn't come with any "plugs". Could you tell me what you mean by that?

Thanks,
Kerri

The red plugs on the window, is what Chickmanna is talking about.

 

[homeschoolchick]

I'm no expert, but I've been doing a LOT of reading on this forum. I'm halfway through my first incubator hatch experience.

There's a lot of people on here who use "dry incubation". There's a paper on it in the Learning section. Most recommend about 40% during the first 18 days, then bump up to 60-65% during lockdown. So, it seems to me anyway, that if you are averaging something around 40 you'll be ok. It's all related to having the egg lose the right amount of moisture before hatching.

Most people say that the humidity is much less important than temp during the first 18 days. During lockdown it's important to get the humidity up, especially after eggs start pipping, so eggs don't dry out before chicks can hatch. I've also read to leave the plugs in the top of the 1588 until the hatch is well underway, then remove when/if the top window fogs at all. I guess it can get too humid at that point from the hatching activity itself.

My room is what stays around 40%, not the bator Right now it is at 60%. I have the top plug open to bring it down. Once I get it down, I guess I will have to keep adding tiny amounts of water to keep it around 35-40% . Wish me luck!

Thanks you guys/gals for the responses!

 

[3forfree]

I have a home made styrofoam incubator that I use a jelly jar and paper towel as a wick for humidity. I've found that putting only half a jar of water as needed keeps the humidity in the 30-35% range. If I put more in, it spikes to around 60. Maybe you could lower the amount of water you're putting in.