The thermometer in my Brinsea, even when it is set to 99.9, reads around 98.4. However, it only reads 98.4 when I put the probe on toilet paper. Otherwise it reads 96.4 because of the foam on the bottom, which is cooler than the air from what I can tell. I didn't get a thermometer because I decided I wanted to trust what the Brinsea was saying. I've been incubating an egg in there for a few days, and developmentally all has been going well. I bought a thermometer in hopes of simply confirming my temperature setting. But I was shocked to see it reading 96.4. I started to freak out. The egg is a parrot egg, and I've got a hen on a nest, so I put the egg under her because I was terrified I'd been doing harm to it. When I felt the egg she was sitting on, it was not as warm as my egg. Not drastically different but not as warm, but still developing (so far--the egg she is sitting on is at an earlier stage than mine). So how can my temperature be 96.4-98.4 degrees?! And if that's not enough, when I put that thermometer in my Hovabator, it reads 99.3 which is about what it usually reads in at. But every single thermometer I have reads something different and I am at the end of my rope. I've had three oral thermometers in various locations in my hovabator reading around 98.8, 99.4 and to 100.8 respectably, and this one reads 99.3 when put in there so at least that makes some sense. So stressed out. The hen in question is young and I'm not sure whether she is going to sit tight on this egg, but at least I know her body temperature whereas I have no idea what's going on in this $400 incubator I just bought! How many expensive thermometers am I going to have to buy for this thing? I spent $40 on thermometers just today in an attempt to get a correct reading.
Some help please?
