not new to chickens, new to incubating

[Klavier_Profi]

Hello All,
After lurking about in the annals of the forums, I've finally decided to take the plunge and join myself. As stated, I'm not new to chickens and have had them for years, but I decided to try my hand at incubating; I recently purchased the Janoel12 incubator about a week ago and have had it running pretty much since I got it. I plan to use it to incubate guinea eggs, but so far, I've not really noticed the automatic turner moving and I can't seem to keep the humidity above 48%. I know that the instructions state to not add anymore than 100ml of water at a time. When I did that, the digital thermometer/hygrometer didn't register humidity above 25%, so I just poured a bunch of water into the bottom and it's still not where it needs to be at for guinea eggs. I don't have the incubator near a window or a drafty area. I've read about the sponge technique, but I'm just not convinced that it will work seeing as how the two cups of water I poured into the bottom of the incubator didn't seem to raise the humidity anything more than 48%. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
Joel

 

[Kessel23]

 

[Kiki]

Do you have a calibrated humidity reader in the bator?
If not you need one.
You can not trust the thermometer and or humidity gauge that comes with a bator.

 

[Klavier_Profi]

Do you have a calibrated humidity reader in the bator?
If not you need one.
You can not trust the thermometer and or humidity gauge that comes with a bator.

Yes, I bought an additional thermometer/hygrometer when I purchased the incubator, which is the device that's reading the humidity is only around 48%.

 

[Kiki]

Try the sponge.
For some reason it works better than just putting water in the bottom.


The area you poured the water...is it covering a lot of space?

 

[Klavier_Profi]

Try the sponge.
For some reason it works better than just putting water in the bottom.


The area you poured the water...is it covering a lot of space?

I just haphazardly poured it in on the bottom, so the water covers the whole bottom of the incubator. I'll try the sponge - hopefully that will work better than my current tactic. Thanks for the help/advice.

 

[Mraya]

 

[Kiki]

I just haphazardly poured it in on the bottom, so the water covers the whole bottom of the incubator. I'll try the sponge - hopefully that will work better than my current tactic. Thanks for the help/advice.

I'm looking on the site for users of that incubator.

Here is one recent user:
#1
She may be able to tell you what she did?

 

[B&B FarmsSc]

Welcome! The sponge helps...two is better if ya have the room. The increased surface area for evaporation really increases your control. Sponges can be cut to size to achieve the humidity you require

 

[Mraya]

Hello All,
After lurking about in the annals of the forums, I've finally decided to take the plunge and join myself. As stated, I'm not new to chickens and have had them for years, but I decided to try my hand at incubating; I recently purchased the Janoel12 incubator about a week ago and have had it running pretty much since I got it. I plan to use it to incubate guinea eggs, but so far, I've not really noticed the automatic turner moving and I can't seem to keep the humidity above 48%. I know that the instructions state to not add anymore than 100ml of water at a time. When I did that, the digital thermometer/hygrometer didn't register humidity above 25%, so I just poured a bunch of water into the bottom and it's still not where it needs to be at for guinea eggs. I don't have the incubator near a window or a drafty area. I've read about the sponge technique, but I'm just not convinced that it will work seeing as how the two cups of water I poured into the bottom of the incubator didn't seem to raise the humidity anything more than 48%. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
Joel

It is not the amount of water but the amount of the surface of the water that is exposed to the air. Check out BYC forums under Hatching and incubating.