The Poultry Keeper

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7348 Location: isle of lewis

i've had problems with my incubator for a couple of years in 2 years i've managed to hatch out 2 chicks ,so not good Crying or Very sad

,i've brought a humditymeter thingy ,and guess what Shocked

to get my humidity to 35% i've got to fill both water toughs and an egg cup ,the temps stable now and so is the humidity , how on earth am i going to get it higher for hatching if i put anymore eggcups in it there will be no room for the chicks Confused

,day 7 now and i'm going to candle tonight ,i really hope they hatch as i need more hens,
suz

grinningchicken · Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 12

Don't worry - as they hatch, they will generate humidity anyway.
Also, it's good not to have too much humidity on hatching day (you need some to stop them sticking to the shells), but they can actually drown if their airsack isn't large enough, or has water in it. All the best with the hatching - I hope it goes really well.

NannyP · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 10:12 am Post subject:

To someone with next to know knoweldge, it sounds to me like you have a small leak somewhere, which is allowing the humidity to pass out of the Inc. If, you didn't have eggs in there, I would have suggested that you did a smoke test, to see if the smoke would escape anywhere.
IMHO it sounds like a new Incubator might be your best option.
Hopefully someone will come along with more knowledge Confused

Since there doesn't seem to be a delete button, I've reduced this to it's insignificant, wrong information Embarassed

Cor, that's cool Cool

George · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 5661 Location: London

Hi Suz,

What I did to raise the humidity in mine, was put in a bit of damp kitchen towel, and keep the water trough filled.

Remember colder air can carry more moisture than warm air so the minute you open the incubator the warmer air moves into the room allowing cooler air in (which naturally has a lower humidity rate.

Incubators aren't air-tight so there will always be a small amount of loss (which is why you have to keep topping up the water tanks)

hope this helps a little
All the best
George

Knobby · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 4:32 pm Post subject:

Hi Milkmaid......I struggle to get the Humidity over 50% with both troughs filled and extra rags dipped into the water......But as has been said, as soon as the first little chickie is out, the humidty goes high on its own.....Try not to worry too much...... Very Happy