raise the humidity with wet piece of wood???

[mtngrl812]

Living in the Southwest I have problems raising the humidity in my bator. Last batch of eggs dried out so bad, nothing hatched. I have a LG still air and for this hatch I have been keeping the channels in the bottom full of water, this has kept my humidity around 40% +/- . When lock down comes I am worried I wont be able to keep the humidity high enough. No, I have not been keeping the plugs in the top yet!! I wanted good air flow and since the bator is sitting in a small closet I was worried about decent air flow. There is no way to raise the humidity in the house enough. (When I bought the new temp and humidity reader my truck read 13% on the way home.... it is dry here.)

So, my question is; what if I place a piece of wood that has been soaking in warm water for a few days in the bator at lockdown? Would it work as a heat sink and help with the humidity? The wood is a small branch of Ponderosa Pine, it is clean wood from the forest, no chemicals, all natural. I have had it in a large vase full of water for 2 days now and lockdown is at the end of this week. Will this soaked piece of wood work? My bator is a smaller one, I have 23 eggs in it and there is room for the wood.

Any ideas, or suggestions? When lockdown comes I will put both plugs in... but paper towels in the bottom haven't done much good to raise the humidity and I am getting worried about loosing this batch of eggs too.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Wouldn't a piece of sponge just work better?

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Wood would work. A piece of brick or cinder block will to an they soak water up quicker. They also have more thermal mass.

 

[mtngrl812]

Fred's Hen @ If paper towels won't work, they evaporate too quickly, then I'm afraid a sponge will not last through lockdown

Rebelcowboy @ I have some fire brick lying around... wonder if that would work?

 

[steelersfan43]

I use several old hand towels under the screen then use a syringe to drop water through the vent hole at the top on to the towel, being careful not to get any on the eggs. This works great for us although its a pain sometimes. Good luck with your hatch!

 

[mtngrl812]

I have a syringe, I can use to help add water. Maybe I will but a wash cloth over the wet brick to add water! That might just work fine

Thank you...

Once this batch is done I am making some "upgrades' to my bator, like adding the fan out of the old PC sitting around to start.