Quick Q on temp and humidity for my upcoming use of a new incubator. First time incubating Chicken eggs. Have incubated some quail eggs a few years ago with success.
Facts: Still-Air Little Giant incubator. No turner. Will mark eggs and am able to turn 3x per day. In a little used room, in a corner with no direct sun, not near the door or heating/cooling vent, so pretty stable environment. Sitting on a very stable nightstand, directly plugged into wall outlet. Already removed the red plugs for full ventilation. Brand new incubator. Its been plugged in for 3 days.
My concerns right now: The incubator has a temp/humidity reader that doesn't seem to jive with the additional ones I added. The eggs will be sitting at bottom of the incubator (not in a turner). So, I have a new digital thermometer/hygrometer in one side, flat on the bottom, and a non-digital temp/hygrometer on the other side. As expected, the temp at this level is lower than the temp stated by the incubator. It seems to be about 9F lower...not too surprising in a still air incubator and several inches difference in where the readers are located. The humidity reader of the incubator hasn't changed one bit. The other two inside the incubator are saying around 20% humidity. There is an additional digital thermometer/Hygrometer in the room - near to the incubator and at same level as incubator and it has a similar humidity reading as the incubator.
So, looks like the incubator humidity reader might be defective, I don't know - Q: What do you think?. Q: Would the interior of a vented and empty incubator be 25% different in humidity?
Here is what the incubator says:
Digital one. Note the corner of the incubator temp/hydro meter in the left of pic.
non-digital reader in other corner, opposite of the digital one above.
So, my inclination is to believe the 14-16% humidity readings, and not the one in the incubator. Q: Which would you believe? Here the temps are approx 9F different, but when eggs are added, I know that this can change quite a bit due to the mass. So, I don't think I'd adjust the temp more than 1-2F before adding eggs and see where I'm at after a few hours. Q: Is this a good plan to only raise the incubator temp to 101 or 101.5F at first and should it be further adjusted based on the egg level thermometer I've added? My plan is to leave either the digital thermometer - or the non-digital one - in the incubator during incubation.
Regarding heat sinks: Rocks are great and I have 2 options. A few egg sized clean rocks have already been baked for several hours and then cooled in the closed oven. I can sit these in the corners of the incubator. Or I can get some smaller rocks that I can sit on the bottom of the incubator, below the screen. The nice thing about this incubator is that there are 6 channels, that are NOT connected. So I could put dry rocks in the two outer channels and add water to the inner channels if needed. So the rocks would not be holding or wicking too much water for the first 18 days. Q: Which plan is better - rocks below or rocks in the corner on top of the egg grid?
Dry vs Wet: Clearly at 16% humidity, this would be a dry incubation. With eggs added, I assume humdity goes up. Q: So, do I just wait a few hours after eggs added to see if I need to up the humidity to that 40-50% - Or do I just monitor air cell development?
Any input on any or all of my above questions are greatly appreciated.
Thx! Hoping to start incubation on Monday or Tuesday.
Facts: Still-Air Little Giant incubator. No turner. Will mark eggs and am able to turn 3x per day. In a little used room, in a corner with no direct sun, not near the door or heating/cooling vent, so pretty stable environment. Sitting on a very stable nightstand, directly plugged into wall outlet. Already removed the red plugs for full ventilation. Brand new incubator. Its been plugged in for 3 days.
My concerns right now: The incubator has a temp/humidity reader that doesn't seem to jive with the additional ones I added. The eggs will be sitting at bottom of the incubator (not in a turner). So, I have a new digital thermometer/hygrometer in one side, flat on the bottom, and a non-digital temp/hygrometer on the other side. As expected, the temp at this level is lower than the temp stated by the incubator. It seems to be about 9F lower...not too surprising in a still air incubator and several inches difference in where the readers are located. The humidity reader of the incubator hasn't changed one bit. The other two inside the incubator are saying around 20% humidity. There is an additional digital thermometer/Hygrometer in the room - near to the incubator and at same level as incubator and it has a similar humidity reading as the incubator.
So, looks like the incubator humidity reader might be defective, I don't know - Q: What do you think?. Q: Would the interior of a vented and empty incubator be 25% different in humidity?
Here is what the incubator says:
Digital one. Note the corner of the incubator temp/hydro meter in the left of pic.
non-digital reader in other corner, opposite of the digital one above.
So, my inclination is to believe the 14-16% humidity readings, and not the one in the incubator. Q: Which would you believe? Here the temps are approx 9F different, but when eggs are added, I know that this can change quite a bit due to the mass. So, I don't think I'd adjust the temp more than 1-2F before adding eggs and see where I'm at after a few hours. Q: Is this a good plan to only raise the incubator temp to 101 or 101.5F at first and should it be further adjusted based on the egg level thermometer I've added? My plan is to leave either the digital thermometer - or the non-digital one - in the incubator during incubation.
Regarding heat sinks: Rocks are great and I have 2 options. A few egg sized clean rocks have already been baked for several hours and then cooled in the closed oven. I can sit these in the corners of the incubator. Or I can get some smaller rocks that I can sit on the bottom of the incubator, below the screen. The nice thing about this incubator is that there are 6 channels, that are NOT connected. So I could put dry rocks in the two outer channels and add water to the inner channels if needed. So the rocks would not be holding or wicking too much water for the first 18 days. Q: Which plan is better - rocks below or rocks in the corner on top of the egg grid?
Dry vs Wet: Clearly at 16% humidity, this would be a dry incubation. With eggs added, I assume humdity goes up. Q: So, do I just wait a few hours after eggs added to see if I need to up the humidity to that 40-50% - Or do I just monitor air cell development?
Any input on any or all of my above questions are greatly appreciated.
Thx! Hoping to start incubation on Monday or Tuesday.
