Temperature Problems in Hova Bator Incubatoras a

[JillsChicks]

Hi. We are completing day 3 on our chicken eggs in a Hova Bator incubator that has a thermostat with a little fan and two windows on top. It was loaned to me without a set of instructions, so I've followed what internet knowledge I've discovered.

I bought a digital hygrometer which also has a thermometer on it and I have an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer with a sensor that I've stuck in a "water snake" or "water weasel" toy to measure the temp inside the eggs...

The two temps never agree. The one outside the water weasel always reads high 100.3 ish and the one in the water weasel reads around 99.5. Should I go with the reading on the weasel; does it really tell me the internal temp of the eggs? My humidity is about 65% according to the hygrometer.

My little special needs daughter doesn't believe we'll ever get chicks and I want so much for this to work.

Also, should I try to hatch turkey eggs in the same incubator with the chicken eggs? I think they are supposed to be at 100 and a different humidity...

Thanks!

 

[Carole AM]

I don't have a water weasel, so I can't help you there. It took me forever to get my temps right, after I changed the wafer, all was good.

My temps have been 99-102 with good results. Humidity is 50% or less, until the last few days.

I have put turkey eggs in with the chickens, but just remember they take a week longer and turning could be a problem.

Good luck!

 

[JillsChicks]

Dear Carole - What's a "wafer?!" I have no written directions to refer to on this...

This morning the "air" thermometer said 100.3 and the "water weasel" thermometer said 98.6. I turned the eggs and noticed that in that minute the air thermometer went down a number of degrees, but the water weasel thermometer stayed steady.

21 days seems a long way away... Ann

 

[Carole AM]

If its a hova like mine, the wafer is the "disk" that regulates the temp. I got mine from Stromberg's. Let me see if I can find you some instructions...

Here's a link to the wafer:

http://www.gqfmfg.com/p2.asp?login=&orderid=&userid=&catid=41&productid=394

 

[Carole AM]

I found a pdf form of instructions for you!

http://www.poultryhelp.com/gqfhbthermal.pdf

 

[Smoky73]

The problem with the styrafoam incubators is that whenever you open the lid, the thing loses temp and humidity at an astounding rate and takes a while to recover.
And humidity should be about 50-55% for the first 18 days.

 

[JillsChicks]

I just checked the incubator again - humidity is 65%, temp in weasel is 99.5 and temp on the hygrometer is 101.5. I opened a vent to let out humidity - maybe I should have no water in the channels at all to bring it down to 50-55%?

Thank you, Carole, for finding those sites for me. Ann

 

[AccidentalFarm]

The temp in the water weasel gives a more accurate reading of the eggs temp. Anytime you open the bator, the ambient temp will fall, as will the humidity. Both on my hova would recover to normal ranges within a couple of minutes. Try not to have the bator open for too long and when you remove the lid, keep it positioned the same way(don't turn the lid upside down)- it will help to keep the accumulated heat under the lid and back into the bator when the lid is replaced. Don't worry so much about the air temp dropping when you turn the eggs- watch the water weasel temps closely though.