Still Air Incubator Humidity

[themadbackpacker]

I was wonder what the humidity should be in my OLD Brower Still Air Incubator? I don't have eggs in it yet, as I'm trying to regulate the temp / humidity. It seems to be bouncing between 55% and 40%.

Also, and I would LOVE some help on this one, there is 4 small vent holes (about the size of a marble) on the top, and I have heard talk about closing them off with plastic plugs or tape to help keep the humidity up. Right now they are open. Can anyone give me their 2 pennies worth of information on this? After all, you guys are the EGGsperts! (boooo!)

Thank you so much!

 

[themadbackpacker]

I should mention that this incubator is about 30 years old. Not that it matters, but I don't know if the design was different at that time. Thanks again!

 

[tracecom]

Reducing the circulation in the incubator will increase the humidity...assuming that there is a humidity source in the incubator. However, when you actually have eggs in the incubator, you will need to have some air circulation to avoid depleting the oxygen, so often it's a better idea to increase the humidity by increasing the amount of surface area to which the water is exposed. That is often done by either uncovering more of the water reservoir or by inserting a sponge or other wick into the water. In addition, humidity can be increased by using a fan inside the incubator to move air across the surface of the water. Lots of ways to choose from.

 

[themadbackpacker]

Excellent. The incubator came with a single dish that was very very small, and I know my father had issues with hard hatches due to lack of humidity, so I placed 2 additional dishes of the same size in there as well in hopes to boost the amount. It seems to be holding around 50%. Do you think this would be a good level to keep during the incubation and hatching period? Or should I just play it by ear depending on the situation?

Thanks for the quick reply by the way. Advise is always welcome in this house.

 

[tracecom]

The common wisdom is 45-50% during the first 18 days and then 60-65% or so for the last three. I run mine a little more humid than this...mid 50's and then close to 70 during lockdown. However, there are lots of opinions including a thing called dry hatching. Mississippi State University has a series of publications on their Web site that provide good info. Go there and search for chicken related words if you like to read. http://msucares.com/pubs/index.html