Stupid question of the day

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Happy
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Stupid question of the day

Post by Happy » Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:32 pm

Hmmm I need that answer too! My humidity is all over the map!!! If someone says this theory is true I'm taking my turner out and unplugging right now! Lol.
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windwalkingwolf
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Stupid question of the day

Post by windwalkingwolf » Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:22 pm

TomK wrote:QR_BBPOST ..here's one..I read just the other day on a "unnamed other forum" cough cough sputter sputter...that if running a still air incubator the humidity is not an issue unless far too high...in fact it suggested virtually zero would work...this true?..can i just unplug my fan?..if so whats the point of running a fan and keeping an eye on the humidity?
Yes, it's true. Unless your room humidity is low. The point of running a fan is to keep a very even temperature throughout the incubator. With a fan, In theory the temperature at the bottom of the egg is the same as at the top, there won't be hot spots in the middle and cold spots at the edges, etc. But the constant moving hot air dries the eggs out, hence the need for water. A hen really doesn't give off a lot of moisture, she just helps hold in what's already in the eggs...but she's not a forced air furnace either. There are pros and cons to either artificial method. Running a still air, you probably won't have to add much if any water, but you have to shuffle eggs around a couple times a day or risk a crappy hatch. You can open the incubator whenever you want and it won't hurt. With a fan, eggs just have to be turned, no playing musical eggs, but you have to watch humidity and should not open during lockdown and hatching.
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Happy
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Stupid question of the day

Post by Happy » Wed Mar 22, 2017 5:13 pm

windwalkingwolf wrote:QR_BBPOST
TomK wrote:QR_BBPOST ..here's one..I read just the other day on a "unnamed other forum" cough cough sputter sputter...that if running a still air incubator the humidity is not an issue unless far too high...in fact it suggested virtually zero would work...this true?..can i just unplug my fan?..if so whats the point of running a fan and keeping an eye on the humidity?
Yes, it's true. Unless your room humidity is low. The point of running a fan is to keep a very even temperature throughout the incubator. With a fan, In theory the temperature at the bottom of the egg is the same as at the top, there won't be hot spots in the middle and cold spots at the edges, etc. But the constant moving hot air dries the eggs out, hence the need for water. A hen really doesn't give off a lot of moisture, she just helps hold in what's already in the eggs...but she's not a forced air furnace either. There are pros and cons to either artificial method. Running a still air, you probably won't have to add much if any water, but you have to shuffle eggs around a couple times a day or risk a crappy hatch. You can open the incubator whenever you want and it won't hurt. With a fan, eggs just have to be turned, no playing musical eggs, but you have to watch humidity and should not open during lockdown and hatching.
Ok so I'm only on day 3 and my humidity is bouncing all over. Bator is in a very chilly (about 58F) and dry basement in a room that doesn't get any sunlight and has no direct heat (baseboard heaters are on very low in other areas of the basement which causes it to be dry-around 48% humidity)
I was trying to follow dry incubation and keep humidity around 45ish. I know it will fluctuate but how much is too much? This unit sets an alarm off when humidity hits 40% (which I can't change) so most mornings the alarm is sounding when I wake up. So I add a few drops of warm water.
We burn wood on the main level of the house and yesterday I let the fire burn out and didn't restart it until supper time. I went down to peek at the Bator and it was at 60%! I do have a cheap back up one inside the incubator as well and it reads similar. Any advice on how to stabilize this?
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Stupid question of the day

Post by XBRIT » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:10 pm

Did you go to the section on here re incubation? Lot of input from many experienced people. One thing I picked up was for the first 18 days to incubate around 30 to 35c. then bump it to 60c/65c once they pip, of course different opinions but every scenario is different, what works with one batch may not work for the next. What type of incubator do you have?
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Stupid question of the day

Post by Happy » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:21 pm

Thx XBRIT yes Ive read almost all of it lol. Thats why I chose the room that I did for set up and fiddled with it in advance with some unfertilized eggs in it. It didn't do any drastic swings like this then of course! On my dummy run humidity sat pretty close to 40% the entire time. I don't mind the humidity dropping to the low 30's but the damned alarm on my incubator sounds off when it drops below 40%. And you can't reset it or turn it off!!! Most annoying thing ever.
I just need to figure out why it's having such drastic swings. It will sit at 40% for hours and then the next I look it's at 52 or 27. There's no water running downstairs...We don't even use that level. Arrrg.
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Stupid question of the day

Post by Ontario Chick » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:25 pm

Happy wrote:QR_BBPOST Ok so I'm only on day 3 and my humidity is bouncing all over. Bator is in a very chilly (about 58F) and dry basement in a room that doesn't get any sunlight and has no direct heat (baseboard heaters are on very low in other areas of the basement which causes it to be dry-around 48% humidity)
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I suspect your problem isn't humidity, but temperature.
The small incubators with little insulation run best at ambient temperature of about 20C
Lower than that and the temperature and humidity inside the incubator is going to be somewhat unstable.
I hope you can turn off the humidity alarm as it's alarming you needlessly. At 40% humidity it could have probably ran another day, before you needed to add water, I don't bother until it's down to 25%-30%
If you add a "bit of water" at 40% it can shoot up to 60% at no time.
At day 3 you still have plenty of time to work out the glitches ;)
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windwalkingwolf
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Stupid question of the day

Post by windwalkingwolf » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:35 pm

The easiest way to keep humiditydown is to Warm it up in the basement. The warmer and more stable the temperature is in the room, the less the humidity will swing. As to how much is too much, I've only ever hatched still air so can't comment about humidity with a fan...I go by ambient room humidity... In my still air setups, I don't​ worry about humidity too much for the first half of incubation but for the second half I start getting nervous at 50. My own experience has been If it hits 55 for 3 or more days, I'll get a couple drowning, swollen chicks, even curled toes. 60 or over and I can expect to lose half of them. But I hatch in a warm(ish) 2nd floor closet...Your humidity needs will depend not only on where the incubator is, but where you live (e.g. stone house, near a lake, etc.), what time of year it is and how many times a day you cook or use a coffee maker. There really is no substitution for trial and error. Well, unless you're using a hen, and even they get it wrong sometimes...Like one time an old girl thought a great nesting spot was right next to the eaves trough downspout :/
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Stupid question of the day

Post by XBRIT » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:43 pm

I have 4 incubators at present, all digital and all I can turn the alarm off simply by pressing any of the buttons, also I can reset the low humidity alarm setting. If yours is digital you should be able to do the same. You don't have to have water flowing but you do have air flow which is constantly at different temperatures as you mention baseboard heaters coming on and off. Can you place the incubator where the temperature is stable, around 60c? at least to see if that would help?
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Happy
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Stupid question of the day

Post by Happy » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:44 pm

Thx OC. It is fully encased in the styrofoam packaging it came with so I had hoped that would allow for the room to stay cool but I guess not. The humidity will go up even when I haven't added water. It will be stable for hours and then boom it goes up. That's why I was thinking it was environmental. When this hatch is over I'm figuring out how to disconnect that alarm lol. It says right in the user manual that it can't be adjusted or turned off. I can temporarily shut it off by pressing a button 7 times but it will re-sound an hour later.
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Stupid question of the day

Post by XBRIT » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:56 pm

Do you have the plastic one, I have 2 of them. They have holes for ventilation which if you use the packaging to insulate you MUST make holes in the packaging where the holes are. Mine have 4 holes. 2 holes either side of the upper part of the lower pan and 2 holes just above the fill line at the lower part of the pan.
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