new to incubators

slvrphoenix

Songster
9 Years
May 24, 2010
316
7
131
cache valley ut
I just finished building a incubator I know I have seen it here some where but can't seem to find It now. What I s the temperature of a forced air incubator and what is the humidity supposed to be.
 
One question is easy. The other one, I could write a book and it would be wrong.

A forced air should be 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit. It should have the same temperature throughout.

The humidity question is a lot harder. Different humidities work for different ones of us. You'd think inside a forced air incubator, everything would be the same. It is not. I personally shoot for 40 to 50% for incubation and 65 to 75 % for lockdown, but some people have better success with higher or lower humidities. I just don't think there is oe right answer.
 
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You will probably get many different suggestions. I keep the temperature around 99.5ºF to 100ºF in my incubators with fans and 101ºF to 102ºF in my still air. The eggs need to loose a certain amount of moisture during incubation. I used to incubate at around 50% humidity but have found if I keep my humidity down to around 35% (dry hatch) during incubation (day 1 through 18) and raise it to around 75% during lockdown (the last 3 days) I get much better hatches, 95% to 100%.
 
I think the key to humidity levels is the rate the air cells develop. THe development of the air cells is what decides the increase or decrease of moisture in the incubators. A forced air incubator might need a higher humidity level than a still air as well. A dry environment may need a higher humidity than a room with high humidity. Ambient RH is also a factor. SO you need to find a RH level that works for your particular environment.

IMO the development of the air cell, or the wt loss of the eggs, is the driver of RH in the incubator.

Ridgerunner--if you ever write a book on RH in an incubator, may I be the first to read it??
 
Thanks I have been spending the last several hours trying to get the temperature to settle in. It keeps fluctuating between 96 and a 102 but the water wiggler is at a constant 100.
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What kind of incubator do you have? I have both LG and Hova-Bator. This is how I modified my LG for better temperature control but after you make an adjustment you have to walk away for a couple of hours to let it settle out.

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I have a home made one I found a thread on here that talks about it. Basically it said dont worry about the air temperature watch the the temp in the water wiggler. so we will see
 
Does having that red cap on your turner knob give you better control over turning? Just curious -- sometimes I find it easy to turn the knob just a tiny bit, other times I suddenly find myself turning it way too many degrees and the temps shoot up or down too much. Not a big LG fan, but I'm borrowing one right now to make up for the fact that another BYCer very generously sent me 20 eggs for an 8+ auction (I have a Brinsea Mini-Advance otherwise, which can only hold 7-14 bantam eggs depending on whether I turn them by hand or not.)
 

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