[GribinIsaf]

We have always had good success with batches of hen eggs in the incubator but we have been less successful with ducks - quite a large percentage of eggs failing at the end of incubation period.

This time we are going to try and monitor humidity more accurately.  Reading a few things today Brinsea's information is very scathing about the accuracy of common or garden digital hygrometers.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thank you.

[F.CUTHBERT]

i think before worrying about how accurate the hygrometer is you would need to know what the correct humidity you are trying to achieve is. I have seen massively different recommendations and would not know which was right.
After reading a bit on here i now follow the weight loss rather than the humidity.
I would guess the old wet bulb ones would be the most accurate if a bit fiddly to work.

[Eve]

I use this one:


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0007W1EA6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Plus another one from Amazon, TFA 305026 or 305027, can't remember.


Plus a thermometer calibrated by Brinsea which is the best I've come across. Expensive but it's a hobby (my argument is always that playing gold costs more  ).


I tried quite a few thermometers and hygrometers, some were too big to be able to read as they had to be sideways (size was not mentioned on website) or their shape was such that it couldn't be used in the incubator.


One thing to keep in mind is that hygrometers take a while to adjust their readings when you've opened the incubator, or, in the case of the new Brinsea Advanced models, they're just had their 60 minute cooling period.


Good luck 

[GribinIsaf]

I use this one:


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0007W1EA6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Plus another one from Amazon, TFA 305026 or 305027, can't remember.

Many thanks Eve, what I wanted - a recommendation for something that someone found reliable.

Now - in the light of an earlier comment - what is your humidity plan for duck eggs!

Thanks
Stephen

[GribinIsaf]

i think before worrying about how accurate the hygrometer is you would need to know what the correct humidity you are trying to achieve is. I have seen massively different recommendations and would not know which was right.
After reading a bit on here i now follow the weight loss rather than the humidity.
I would guess the old wet bulb ones would be the most accurate if a bit fiddly to work.

Having done more reading myself I can see you are right.  Eggs went in incubator yesterday and weighing regime in place.  Doesn't matter if the hygrometer is not bang accurate as it will be used to monitor relative change if that is necessary to keep the weight loss heading for 14%

[GribinIsaf]

Well, so much for trying to control weight loss.  Two lots of six duck eggs from different sources to bring new blood to our flock of Cayugas.  Weighing every day and adjusting  humidity to track a 14% final loss (graph should be attached!).  Then we increased the humidity for the last couple of days

One half-dozen and five infertile eggs - so not our fault.  The sixth did hatch ok but quickly ailed
From the second half dozen we had two successful hatchings but the other four failed during the final stages - which is our fault.

So we have a brooder set up with two ducklings - and what are the chances of getting females!

We are going to put some of our own eggs in the incubator now - they will be fertile (we have verfy enthusiastic drakes) but how can we stop this late failure in development?

[Charlie1234]

I dont think keep opening the incubator is very good for the eggs as every time you do so it drops the temp + humidity,I would Try and find a decent reptile hygrometer as i know a few people that use them cheap chinese ones from ebay but they are useless and are accurate to within 5`c  + or -   


Theres an incubator thermometer available on ebay that is 0.1% accurate as it only works between 32`c - 42`c
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CHICKTEC-INCU-TEMP-DIGITAL-INCUBATOR-THERMOMETER-Poultry-Range-32-43-Degrees-C-/201487121915?hash=item2ee9917dfb:g:LqMAAOSwmCVY-2wn

A good hygrometer..( In my opinion)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reptile-Humidity-Heating-Aquatic-Propagator-Digital-Hygrometer-with-Remote-Probe-/121835858493?hash=item1c5dfbaa3d:g:0poAAOSwnipWaXVJ

[Eve]

By late stage you mean the last few days, right? Chicks fully developed?
Did you have a look inside the failed eggs afterwards and if so, what did it look like? Egg yolk absorbed?

You can open the incubator every day without a problem (the hen leaves her nest daily too) except avoid opening it for the last 3 days and definitely don't do it when any eggs have pipped.
If you did that then another cause could be that the chicks grew too fast and had no space to turn to get in the right position for hatching (assuming ducks need to do that the way chickens do), though if they were at the right weight for their breed then that wouldn't explain it either

I've only done the weighing system once, all the other hatches I've done by humidity measurements alone (and both fertility and hatching rate of our own birds is 90-95%).

What a shame about your hatch 

[GribinIsaf]

By late stage you mean the last few days, right? Chicks fully developed?
Did you have a look inside the failed eggs afterwards and if so, what did it look like? Egg yolk absorbed?

You can open the incubator every day without a problem (the hen leaves her nest daily too) except avoid opening it for the last 3 days and definitely don't do it when any eggs have pipped.
If you did that then another cause could be that the chicks grew too fast and had no space to turn to get in the right position for hatching (assuming ducks need to do that the way chickens do), though if they were at the right weight for their breed then that wouldn't explain it either

I've only done the weighing system once, all the other hatches I've done by humidity measurements alone (and both fertility and hatching rate of our own birds is 90-95%).

What a shame about your hatch 

Right, setting of a batch of our own duck eggs in the incubator - determined to get a good result! (We have always had good success rates with hen eggs, only had problems with ducks)

There seem to be two schools of thought on managing the process: by humidity or by weight loss.

The problems with just relying on hygrometer readings seem to be (1) the reliability of cheap non-scientific ones to give accuracy on absolute humidity seems questionable and (2) is it possible to know the humidity required for specific eggs anyway?  (see this: https://poultrykeeper.com/incubating-and-hatching-ducks/what-humidity-should-i-use-to-hatch-duck-eggs/ )


Tracking weight loss seems more controllable. ie making small changes in the humidity (which because they are relative can be done with a cheap hygrometer) - which is why we were disappointed in our result last time.


We use a Brinsea incubator which has its own glass thermometer which is presumably accurate.
The egg yolk was not absorbed in the failed eggs (apart from one) so most of them did not fail right at the end.


So, just 28 days to wait.

[Eve]

We had a secondhand Brinsea with the reading being 1.5C out once 
Always calibrate and check against high end thermometer and hygrometer! Once you've got those 2 right you can't go wrong. Remember to let therm/hygrometer settle for at least 1h before adjusting temp / hum.
Also, stick to humidity according to Brinsea manual as this is specifically with their models in mind, they list the humidity for a range of birds in the instructions.

Good luck! 

[GribinIsaf]

We had a secondhand Brinsea with the reading being 1.5C out once 
Always calibrate and check against high end thermometer and hygrometer! Once you've got those 2 right you can't go wrong. Remember to let therm/hygrometer settle for at least 1h before adjusting temp / hum.
Also, stick to humidity according to Brinsea manual as this is specifically with their models in mind, they list the humidity for a range of birds in the instructions.

Good luck! 

Thanks Eve.