Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

found out another thing I did wrong before....soon as I found a chick wasn't out within a short time...I helped...and probably ensured that all the rest would need my help....they were kind of drying fast to the eggshell, will leave that bator shut this time....(sigh) ...(not the most patient person)

ok got another question... I have 4 dozen eggs in a Styrofoam bator...on their 3rd day....already tired of turning so many eggs...can I put an automatic turner in at this point or will I kill the hatch?

I'd put one in. lol. Ya. It does get old fast!!

Better now than later!

I have 2 styrofoam incubators going
One new with auto turner and digital readout
Tomorrow will be day 7. No water in incubator and humidity holding at 49.5
Other bator only has 12 eggs. Turning manually. This one is over 20 years old
Put in a humidity reader and it only reads 20%
Room humidity was at 50% until a few days ago. Now it's 32
They are in basement
I put a large tray of water in room but it did not increase room humidity?
Not sure how else I can bring humidity up
Any ideas

Hanging a load of laundry works for me. : )
Some hygrometers just suck... I have to think that's part of the reason you see so many recommendations all over the web. I would either weigh the eggs or circle the air cell when you candle to check if it's growing correctly. There will always be some learning curve to a new incubator... just have to keep trying to dial it in to what works in your house.

Colleen Kinzie wrote:QR_BBPOST I have 2 styrofoam incubators going
One new with auto turner and digital readout
Tomorrow will be day 7. No water in incubator and humidity holding at 49.5
Other bator only has 12 eggs. Turning manually. This one is over 20 years old
Put in a humidity reader and it only reads 20%
Room humidity was at 50% until a few days ago. Now it's 32
They are in basement
I put a large tray of water in room but it did not increase room humidity?
Not sure how else I can bring humidity up
Any ideas

I would say it's time to add water in to the incubator that reads 20%, when you are candling is a good time, you want the humidity to be 35%-50%
Easier to raise the humidity in the Incubator then in the room, you would have to run a humidifier to do that.

Colleen Kinzie wrote:My new incubator is a styrofoam little giant
Have had it turned on with turner going also with no eggs since noon today
Humidity says 50%
Room humidity is 40%
No water in incubator

The little giant incubators with digital readout will NOT measure humidity even close to correctly if there's no water in the channels. And. the electronics seem to have an issue in humid conditions! Catch 22 with these cheapies. Best investment I ever made was a 6$ indoor/outdoor thermometer/humidity meter off ebay...the probe goes in the incubator, reads internal temperature and relative room humidity. I check the accuracy of the probe end by sticking it in ice water slush. Humidity variations will change temperature readout as well.

Dry hatching does not work for me, except in summer when the humidity is high to begin with. (1588 Hovabator) My wood stove just dries everything right out. Incubation humidity is highly dependant on where you are and what you heat with.
This last hatch I have kept the humidity a constant 42% for the first 18 days (sponge in a dish in bator) and have jacked it up to 65% for the last three days. Hatch is due tomorrow and I am hoping to see a big difference from the last hatch that I tried keeping it around 20-25% and hatched only 6 chicks out of 48 eggs!.
We will see.
I also added another incubator, a chinese cheapie that comes with alarms to let me know when humidity drops...the alarm in the middle of the night is really uncalled for :P
I am planning on using the 1588 as a hatcher if this works out for me. And then I can do staggered hatches because I don't get enough eggs at this point to fill my incubator

hayladee wrote:QR_BBPOST Glad I found this thread....lots of great info!! I'm incubating in the cellar ....of an OLD farmhouse....thinking it should be plenty of humidity. Grandkids played with Styrofoam incubator and lost red hole cap, I have it stuffed with saran wrap to plug it.... after reading your tips I'm thinking I could leave it open.... what are your thoughts? I haven't added water and I'm on day 3

I leave the red plug out until lockdown, that seems to give me just the right humidity.
You can leave it open and watch how much it affects the humidity in your incubator, little bit of tweaking never hurts.