Humidity Help with Hatcher Incubator

[Cherterr]

I'm having a humidity issue. I'm trying to get it stable for 3 day lockdown... Friday!
(It IS supposed to rain overnight So. TX, so I'm hoping that and my dehumidify setting on AC fixes this)... BUT:

My (secondary) incubator I want to use JUST TO HATCH 4 little eggs will NOT go below 88%. (Been on for 6 hours NO WATER INSIDE) It's dry inside and it's a Farm Innovations 6300? with no fan, just heater. (My other one with turner and all is fine, but I've put 6 additional eggs in there and don't want to disturb them, so got this one to do the hatching in.)

ARGH!! Any suggestions while I still have time? Or encouraging words on that high a humidity not messing up the chicks. I was planning on following instructions of incubator of 65-75% for the hatch) THANKS YOU!!

 

[mdees88]

Do you have a separate hygrometer that you can verify the humidity with. There's no way an incubator that's 100F with no water in it has 88% humidity inside it... it's probably more like 25-30% inside. Are there vent holes in the incubator? Have you removed them? That would lower the humidity and it increases ventilation which is needed during hatching. BUT I do not in any way believe that the humidity inside your incubator is actually 88%...

 

[Cherterr]

I'd be inclined to agree with you.. but outside today..the humidity SUX!!! It's Ridiculously humid. So Yes.. I DO believe it is accurate. And, as I said, I am setting it for Hatching so temp is @ 103.

I did pull all the plugs and it went down ONE, to 87%

I guess at this point, I'm more interested in Hatching Humidity numbers. As in: How high can it BE without a problem?

I've incubated at factory recommended settings (50-60%) and all is well. Same 'factory' is recommending hatch humidity at 65%-75%.

 

[mdees88]

I live in Lower Alabama so I know how about humidity too, lol.

Is your incubator outside or inside?

My incubator is inside my bathroom and with the shower running hot (room humidity probably around 80%, mirror completely fogged up) the humidity inside my incubator is only 40 something % and that's with a water pan inside my incubator, but i keep my vents pretty open too to keep my humidity low during incubation.

When my incubator gets over much 75% humidity moisture builds up all inside of it.

I feel very confident, like 99.97% confident that the humidity inside your dry incubator is not 88% and is significantly lower.

The thermometers and hygrometers that come on these inexpensive incubators are notorious for being inaccurate.

I guess you do not have a thermometer/hygrometer to check it with?

 

[Cherterr]

Incubator IS inside... and .. Of COURSE I don't have another way to measure it!! lol

At this point, I'm just excited it moved down a point!! lol I posted this at the same time I turned on my de humidifier, and popped off the caps.. so.. maybe it will get better by bedtime.

There seem to be such a difference in so many ppl's preferred ranges of humidity for hatch and incubating... I'm sticking with factory settings for now. (If I can GET it there!)

 

[mdees88]

Yes a lot of people do things a little different. I have never hatched chickens but I have hatched hundreds of quail and pheasants. I used to incubate at 45-50% then lockdown at 65-70%. I have since started incubating at 33% and have improved my hatch rates which were not bad to begin with.

I started measuring the weight of each egg and calculated the weight loss throughout incubation to determine what humidity to run at to get the recommend 12% weight loss for quail eggs. Tracking egg weight is the most accurate way to determine proper humidity settings.

I honestly don't think the humidity can get too high when hatching. The point of high humidity is to keep the membrane moist so the chicks do not get shrink wrapped and can move around inside the shell to zip. The only negative effect of high humidity during lockdown is that the chicks will take a very long time to dry off or may not dry off inside the incubator.

Many people do what's called dry hatches where they do not add water during incubation, but even they have to add water during lockdown to get the humidity up where it needs to be. I've just never heard of anyone not adding water during lockdown.

If I were you I would add water to two or three of the slots during lockdown and just wing it. I would not leave it dry inside the incubator. That's just me though, and I'm no professional. You're more than welcome to try whatever you want and hopefully whatever you do works out well....

 

[mdees88]

Is your other incubator the same kind as this one? Or at least the same type (Styrofoam, still air)? What is the humidity inside it and do you have water inside it?

 

[Cherterr]

Same manufacturer, but it's got a turner and all the bells and whistles. It has a hard plastic outer box and I have consistently added a little water every few days. I've candled eggs and all is well. I've been very happy with it.

It has stayed at 50-60%. A few times I've had to pop off a red cork when it got a little higher.

 

[mdees88]

Cool.

My point is if both incubators are the same overall design, and you keep water inside that one and it is running 50-60% humidity with the plug in then you can be certain that the humidity gauge in your other incubator is inaccurate.

50-60% humidity with water inside and the plug installed sounds correct. If you took all the water out of that incubator, pulled the plug out, and checked the humidity it would probably read 20-30% humidity...... which is what your other incubator is actually running even though it's gauge says 87%.

See what I mean?

 

[Cherterr]

Yeah.....I got pissed off and just added some water. Lol. Tomorrow us another day...Ill get a hydrometer maybe... Or just wing it..but im gonna be unhappy if there are chick issues.