First time Incubating

I'm pretty new to raising chickens. I've bought my first chicks last year. I wasn't sure if keeping chickens would be something that I would want to do long term. After a year of having my Buff Orpingtons we love our chickens. I have 3 girls and getting into chickens has been a fun adventure. They are 13, 3, and 2 months. My three year old has had the most enjoyment out of them. Its like an Easter egg hunt daily collecting eggs, so that's pretty much like hitting the lotto for her. This year I decided to get an incubator and see if we can hatch some eggs of our own. I love having teachable moments with my girls. I have read a ton of information. So, I'm completely confused as to what works best. LOL. I done exactly like I have read to do.... I set my incubator up and currently working on getting the temp right. It has been THREE days now of me working with my Hova bator 1602. The first day temp was staying around 90 degrees F. I turned the adjusting knob and then the temp went too high. Now no matter what I do the temp is staying around 104 degrees F. I unplugged everything and started over twice!! My house stays at a stead 68-70 degrees right now. Today after I restarted the whole temperature en devour again I'm now using three thermometers. One digital and two mercury. Digital says 104.2, 22% humidity. #1 mercury says 102 and sits a little higher, #2 sits a little lower and reads 100. Is it safe to put eggs in? Would you say the temp of the Digital is off? I'm getting a little frustrated and wanting to get my eggs in. Did I mention I have 48 eggs a friend brought me that were collected between Wednesday and Friday? The clock is ticking! Thanks!

Have you calibrated any of your thermometers in ice water? If there's no fan in your incubator, you want the temp 101.5 at the top of the eggs. If there's a fan, you want the temps 99.5. If the temp is truly 104, you'l bake the eggs.

Try only tiny , micro-adjustments on the incubator, then wait several hours for the temp to stabilize.

Good luck with your hatch!

The two mercury thermometers they have can't be tested with the ice water method. Neither one go that low. I definitely would think the digi is off, however, you can never tell w/an unchecked therm. I was going to ask if it was still or fan, but Friday beat me to the punch....lol (Which is happening a lot lately.)