Trouble with controlling humidity

[debby07]

Hey this is my 4th hatch and as i do more my results are getting better but im having alot of trouble controlling the humidity. I will attached a photo of my incubater. I have a hygrometer inside and it controls temp itself. I have no idea how much water to add so ive just started a little at a time but the humidity is constantly spiking to 65 and the dropping to 20 and it dosnt matter how little water i put in or how frequent it seems to just do its own thing. I have no manual for this incubater. Has anyone got any advice.

I did caliberate my hygrometer with the salt test.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Are you putting water in a trough? Is there several troughs with some smaller than others? Humidity is directly proportional to surface area of water. I ask how and where your putting the water because if it's the same trough all the time then yes, that same surface area if covered by a mm of water or inch of water will result in same humidity until it starts to dry out. Depth of water in any given container only means time before it dries up. It's the surface area of water that controls humidity. If the incubator has different size bottom troughs then try the smallest one only and see what that does.

For example, I live in New England and hatch time is wet spring. For my incubator in this environment a shot glass of water sitting in it will raise the RH to mid to high thirties. My goal is 30% RH during the first 18 days of incubation. To average this I let the water dry out and run incubator dry for a day before filling shot glass again. This spring that means the RH is fluctuating from 15% to 38% which averages darn close to my target. Around day 14 I'll candle and make a final check of air cell size, if still too small will run dry until day 18 when humidity is put to 70-75% RH. Or if air cells are on large size will keep the shot glass full until day 18 to retard the air cell growth. If you ever want to stop the growth completely just up to hatching humidity for remainder of incubation. At 70% RH eggs wont lose any moisture.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

These type diagrams are meant to be a guide not exacting. The key of it all to remember is the egg needs to lose enough moisture to grow an air cell large enough for chicks to internally pip heads into and breath prior to pipping the shell. Gauging humidity all through incubation prior to hatch is in essence to grow the air cell. Not overly large and not so small they drown when moving into position before piping shell. 25-35% RH will get you close. Since you've been running wet it's a good idea to run dry for many days to get back on track.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Are you putting water in a trough? Is there several troughs with some smaller than others? Humidity is directly proportional to surface area of water. I ask how and where your putting the water because if it's the same trough all the time then yes, that same surface area if covered by a mm of water or inch of water will result in same humidity until it starts to dry out. Depth of water in any given container only means time before it dries up. It's the surface area of water that controls humidity. If the incubator has different size bottom troughs then try the smallest one only and see what that does. For example, I live in New England and hatch time is wet spring. For my incubator in this environment a shot glass of water sitting in it will raise the RH to mid to high thirties. My goal is 30% RH during the first 18 days of incubation. To average this I let the water dry out and run incubator dry for a day before filling shot glass again. This spring that means the RH is fluctuating from 15% to 38% which averages darn close to my target. Around day 14 I'll candle and make a final check of air cell size, if still too small will run dry until day 18 when humidity is put to 70-75% RH. Or if air cells are on large size will keep the shot glass full until day 18 to retard the air cell growth. If you ever want to stop the growth completely just up to hatching humidity for remainder of incubation. At 70% RH eggs wont lose any moisture.

These type diagrams are meant to be a guide not exacting. The key of it all to remember is the egg needs to lose enough moisture to grow an air cell large enough for chicks to internally pip heads into and breath prior to pipping the shell. Gauging humidity all through incubation prior to hatch is in essence to grow the air cell. Not overly large and not so small they drown when moving into position before piping shell. 25-35% RH will get you close. Since you've been running wet it's a good idea to run dry for many days to get back on track.

Xs 2 except I use a wet sponge for humidity if I need it and I candle regularly instead of day 7/14/18.

 

[debby07]

Thankyou so much for eplaining that to me . There are very large grooves in the bottom of incubater too larger area for the water which made the humidity far too high. I was putting in maybe 20ml of water into the trough but like you explain it dried out far too quickly and the the humidity would drop rapidly. I have put some water in a shot glass and the humidty is at a steady 30-35. This is day 6. Do you think it would be ok to leave it at this or get it a bit higher?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thankyou so much for eplaining that to me . There are very large grooves in the bottom of incubater too larger area for the water which made the humidity far too high. I was putting in maybe 20ml of water into the trough but like you explain it dried out far too quickly and the the humidity would drop rapidly. I have put some water in a shot glass and the humidty is at a steady 30-35. This is day 6. Do you think it would be ok to leave it at this or get it a bit higher?

I run 30-35% on the average and only adjust if my air cells tell me I need to.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Thankyou so much for eplaining that to me . There are very large grooves in the bottom of incubater too larger area for the water which made the humidity far too high. I was putting in maybe 20ml of water into the trough but like you explain it dried out far too quickly and the the humidity would drop rapidly. I have put some water in a shot glass and the humidty is at a steady 30-35. This is day 6. Do you think it would be ok to leave it at this or get it a bit higher?

I've no idea where you live so can't say if only a shot glass of water sitting in there will give you around 30% RH. What I suggest you do is run the incubator dry for 3 or 4 days. You've been running wet this first week so letting them lose more moisture over the next few days is a good idea. In that time you'll know what your base line RH is. Your home environment air running into the incubator and raised to 99F will have a base line RH. You may find your incubator runs 25% RH with only eggs in it and that would be fine to run dry like that for rest of incubation time. If you determine it needs more moisture it will take a few tries finding the right size container, one that fits and also has the right amount of surface area. Now you know it's surface area so it's just a matter of figuring out how much you need. For hatching time when RH is put to 70% those in arid areas or if still heating home without humidifiers have trouble getting enough water in there. All troughs in bottom full and still too low and that's where sponges work well. Size of wet sponge and all that surface area the outside of sponge has.

Good luck on your hatch.