I have a wine cooler incubator set up with 11" flexwatt running across the bottom and up the back. The thermostat is set at 89.5 and the probe is against one of the wire shelves about 1/2 way between the front and the back and 1/2 way top to bottom. I have a computer fan hooked up to a variable output plug so I can control the speed somewhat accord to how many volts of power it's being provided. The fan is blowing down the back (across the flexwatt).
I have a 6qt egg tub with vermiculite that's completely soaked until I see water pooling at the top. The eggs are on top of a light diffuser. There's may 3/4" of clearance between the tops of the eggs and the lid of the tub. I have a thermometer/hydrometer combo probe inside the egg tub. I am using a lid on the egg tub, but no holes or press n seal.
Like I said the thermostat is set to 89.5 but I'm only getting 87.4-87.6 inside the egg tub and only 88% humidity. My eggs are looking quite dimpled. Quite a bit more than they were on day 2. They are on day 19 now. I thought maybe the fan was blowing too hard and sucking out my humidity, so I turned it down as low as I can with it still being on, but I still can't get my humidity over 88%.
I hadn't checked my eggs for 2 weeks until last night when I noticed that they were REALLY starting to look dimpled. I'd peeked through the glass at them, but last night I took them out and took the lid off the tub and looked at them. They are firm (hard? I didn't press to hard) but dimpled. They all still candle with good veins.
I'm thinking I shouldn't NEED press n seal since I'm using so much water, but obviously I'm losing humidity somewhere as I had to add water last night.
Should I add more vermiculite to bring the eggs up closer to the top of the tub? Use press n seal? And if I do get my humidity up, will my eggs fill back out being so firm?
Before opening the incubator last night, my temp was holding steady at 87.9 but now I can't get it over 87.6. I know I've been mucking with the fan so this may be affecting it. I'm OK with incubating a little lower and it taking a little longer, I'm mostly concerned with the eggs dimpling.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Sorry for the long read.