Nurture Right 360 Incubator - Shelf Liner and Humidity Question

[3bird]

We are incubating for the first time this year. We had planned to bring ducks onto the farm, but with avian influenza, we decided to hatch our own instead.

We have the Nurture Right 360 Incubator (new), and based on the advice of others, we added shelf liner.

We started the incubator about 24 hours ago (no eggs), and it held steady at 99.5F and between 58 and 61% humidity until we added the shelf liner. Once we added the shelf liner, the humidity dropped. Obviously it dropped because we had the lid off, but it did not return to where it had been. An hour after the shelf liner went in, it was at 54% and kept dropping. By this morning it was at 47%. I closed the vent from half open to a quarter open, and the humidity is climbing again, but an hour later, it was only at 50%.

So....my question: Does the shelf liner affect humidity in your experience? The incubator is in a bathroom that is steady at 68F ambient. There is a window, but we have the blinds down. We are in the northeastern US. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We have eggs ready to go, and we'd like to get started!

 

[casportpony]

@CluckNDoodle is the Nurture Right 360 Incubator master, maybe she can help. This is her thread:
Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 Incubator is AMAZING!

 

[3bird]

I'm chatting with @MGG on another thread, and I'm hearing we may be targeting our humidity too high. We were instructed to aim for 55% humidity to start and to bump to 65% humidity at lock down. MMG suggested a range of 50% to 30% should be fine for duck eggs. MGG also suggested keeping the shelf liner in place throughout the whole incubation process (not just at lock down) to help insure the eggs don't get stuck when turning.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

For the beginning of incubation you don't want the humidity too high as it sounds like you have discussed already in another thread. I have found the sweet spot for humidity in NR360s to be around 45% until lockdown when I then increase to about 65%. When incubating waterfowls you'll also want to consider spraying and cooling the eggs for a period of time to help them to lose the appropriate amount of weight.

The liner doesn't usually significantly change my humidity, are you using the no skid shelf liner with the holes in it?

I'm aware that some people use the shelf liner throughout incubation but it's not something I have ever done or recommend doing because I have heard horror stories of it bunching up and causing problems with the automatic turner. Now if you're hand turning the eggs then there's no concern there but it's just something to keep in mind. Others have gotten away with leaving it in when it's a thin liner so do whatever you feel is best on this, it's definitely a mater of preference but since there isn't a benefit to leaving it in through early incubation I don't find it worth the potential risk personally.

Good luck on your hatch!

 

[3bird]

For the beginning of incubation you don't want the humidity too high as it sounds like you have discussed already in another thread. I have found the sweet spot for humidity in NR360s to be around 45% until lockdown when I then increase to about 65%. When incubating waterfowls you'll also want to consider spraying and cooling the eggs for a period of time to help them to lose the appropriate amount of weight.

The liner doesn't usually significantly change my humidity, are you using the no skid shelf liner with the holes in it?

I'm aware that some people use the shelf liner throughout incubation but it's not something I have ever done or recommend doing because I have heard horror stories of it bunching up and causing problems with the automatic turner. Now if you're hand turning the eggs then there's no concern there but it's just something to keep in mind. Others have gotten away with leaving it in when it's a thin liner so do whatever you feel is best on this, it's definitely a mater of preference but since there isn't a benefit to leaving it in through early incubation I don't find it worth the potential risk personally.

Good luck on your hatch!

Thanks so much. We've been back and forth on whether or not we will spray and cool.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Thanks so much. We've been back and forth on whether or not we will spray and cool.

I've don't both and to be honest I did find that they still lost the appropriate amount of weight when not spraying BUT there was a definite difference in the ease of hatching when I sprayed. I ended up needed to assist the goslings that I did not spray. So rather than it benefiting weight lost I found that it seemed to keep the membrane more pliable but this was a non scientific comparison and not done side by side so since I haven't compared multiple times I can't say that it wasn't coincidence.

 

[3bird]

I've don't both and to be honest I did find that they still lost the appropriate amount of weight when not spraying BUT there was a definite difference in the ease of hatching when I sprayed. I ended up needed to assist the goslings that I did not spray. So rather than it benefiting weight lost I found that it seemed to keep the membrane more pliable but this was a non scientific comparison and not done side by side so since I haven't compared multiple times I can't say that it wasn't coincidence.

Thanks again. What was your spraying protocol?

 

[3bird]

I'm just collecting collective knowledge in one place for future reference: @MGG also recommends 65% humidity at lockdown and 75% when you get the first external pip.
MGG also zipties the corners of the shelf liner down to the tray too so it can't bunch up.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Thanks again. What was your spraying protocol?

I personally just spritzed once daily and left them out just long enough for the water to evaporate off of the eggs, the process of the water evaporating off of the surface of the shell is what aids them in losing weight.

I used distilled water so I knew I wasn't introducing any contaminants but I don't think most people do that, I have a distiller so it wasn't in any way inconvenient anyway.

 

[3bird]

I personally just spritzed once daily and left them out just long enough for the water to evaporate off of the eggs, the process of the water evaporating off of the surface of the shell is what aids them in losing weight.

I used distilled water so I knew I wasn't introducing any contaminants but I don't think most people do that, I have a distiller so it wasn't in any way inconvenient anyway.

Thanks again!

So you remove the eggs from the incubator to spray them? Sorry for all the noob questions!