Incubator temperature

Colleen Kinzie · Post by **Colleen Kinzie** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 11:03 pm

Getting ready for my second batch of eggs to go in incubator
Remember my first hatch was late
Took 2-3 days for hatch to complete
Well I've been reading everyone's posts about incubating
One is to not trust the digital readout on the incubator
I put in 2 thermometers in addition to digital readout
Digital reads 99.5. Both thermometers inside only read 94 and 94.5
They are on incubator floor.
Digital readout hangs to about where top of eggs would be when in turner
So I guess I should put turner in then thermometers on top to get a more accurate reading
Also humidity. This hatch will be 3 weeks after last batch hatched. So do I do anything different with that because of temperature change in house. ie. No furnace running or wood stove going?
Also Kathy. You have me scared now. I sprayed my foam incubator with half water half bleach. I did rinse it out with hose. Then left in sun all day to dry? Is this good enough or will I have the same trouble you did with using bleach?
OMG. I might have to delay this batch until I get everyone's feedback

Post by **Home Grown Poultry** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 12:40 am

Ya definitely put your turner in and get your extra thermometers up to the height of the eggs. I run mine at 100ºF, 45% humidity for the duration of incubation and 60% at lockdown.

I dont think you have to worry about the bleach as it sounds like you rinsed it out very well. and oh also the sun breaks down bleach so you certainly have nothing to worry about.

Good Luck!

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:48 am

Colleen is yours a still air incubator, or do you have a fan in it? Still air incubators are supposed to run at a higher temperature than circulated air ones.

Post by **WLLady** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 8:38 am

if your incubator doesn't stink when you close it up for an hour running it is rinsed enough.

sunlight does indeed break down bleach, so it's probably just fine. when i did my oops i knew right away....i opened the incubator to add water and the bleach stench was awful. so if you don't smell that, don't worry.

yep, like al said, put in the turner, raise the thermometers up on top of it, and then read. if it's a forced air you want 99.5 or so at that level. if it's a still air, the tops of the eggs are at 99.5-you may need to set the thermostat to 101 or 100.5 to get 99.5 at the top of the eggs because only convection will move the air around, and the bottom of the incubator will be cooler than the top. I incubate at 100F in forced air, so there is a little bit of play with the temperature.

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 9:19 am

After a season of taking notes on pretty much everything, my final and definitive temperature inside forced air Hovabator is kept at 99.7-100 , which gives me first pip at day 20 of incubation and saves me one day of agony.

Colleen Kinzie · Post by **Colleen Kinzie** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 1:34 pm

Ok thanks everyone. It has a fan in it
I'll check temps again after I put turner in and see what I get

Colleen Kinzie · Post by **Colleen Kinzie** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 9:09 pm

Now I have 3 different temperature readings
Incubator readout 99.1
Another digital thermometer/hydrometer reads 98.4
The other thermometer reads 97
So with the results of my first hatch would you put the digital incubator readout up by 1 full degree or only 1/2?
Thoughts
Also what about the humidity Do you all change how you do humidity with warmer temps outside? It is still in the basement. And I will be doing the dry incubation again
The hydrometer I went by last time is reading 0% right now with no eggs in

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:58 pm

0% humidity sounds a bit odd- as far as the temperature goes, it's tricky to tell which thermometer is the correct one. What kind of thermometers are they? If you have a medical thermometer, that might be your most accurate one. But I'd guess your incubator might be running a bit on the cool side.

Colleen Kinzie · Post by **Colleen Kinzie** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 8:24 am

My thermometers are one I bought from the feed store for incubators
The other is from Farmers Farmacy digital readout thermometer/hydrometer
The 3rd is the digital readout built into incubator

Colleen Kinzie · Post by **Colleen Kinzie** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 4:04 pm

Thanks Robbie
I put in medical thermometer. Will see what kind of reading I get out of that
As Kathy said 100 degrees is still ok, so I think I'll put up temp to 100 and see what my readings are
With slow delayed hatch the first time it was too low temp. So I'm hoping by putting it up by 1/2 degree does the trick!