in my incubator? I have been using an incubator that I made out of a wine cooler about the size of an office refrigerator and my humidity was staying around 87% with a bowl of water on the bottom shelf. I now built a huge wine cooler incubator about 6 feet tall and 2 feet wide and can't seem to get the humidity past 40%. I have the water bowl on a shelf in the middle about half way up from the bottom where the heat coil is and my eggs are just a couple shelves above that.
Any suggestions?
Like Ernie said move the water closer to the heat source... But also you can't expect the same amount of water that keeps the humidity perfect in a 3 cubic foot incubator to keep the same humidity consistent in a 6-8 cubic foot incubator... You must double or triple the amount of water in the bottom to keep the humidity high...
I've never had a need as of yet to upgrade in size for my incubators, but here's an example of how you set up a "refrigerator" size incubator with 1 gallon milk jugs full of water at the bottom.
I spray the inside of my freezer with a sprayer every other day. It puts small drops of water everywhere, and they are easier to evaporate than when the water is in a bowl ( more water surface area in millions of drops, than a bowl). I maintain a water bowl, but the spraying keep the humidity in the 61-70% range really nice.
Then I don't have to mess with the individual containers. The vermiculite stays moist like the day they were put in there.
Good point Jeff, yes I mist as well, and it helps bump the humidity up every quickly! As much as 15%-20% with the first 10 minutes! Within the first 2 weeks I even mist the lid of the container ever so lightly, you don't want water droplets falling onto the eggs!
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask,