Monitoring humidity in egg tub?

Initial setup was eggs on grate on hatchrite with press n' seal. However it seems my hatchrite was a bit dry, so I had a few start to dimple. I added distilled water to get the humidity back up, and thought I would put the accurite inside the tub so I could read the humidity (been checking temps w. IR gun) but they seem to last 4-ish days before they die. Am I just incredibly unlucky with thermometers? Or is there a better device I can use to measure humidity inside the tub? Thanks!

The eggs themselves are the best gauges of proper humidity, they never lie. That said, I bought one of these this year, for trying out MI:
http://beanfarm.com/product_info.php...oducts_id=5704

It is not super cheap, but it's working really well for me.

Editing to clarify: Yep, the humidity is indeed taken at the probe, so the body of the thermometer can sit outside the cage/incubator/whatever. Its reaction time seems pretty quick, too.

You can use this http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Mini-Dig...item2c6fa8589d

Thank you both, I'm pretty paranoid right now about it, I want to catch it early if it happens again.

So what are the signs to look for? How much dimpling is too much? I noticed a little bit of dimpling in my eggs. Very TINY bumps They were laid 6 days ago. I have a probe and a hygrometer. The probe said 75. The hygrometer says 90. I am wondering if my probe is off.

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Originally Posted by Alicia

The eggs themselves are the best gauges of proper humidity, they never lie. That said, I bought one of these this year, for trying out MI:
http://beanfarm.com/product_info.php...oducts_id=5704

It is not super cheap, but it's working really well for me.

Editing to clarify: Yep, the humidity is indeed taken at the probe, so the body of the thermometer can sit outside the cage/incubator/whatever. Its reaction time seems pretty quick, too.

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Originally Posted by CeeJay

So what are the signs to look for? How much dimpling is too much? I noticed a little bit of dimpling in my eggs. They were laid 6 days ago.

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Eggs should really stay nice and plum throughout most of the incubation process, mine always start dimpling during the last week of incubation sometimes (rarely) starting 2 weeks before hatching.

And don't try this at home but I actually do not measure humidity anymore, I simply have it down to where I know that the humidity is high enough. I have been using the same incubation method for several years tweaking it around to the point that now I have perfect humidity (not too low and not too high which can create too much condensation which can drip back down on the eggs)

Would you consider tiny bumps dimples? Maybe I am confused. The eggs are nice and plump. No deflating. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Eggs should really stay nice and plum throughout most of the incubation process, mine always start dimpling during the last week of incubation sometimes (rarely) starting 2 weeks before hatching.

And don't try this at home but I actually do not measure humidity anymore, I simply have it down to where I know that the humidity is high enough. I have been using the same incubation method for several years tweaking it around to the point that now I have perfect humidity (not too low and not too high which can create too much condensation which can drip back down on the eggs)

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I have a round humidity gauge sitting on the substrate (propped on the side of the tub) right next to the eggs, and it's reading 95%. I'm assuming that's good. I've yet to actually see where it says exactly what the humidity should be inside the tub.

CeeJay, the gauge reading 90% is more likely to be the right one. For most of incubation, as long as the eggs look pretty much as they did the day they were laid, humidity is good.

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Originally Posted by CeeJay

Would you consider tiny bumps dimples? Maybe I am confused. The eggs are nice and plump. No deflating. Thanks.

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Are the bumps raised above the shell, or collapsed in? If the eggs are plump otherwise, keep an eye on it, but I'd be tempted to say it's probably just how they were shelled.

The bumps are raised. Very small. You can't see them unless you are close up. They look nice and plump though. As the OP stated its probably more paranoia than anything else. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Alicia

CeeJay, the gauge reading 90% is more likely to be the right one. For most of incubation, as long as the eggs look pretty much as they did the day they were laid, humidity is good.



Are the bumps raised above the shell, or collapsed in? If the eggs are plump otherwise, keep an eye on it, but I'd be tempted to say it's probably just how they were shelled.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alicia

The eggs themselves are the best gauges of proper humidity, they never lie. That said, I bought one of these this year, for trying out MI:
http://beanfarm.com/product_info.php...oducts_id=5704

It is not super cheap, but it's working really well for me.

Editing to clarify: Yep, the humidity is indeed taken at the probe, so the body of the thermometer can sit outside the cage/incubator/whatever. Its reaction time seems pretty quick, too.

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Thank you, I got this one, they shipped it very quickly, and it's working beautifully.

if you have your eggs on egg grate it really doesn't matter how moist your substrate is .. the more humidity the better .. therefore this is how I do it .. i put SO MUCH WATER in the substrate that it pretty much looks like a swimming pool, when there is so much water that it comes OUT of the substrate that is when i stop, i put the grate on and the eggs on the grate (eggs must not be in contact with the water - this is the only thing that matters) .. the humidty is so high that in a few days there is condensation and huge water drops all over the inside of the box with the eggs .. the only important thing is to make sure the water doesn't drip on your eggs
if you do it like I do you will never need to monitor humidity in the tubs ever again since it's as high as it can possibly get
regards, Andrej