Proper temperature and humidity levels are very important for a successful incubation. If either one of these numbers are significantly off it can ruin an entire incubator full of eggs. In this blog post, we will go over 5 tips for more accurate manual humidity control while incubating. Make sure you have done your research and understand the basics of incubation, it is important to have some knowledge of what you are doing before you even think about firing up your incubator.
- Making sure you have the proper tools is important to any successful incubation. To properly read your humidity levels you will want to use a hygrometer. This is a tool for measuring humidity levels and is a necessity for incubation. Accurately knowing your humidity levels will help to increase hatch rates.
- Most incubators come with a built-in water reservoir in the base of the unit…many of these bases have several small reservoirs for holding water. We suggest starting with the smallest water reservoir, add enough water to fill it and then let your incubator run for about 30 minutes. After the unit has had time to warm up and stabilize check your readings. You may find that your readings are too low, if this is the case add water to the next reservoir and repeat the above process. If your readings are too high you can add a new dry sponge to the incubator to help absorb any excess moisture.
- All reservoirs filled and still low on humidity? Add a shallow/wide container of water to the incubator or, if there is not enough room a clean wet sponge will do the trick. Remember its surface area not depth that affects humidity production.
- Need less humidity but you only have water in the smallest reservoir? To cut down on the exposed surface area of the water and reduce humidity levels add some pieces of styrofoam to the reservoir.
- Several different models of incubators require you to remove the lid to add more water to the reservoirs. This can cause dramatic fluctuations in temperature and humidity. By attaching a 12 inch length of aquarium airline hose to the end of a clean condiment style squeeze bottle you can fill the reservoirs via the vent hole on the top of the incubator.