Bator problems this morning! Help! Please! Very urgent!!!

[chicken_china_mom]

I have two incubators set up, and I check them both before I head to bed, and I check them first thing in the morning. When I went to bed the temp on both was fine, though one seemed like it would need more water added in the morning. Well, when I got up this morning and checked them, the older one was still fine, but the brand new bator with the turner was up to 111 degrees!!!!! I immediately cranked it back down and lifted the lid up some until the temp inside dropped to about 102. I added a little water, came back not 20 minutes later, and it was back up to 109!!! So again, I turned it down even more and lifted the lid. It now doesn't seem to want to go below 106. Have I cooked my poor little babies? I was counting on these eggs to hatch, almost all of them are developing! I want to cry over this! What can I do? It's a Hovabator 1611 stillair with egg turner. The other bator is the exact same model, just without the turner. The turner for that one is in the mail and I'm waiting for it to get here. Any advice or recommendations you can give me would be great. If there is any hope at all, I'd like to save these eggs. Thank you everyone!!!

 

[sevenchickens]

I've read some pretty amazing stories of chicks surviving the craziest conditions. I can't offer any advice, I'm pretty new to the hatching thing but I have my fingers crossed for you.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Thank you. I have my fingers, toes, eyes, you name, it's all crossed in hope that my babies survive!

 

[WalkingWolf]

What kind of thermostat does the 1611 have? Did you run the bator for several days without eggs and adding water bottles to simulate eggs? Did you set the eggs and turn up the bator when the temp dropped?

 

[Jess N Jeff]

Sadly its one of those things where only time will tell. I've had the same thing happen to me before and still had babies hatch. Just keep an eye on things as best as you can.

I've also have my heat source fail and woke up one morning to the temp at 69 degrees. Still had some hatch.

 

[TerriLaChicks]

Hope it will all turn out OK for you-I've had spikes & still some hatched in spite of that. I use a Hovnabator 1602 & auto-turner & my husband rigged a fan to make it forced air.

One thing I have found when adjusting the temps in it, those wafers keep on heating for a few minutes after they actually shut off, so your temps will continue to rise a few degrees--for example, if it shuts off at 100 degrees, mine will usually go to 101 & then start to drop back down. So you have to be really, really careful to tweak it very slowly & allow plenty of time for it to re-adjust. When I first set mine up & start to run it, I will get 3-4 degrees fluctuations & it takes a couple of days to tweak it down to where it ticks along between 99.5 - 100.5.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Quote:
I have a digital thermostat w/a built in hygrometer in both incubators. I ran both bators before adding eggs into them, I always do. These eggs have been in there since the 21st, and the temp jumped to 103 a few times before going back down, but this is the first time it went so high. It's now sitting at 105.0. This is so frsutrating!!!

 

[ginasmarans]

Oh, man. That is horrible! If it had a wafer, I'd say change the thermastat, but a digital one should not do that. Have you put another thermometer in it to see if it is actually that high and the thermamometer is not malfunctioning?(hope,hope). I think I'd be calling me a company if that happened to my new incubator. If you can, I'd mark those eggs and put them in the other bator. Take the turner out because you can fit more in and turn them by hand. Have you candled to see if there is movement? I'm wishing you the best luck possible with your chickies.

 

[WalkingWolf]

I have no experience with a wafer thermostat, but I did use a HWT at one time in a home made bator. The one thing I realized is the temp fluctuated with the humidity, so going from a dry day to a rain storm would change the temp by a few degrees. The other is I had a lot of problems with those walmart 3 dollar digital thermometers with humidity built in. I actually had the best luck using the cheapo thermometer that comes with a LG incubator. The trick with those is to see what the temp difference is from the actual temperature. This can be done if you have friendly mechanic, they usually have a tool that measures surface temp with high degree of accuracy. Place it on a flat surface let it sit for a while then point device at the thermometer, you will then know the exact temp. The two I had before they got broke both measured 2 degrees lower than the actual temperature. So when placed on top of the eggs with a reading of 100F in the still air was actually 102F. Which makes sense because the instructions call for the temp to be 99.5 on top, but actual temps are supposed to be 2 degrees higher measured on top of the eggs in a still air. Both of these got broke so I bought the more expensive digital thermometer, I believe around 20 dollars, and put the probe in a plastic egg filled with sand.

Now as far as the humidity I don't monitor it just make sure there is water, and I open the lid and at 100F you can feel the humidity, if not it is too low, if it steams the plastic it is too high.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

The one without the turner has been averaging 101.3 with 62% humidity. I tossed two eggs from the new bator as they were old and clear, and it would appear that a big ole Oprington egg I have in there, it must have been weeping from the lower part of the egg because the egg looks perfect on top when you look in the bator, but I tried to touch it earlier, and it is practically sealed into the turner. It can't be removed at all right now. Ok, i just peeked in both bators and the new one is down to 101.8 with humidity at 64%, and the old bator is at 101.1 with 63% humidity. I see dark blobs in most of the eggs. I have some that I set the 21st, and some that I set the 25th in there. I don't see movement in anything yet though. Things have calmed down now, I'm not so stressed out, lol. I'm watching both bators like a hawk though. Should I go ahead and put the second turner into the older incubator? I have new eggs to set. I have staggered hatches, but not sure what, if anything, is going to hatch in the older bator. Oh, and I bought both my digital thermostats on E-Bay brand new. I got good ones because I wanted for not only me to be able to watch the temperature fluctuations, but for my daughters to be able to watch it easily too. They can read standard ones, but they stand there so long trying to be certain of the temp, so I thought it would be easier, and more accurate, if I bought digital ones. And humidity is always a problem for me, so I wanted to make sure I can keep that stable too.