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Hi guys. I am at lockdown with my second hand R-com pro incubator. I'm wondering if anyone out there has an idea what the humidity should read? I have hatched in this before and last time I put warm wet kitchen paper in to bump it up and make hatching easier. I had a good hatch last time, but now, as before, the humidity is reading 23% with 2 days to go. 9 out of 20 have already pipped. Any help would be appreciated, thanks

[doganjo]

What was the weather like last time - that can have an influence too

[Kimbo]

isnt humidity supposed to be a lot higher than that at this stage?

[chrismahon]

Humidity at lockdown should be 75%. Danger here is that if they have already pipped the membrane may have dried out and the chicks have stuck to it. If you haven't got a water pump and good sponge in the evaporator warm kitchen roll well wetted may do.


Don't forget the temperature goes down as well, half a degree to 37.0C.

[doganjo]

I've just realised I turned off my turner a bit too early (Saturday night) - got the Swedish Blue duck eggs from Katy on 14th but took that as the set date whereas it was two days later by the time I cleaned and warmed up the incubator - it's just a  basic octagon 20 with no humidity gauge - I've put a little water in the two small boxes at the end of the tray.

Due to a particularly busy time at work I never got round to weighing or candling so it's a bit of pot luck what happens but i want to give them as best a chance as i can now - what else should i do?

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Thanks for the replies folks!! Temp has gone down to 37 degrees. Weather was much the same as it is today. All the eggs that were fertile last time hatched, although admittedly some took quite a time. One has hatched and it looks like 10 have pipped. I thought humidity should be higher but didn't want to interfere and cause a problem!! It's probably worth putting some warm kitchen roll or a sponge in again by the sound of it I think! Thanks guys

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Hi again. A further update on my hatch. I managed to raise humidity to 35% using cosmetic pads soaked in warm water and placed in the incy and I was very worried that it wasn't high enough. Today is 1 day till hatch day and I've had an explosion of hatching overnight!! So far 15 out of 20 eggs set, one unzipping as I write and another 2 pipped. I'm very relieved, to say the least. This seems to be consistent with my previous hatch. I'm wondering whether I should do the same for further hatches and just keep an eye at lockdown and bump up humidity as much as I can as required. It seems to run at about 19-20% all the way through and chicks seem to develop ok. I never candle so I don't know what I've got till they hatch!!

[doganjo]

It might be the calibration of your meter - it may be functioning but not registering the correct humidity - our Club (CSSA) one did that and Stuart bought a separate meter.

[chrismahon]

I was thinking exactly the same as Doganjo, that the humidity meter reading is faulty. If it was really only 35% humidity the hatch would have been a disaster. We bought a cheap Hygrometer to check ours (Suro20) because it wouldn't get to 75% and it turned out to be a clogged evaporator mat.

[Jukes Mum]

My thermometer broke and my incubator has no humidity reading. So far I have had two successful hatches 9/9 first hatch and 8/9 second hatch. I wonder if we do sometimes worry too much about the technicalities?

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Hi again. Thanks for the replies folks. That would make sense-I think the humidity is a lot higher. Prior to this hatch I replaced the sponge with the proper part from P&T poultry as there was a manky thing in there that looked like a piece of kitchen scourer!! Maybe it is incorrectly calibrated as you suggested. Frankly with the figures I've got I'm amazed anything hatched at all!! We are now just at hatch day and we now have 16 out of 20 eggs set, with 1 pipped and rolling about! Thank you all for your help!!

[doganjo]

OK now all of you cross your fingers that I get baby ducks coming out of my old useless incubator!      I'm off to put in some damp make up remover pads. 

[cloddopper]

This thread prompted me to look up how to set up my new digital thermostatic control unit for my under soil heat bed propagation unit.

 It led me to view  a couple of You Tube videos about the WH7016E digital temp controller 9 purchased from AMAZON about £ 13.00 ) as it is the same method of setting up as my AL8010F unit ( mine can handle 10 amps )

 In the index of popular clips on the right hand side of the YouTube screen I noticed some one giving instructions about setting up a cabinet fridge so that it can be used as a meat curing cabinet that has both temperature , humidity and heat control done very accurately .

  They used an electric atomizer to make the humidity mist  & a very accurate humidistat sensor & a light bulb for the heating ( A ceramic bulb could be used ?).

 Then I found a dangerous practice American chicken farmer who has got a series of three tube clips  showing how he does it ..
His instructions for the programming are very very good ..one of the best I've seen for these type of controller units

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Final count -18!! Think I will use my wet cosmetic pads again next time! Maybe it's a bit Heath Robinson, but it seemed to do the trick!!

[Kimbo]

good for you linda. I hope I do a well as you have!