varied answers about humidity what do you recommend ? + showing off fridge bator

[yinepu]

I wondered about that too. We are all so fussy about incubating our eggs and chickens do it without help. Everyone says that shouldn't store eggs for longer than 7 days, what about when the chickens lay eggs for longer and then lay on them. Sometimes I "think" humans over think things.....

That's because nature hardwired birds to hatch their own eggs.. people like to come along and "play god" to try to do what birds do naturally... yes studies have been done stating that eggs need to be PROPERLY stored to help slow degradation of the egg... but most people don't even know how to store eggs properly. Birds seem to have a pretty good grasp on it .. and they never bothered to read the studies.. lol
I have seen muscovy ducks store eggs in the dirt where she decided to build her nest.. at least 20 days later when they have a nice pile of 20 eggs or so the hen decides to start setting the clutch.. and by the time she's done she ends up with 20 ducklings waddling around after her..

 

[Bill 101]

Quote:
AAAAAAA, NOPE? That is the problem I have understanding

I can understand if you set you incubator in an unheated area & then turn on the heat, you humidity will be affected, but , bear with me here -- I contend that it doesn't make any difference what your ambient humidity is, inside, outside, in a building or in a room. The humidity readings are INSIDE an incubator which already accounts for low or high humidity surrounding it. Granted, it would change somewhat when drastic changes occurred outside of the bator, but as long as it stayed relatively constant, the fact that you had Fish tanks in the house, or rain/snow outside would make little difference because those factors have already been accounted for.. NOW, something else, I've never incubated in an area that wasn't heated by AC/Forced air heating set at 68 degrees, so that may explain a whole lot of things. However most incubator manufactures recommend incubating in an area that is at least (I think) 70 degrees. My incubators don't have a problem at 65 degrees, but it would depend on heat loss of the bator+ the heating capability of the heater as to whether it could keep up with lower temperatures
Back to you LOL

 

[ozexpat]

AAAAAAA, NOPE? That is the problem I have understanding

I can understand if you set you incubator in an unheated area & then turn on the heat, you humidity will be affected, but , bear with me here -- I contend that it doesn't make any difference what your ambient humidity is, inside, outside, in a building or in a room. The humidity readings are INSIDE an incubator which already accounts for low or high humidity surrounding it. Granted, it would change somewhat when drastic changes occurred outside of the bator, but as long as it stayed relatively constant, the fact that you had Fish tanks in the house, or rain/snow outside would make little difference because those factors have already been accounted for.. NOW, something else, I've never incubated in an area that wasn't heated by AC/Forced air heating set at 68 degrees, so that may explain a whole lot of things. However most incubator manufactures recommend incubating in an area that is at least (I think) 70 degrees. My incubators don't have a problem at 65 degrees, but it would depend on heat loss of the bator+ the heating capability of the heater as to whether it could keep up with lower temperatures
Back to you LOL

my turn

I agree with you on the theory of humidity Bill

I agree with yin though on knowing your bator.

I hatch in 2 separate countries. In the Philippines, I cannot get humidity below 50% in my bator. period. In the USA I run at 20%. I get higher hatch rates so far in the USA - but I have to factor in shipping the eggs 7200 miles.

egg weight loss is most critical.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

AAAAAAA, NOPE? That is the problem I have understanding

I can understand if you set you incubator in an unheated area & then turn on the heat, you humidity will be affected, but , bear with me here -- I contend that it doesn't make any difference what your ambient humidity is, inside, outside, in a building or in a room. The humidity readings are INSIDE an incubator which already accounts for low or high humidity surrounding it. Granted, it would change somewhat when drastic changes occurred outside of the bator, but as long as it stayed relatively constant, the fact that you had Fish tanks in the house, or rain/snow outside would make little difference because those factors have already been accounted for.. NOW, something else, I've never incubated in an area that wasn't heated by AC/Forced air heating set at 68 degrees, so that may explain a whole lot of things. However most incubator manufactures recommend incubating in an area that is at least (I think) 70 degrees. My incubators don't have a problem at 65 degrees, but it would depend on heat loss of the bator+ the heating capability of the heater as to whether it could keep up with lower temperatures
Back to you LOL

And commercial incubators and hatchers are in climate controlled rooms

If there was no need for the room to be climate controlled why would they spend the money to heat, cool, and maintain humidity in the large buildings that house the incubators... hint.. it isn't for the comfort of their employees!

during the summer when it is extremely dry here (16% relative humidity on average .. and we do not use AC during the summer so our home is far from being climate controlled).. I have to add MORE moisture to the bator to get the air cells to stay on track. Our home temperatures can range anywhere from the 50's to over 100 .. And I am sure not every person lives in a climate controlled home..

by the way... the incubators do draw in air from whatever room they are in.. otherwise there would be no need for vents.

in all.. I still say that ignoring the hygrometer and going by egg weight loss or air cell size is THE best way to determine if more moisture needs to be added to an incubator or not.

You can sit here and argue humidity all day it's not going to change the fact that if the air cells are too small or if egg weight loss has not been great enough there will be issues with drowned or sticky chicks at hatch

 

[Bill 101]

Quote: Hi Yinepu --- I thought that is what an incubator was, a mini version, without little people running around inside, of course. You have the outside (walls) & all the stuff that they have inside on a much smaller scale. The more money you put into them the more "bells & whistles" you get. The fancy ones have micro processors that control heat & humidity. The funny thing about those, they have regular thermometers & wet bulbs on the clear view front door. Kinda of an oxy moron situation where you have a COMPUTER running the machine, but you have a plain old thermometer & wet bulb checking the computer (Thermometers are actually calibrated/certified units) The more expensive units also have controls on the outside, for instance GQF added a 5 gallon water bucket with tubing running to the water pan that has a float control, there by eliminating the need to open the door to fill the water pan, so then all their controls were on the outside.
But my point is that I have always though of an incubator as a climate controlled room & it's up to the operator to set everything for the proper development of chicks.

What controls heat & humidity in a commercial hatchery? I mean is it manually (people) or computer? I could sure see where a computer, through duct work, filters, baffles & sensors could do a really good job. Probably with in a 1/2 degree, probably less. Pretty expensive but really efficient. One person at a computer could control the whole climate control operation

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

Hi Yinepu --- I thought that is what an incubator was, a mini version, without little people running around inside, of course. You have the outside (walls) & all the stuff that they have inside on a much smaller scale. The more money you put into them the more "bells & whistles" you get. The fancy ones have micro processors that control heat & humidity. The funny thing about those, they have regular thermometers & wet bulbs on the clear view front door. Kinda of an oxy moron situation where you have a COMPUTER running the machine, but you have a plain old thermometer & wet bulb checking the computer (Thermometers are actually calibrated/certified units) The more expensive units also have controls on the outside, for instance GQF added a 5 gallon water bucket with tubing running to the water pan that has a float control, there by eliminating the need to open the door to fill the water pan, so then all their controls were on the outside.
But my point is that I have always though of an incubator as a climate controlled room & it's up to the operator to set everything for the proper development of chicks.

What controls heat & humidity in a commercial hatchery? I mean is it manually (people) or computer? I could sure see where a computer, through duct work, filters, baffles & sensors could do a really good job. Probably with in a 1/2 degree, probably less. Pretty expensive but really efficient. One person at a computer could control the whole climate control operation

At the hatcheries where I worked the climate controlled rooms were all computerized. The individual hatchers and incubators inside those rooms were also computerized. they had four to five people (shift work 24/7- 365 days a year) who monitored the computers.

 

[PrairieRidge]

That's because nature hardwired birds to hatch their own eggs.. people like to come along and "play god" to try to do what birds do naturally... yes studies have been done stating that eggs need to be PROPERLY stored to help slow degradation of the egg... but most people don't even know how to store eggs properly. Birds seem to have a pretty good grasp on it .. and they never bothered to read the studies.. lol
I have seen muscovy ducks store eggs in the dirt where she decided to build her nest.. at least 20 days later when they have a nice pile of 20 eggs or so the hen decides to start setting the clutch.. and by the time she's done she ends up with 20 ducklings waddling around after her.. 

I know i had 2 turkeys hide 30 eggs. It is amazing to me that they canget them to hatch after all that time and we can't

 

[Bill 101]

I've wondered how birds, of all types, do it too. I've seen clutches way to big for them to cover, hens pushing eggs in the front only to have them push out the back & still hatch all or most of them. Even if they lay an egg a day, lay 15 eggs, that's 15 days & yet we suggest incubating nothing over 10 days old. I don't know where the 10 days came from, but probably from some "poultry god" Course it's something I shouldn't criticize, I follow that rule. Anybody set eggs over 10 days old? If so what is the oldest eggs you've set with good results?

 

[yinepu]

I've wondered how birds, of all types, do it too. I've seen clutches way to big for them to cover, hens pushing eggs in the front only to have them push out the back & still hatch all or most of them. Even if they lay an egg a day, lay 15 eggs, that's 15 days & yet we suggest incubating nothing over 10 days old. I don't know where the 10 days came from, but probably from some "poultry god" Course it's something I shouldn't criticize, I follow that rule. Anybody set eggs over 10 days old? If so what is the oldest eggs you've set with good results?

21 day old eggs...

I did have them stored though.. with turning them once a day.. haven't tried setting any older than that...... yet

 

[Bill 101]

NEXT QUESTION ----

HOW did you store them. What was the temperature (ambient) Have you done this during mid summer (90 + degrees)? 21 days is amazing.