How much intervention do these eggs need?

Great news! I feel the humidity will continue to rise and we will be in good shape. Fingers and toes crossed. Nice work.

Fingers, toes, eyes all crossed here LOL

I'll keep updating.

Ummmmm humidity will absolutely not budge above 87%. I added several teaspoons of water to the edges last night and it didn't make a difference. Do I drench the vermiculite now? Add moss to the edges? :rolleye2:

Guys, something about his incubator doesn't make sense. In one of the threads he mentioned that his thermostat is set at 99 and the egg bins are at 88 and 90. That means the incubator isn't insulated well, and it is losing a lot of heat and humidity. I find that if you have a well insulated incubator, set the whole thing at 90, the bins will heat up to that point and then keep the humidity in the incubator high as well, which helps keep the egg bin humidity high. I keep my incubator above 70% and then the bins stay near 100% with the vermiculite.

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Originally Posted by ThePhenom

Guys, something about his incubator doesn't make sense. In one of the threads he mentioned that his thermostat is set at 99 and the egg bins are at 88 and 90. That means the incubator isn't insulated well, and it is losing a lot of heat and humidity. I find that if you have a well insulated incubator, set the whole thing at 90, the bins will heat up to that point and then keep the humidity in the incubator high as well, which helps keep the egg bin humidity high. I keep my incubator above 70% and then the bins stay near 100% with the vermiculite.

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It's a ZooMed Reptibator. It's got a groove on each side just under the lid that I think is letting heat and humidty out. I've considered plugging those up.

I did add wet moss to the egg tubs, just not touching the eggs, and added about half a cup of water to the vermiculite. There's now a decent amount of condensation on the sides, but the humidity is only bumped up to 88%. I know part of my problem is repeatedly opening the tubs, but I'm more afraid of letting the eggs dry out. Very frustrating.

I'm a she, btw :)

Wait, just checked it again. Back down to 86%. Ready to tear all my hair out.

My guess is that your gauge is far from accurate too. And you need to stop messing with the tubs once they are set properly. The more you open the more you let humidity out.

When properly setup you can put the eggs in the incubator and not open the egg tub until one week before eggs are due to hatch.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AerialArtist

It's a ZooMed Reptibator. It's got a groove on each side just under the lid that I think is letting heat and humidty out. I've considered plugging those up.

I did add wet moss to the egg tubs, just not touching the eggs, and added about half a cup of water to the vermiculite. There's now a decent amount of condensation on the sides, but the humidity is only bumped up to 88%. I know part of my problem is repeatedly opening the tubs, but I'm more afraid of letting the eggs dry out. Very frustrating.

I'm a she, btw :)

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Sorry about calling you he! :)

I would seal the incubator the best you can then, and try to get overall incubator humidity to stay up. I use vermiculite in a container, and then I soak it until it is basically a paste / mud type consistency. Then put in a plastic egg grate, and eggs on top of that. This prevents the eggs from directly touching the vermiculite, and I can make it as wet as I want. I then put saran wrap, or cling wrap over the bin, and then put the lid on. This ensures that the humidity cannot escape. Then that all goes into the incubator. My incubator itself is a old wine cooler, with heat tape on the back wall, a fan on the top to circulate air and heat and 4 shelves. I then put a bin full of water at the bottom to help keep incubator humidity up. If I notice the incubator dropping, I will even spray the incubator from time to time. I like to keep it around 70%. Hope this helps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

My guess is that your gauge is far from accurate too. And you need to stop messing with the tubs once they are set properly. The more you open the more you let humidity out.

When properly setup you can put the eggs in the incubator and not open the egg tub until one week before eggs are due to hatch.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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I'm starting to think that has to be the case. I do know that I need to leave the eggs alone, so I'll be sitting on my hands for a while. The fact that there is condensation is somewhat reassuring.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ThePhenom

Sorry about calling you he! :)

I would seal the incubator the best you can then, and try to get overall incubator humidity to stay up. I use vermiculite in a container, and then I soak it until it is basically a paste / mud type consistency. Then put in a plastic egg grate, and eggs on top of that. This prevents the eggs from directly touching the vermiculite, and I can make it as wet as I want. I then put saran wrap, or cling wrap over the bin, and then put the lid on. This ensures that the humidity cannot escape. Then that all goes into the incubator. My incubator itself is a old wine cooler, with heat tape on the back wall, a fan on the top to circulate air and heat and 4 shelves. I then put a bin full of water at the bottom to help keep incubator humidity up. If I notice the incubator dropping, I will even spray the incubator from time to time. I like to keep it around 70%. Hope this helps.

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Haha no worries ;)

Thanks for the tips! I think I may go with the converted wine fridge idea next season.