Condensation In Eggs Tubs

[ama1997]

How do you deal with it? Ive set up some egg boxes. No eggs yet, but soon. I was wondering. What kind of things people do to help with this? Ive noticed that my boxes with no eggs have had tons of water on the tops. If its not to bad ill put a piece of paper towel over the eggs and change every few days.

What does everyone else do to stop the eggs from getting to wet? Or how do you stop all the condensation from forming on the lids of your egg tubs?

[tigerlily]

It sounds like you may have a bit too much moisture in the tub.

My first attempt at mixing vermiculite had just a bit of moisture collecting on the top. I would just wipe it off with a paper towel when I went to air out eggs. Last year, I never did have a lot of condensation on the top, and I didn't worry about the small bit on the sides. I just tried to keep the water from dripping on the eggs.

[ama1997]

My mix is pretty good. If anything it might be a bit dry.I don't measure it out or anything. I just add water until it feels right to me. I have a little bit of condensation in most of the boxes, but not as much as I found in the one tub. I just wanted to see what other people did to fix the problem.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

I asked this same thing a couple of months ago and you will not believe how simple the answer was.... Take your thermostat probe out of the egg box! just set it on the shelf of the incubator instead. This will make it so the outside of the egg box does not get colder then the inside. Bingo.

[m00kfu]

Mike hit it right on the nose. Condensation forms due to the difference in temperature inside the egg box and outside the eggbox. Get the temperature in the incubator where you want it and after a while the temperatures in the eggboxes will stabilize and match it. That's why it's recommended to have your incubator up running for at least a few weeks before you get eggs. It can sometimes take a day or two for the temperatures to all sync up and stabilize.

[Drew87]

Very good info thanks everyone

[dmaricle]

thats what we are rushing to do here. we are trying to get our incubator up and running asap. but now i have to order heat tape and wait like a week to get it.

[ama1997]

I asked this same thing a couple of months ago and you will not believe how simple the answer was.... Take your thermostat probe out of the egg box! just set it on the shelf of the incubator instead. This will make it so the outside of the egg box does not get colder then the inside. Bingo.

My probe just hangs down to the middle of the Incubator. My tubs are sealed with press and seal. I use the wireless thermometers. So I don't have any wires running through my tubs.

Mike hit it right on the nose. Condensation forms due to the difference in temperature inside the egg box and outside the eggbox. Get the temperature in the incubator where you want it and after a while the temperatures in the eggboxes will stabilize and match it. That's why it's recommended to have your incubator up running for at least a few weeks before you get eggs. It can sometimes take a day or two for the temperatures to all sync up and stabilize.

Ive had my Incubator and egg boxes set up for about a month or so now. So everything is stable I guess Ill have to do some tweaking. Its only the one egg box the top left one. The rest of them are normal. But that one has some big drops of water forming on the press and seal. I only check on them once a week. Make sure temps are good and not to much water. So Its not like im opening it 10 times a day. Anyways Ill have to see what I can do. Thanks

[Mike Cavanaugh]

What kind of thermostat are you using? Proportional or On / Off?

If you are using On / Off that may be the problem.

The only thing that causes condensation to build on the walls of the egg box is when the temperature in the egg box is higher then the temperature outside. If your flexwatt keeps going from very hot to very cold, not only will your temps be unstable, but it will also cause the cooler temps outside the egg box.

1.) use a proportional thermostat.
2.) put as many bottles of water in the incubator as possible. They work wonders in creating a much more stable temperature.
3.) make sure you have one or two computer fans circulating the air inside the incubator.

Mike

[Bluebead]

Keep the condensation off of the eggs!!!!!!!!
The eggs are covered with a coating as they are passed thru the vent that protects them from bacteria etc. Condensation could wash some of this coating away. It is a pretty tough coating but anything that weakens it is to be avoided.
Without that coating they will not make it to hatching... this is why eggs removed surgically from the mother dont survive.

It sounds like you have an air circulation problem in that corner of your incubator.... do you have fans in there?