Humidifier for incubation

[huntersdad]

Has anyone ever tried using a humidifier in an incubator for humidity control? I ask this because I tried using one which was connected to a humidity controller that resembles the STC-1000. I set 2 eggs and maintained humidity of 52 to 55 percent for 18 days then 62 to 65 on day 19-21 but had zero hatch. Temperature was maintained via Stc-1000 at 37.7 Celsius with .3 degree drop before coming on. The eggs were both silkie. One pipped and expired and the other never pipped. Both chicks had unabsorbed yolks.

 

[JaeG]

Did you have your vents fully open at hatch time? Leaving them closed is a common mistake and hatching chicks need a lot of fresh air. If the vents are left closed the chicks will suffocate.

Your humidity sounds a bit high for the first phase of incubation. If the egg doesn't lose enough moisture the air cell doesn't grow large enough to provide enough oxygen for the chick until it can make an external pip.

Humidity is the kind of thing that you have to figure out what works for your incubator in its little micro climate. Candling the eggs at regular intervals let's you see whether the air cells are on track, or too big (humidity too low) or too small (humidity too high). It's the overall average that counts so you can adjust up or down as necessary.

Do try again and see how you get on. Once you figure out the perfect settings for your incubator you'll do great. Just make sure you have an independent thermometer and hygrometer that you have tested for accuracy.

How to calibrate a hygrometer:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/calibrating-hygrometer.50678/

How to calibrate a thermometer:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

 

[huntersdad]

I did indeed have vents open. It is a homemade incubator. It has 4 , 1/4 inch holes spaced around the bottom and 2, 7/16 holes at the top. My logic behind ventalation was that fresh air was constantly being introduced by the humidifier which is a ultrasonic version that cycled probably 1 min. Every 2-3 mins. As far as that my only other thought was that I was sending cool air into the bator which could have lowered the temperature. I have a acurite digital thermometer inside but it would not fluctuate quickly enough to know or not. Attached will be the instructions for the hatching eggs I purchased. Being that I'm from the same state I assume that the humidity levels be spot on but seems that's incorrect.

 

[Mosey2003]

That's the same humidity I run and that the universities advise, so I don't think that's the problem.

How big of an incubator is it? You may need more vent holes on the bottom. For instance, my HovaBators are approximately 18" square and I think they have three on each side.

Do you have a fan in there? If so, a circulating fan or something like a computer fan? Those are too strong.

Does the humidifier draw its air from outside? If not, it could just be circulating CO2.

Regardless, with that small amount of eggs, it's hard to definitely tell what went wrong in this specific situation. If I had to give it a guess, I'd surmise you're not getting sufficient air exchange. The idea of vent holes in the bottom is that they pull air in and over the water trays and then the air goes out the top. By substituting a humidifier, you might have altered that process enough to suffocate them.

 

[huntersdad]

I have a 48 quart igloo cooler that was used to make the incubator. The humidifier sits on the outside with a single hose that brings in the humidity via a built in fan in the humidifier.the hose enters towards the top left hand center so any water that reforms is directed downward by gravity. The hose turns once inside the cooler and is tied off behind a computer fan and blows air from left to right across so it disperses the moisture throughout the cooler and is always on even when the humidifiercycles off. I also installed another fan at the top center back of the cooler that has an led so I could look at the eggs even when the 60 watt bulbs are off. My only thought with that particular fan setup was that if one fan is blowing from left to right and the other from back to front that it could cause enough disturbance as to stop some of the air from circulating. I can post some pictures of my setup if it could help in any way.

 

[huntersdad]

I initially started with 8 eggs but after candeling on day 8 only two showed any signs of life.

 

[Mosey2003]

Hmmm.

I'm not good enough with homemade to offer much else. Hopefully someone else will know something.

 

[huntersdad]

Here are a few pictures,

 

[SailingAgape]

I'm way late jumping in because I'm just about to install a vapor fogger myself.

But I did notice you have the controller mounted half in, half out of the box. I had to modify mine halfway through lockdown because I had the same arrangement and moisture built up enough to start shorting/providing erroneous readings...which caused the heat element to start tripping on/of every other second, vs about every 3 minutes that it normally took to maintain pressure to that point, all while indicating I was maintaining 37.5c.

I pulled it out, took it apart and dried it and put it back together with the controller hanging loose outside. No issues since.