Tomowro is day 18 for me and i know im suppose to add water to the 2nd trough im useing the havabator and remove the eggs from the turner and don't open it but my question is, what should the humidity be at? and is filling up both water troughs anough to last till day 21? if it doesnt last how can i add more if it can't be opened? thanks so much this is my first hatch
HI dr8goons, Your humids need to be about 65 % after day 18. Here is how i add water to mine without opening it. I use a measuring cup with a lip for easy accurite pouring, a regular drinking straw and the little black funnel is one o' dem thingies the doctor puts on his scope to look into your ears with. I simply remove the red vent plug from the 'bator, insert the straw directy into the water trough thur the 1/4 hardware cloth in the bottom o' the bator and pour the water into the wee funnel. Works great and i get no loss of temp or humids. Hard to say not knowin your ambient conditions but the water in both troughs should be enough. Good luck...PICS PICS PICS when they hatch !!!
You are shooting for around 75% for hatching. Too low and they can't turn in the eggs and the membranes dry out and make it hard to hatch. Too high (like above 80% or so) and the air cell can partially fill with condensation which can drown the chick when they poke through the air cell. Fill up the trays according to the directions (use WARM water, about 100 degrees - too cold and it will drop your temps for a while, too hot and you'll have way too much humidity for a bit) Then close the bator up. Check your humidity and see where it gets after a couple hours. If it isn't holding steady around 75%, then you can add another tray of water to the wire grid - like a plastic storage container, etc - the bigger the surface area, the more humidity you will add. You may have to experiement a bit to get the right sized container. Once you figure that out and humidity is where it needs to be... DO......NOT......OPEN.....THE.....BATOR....AT....ALL until your hatch is complete. Good luck! Hope you have a great hatch.
Just one quick note, if you add a container of water, make sure you put wire or something else that will let the humidity through on top. Last time, I just put the little tupperware container in, not thinking and when a chick hatched, it ended up in the water container, not once, but twice. My DH took baby out once and when I got home, I had to take her out again and put something on top so she couldn't get in the container again. Of course that meant the bator got opened 3 times on day 21 and she was the only one that hatched. Those babies seem just like children, they will find a way to get themselves in trouble!