I just want to report on a problem I have discovered with my incubator. I do a lot of hatching every spring. I just completed number 5 for this season. I have a Hovabator 1588 which I love because of the electronically preset temps. I always use bleach and detergent to clean everything between hatches. But you can't get the electronics wet, so I would just wipe around the edges of the top.
This season my hatches have gotten successively longer, 22 or 23 days before hatching. I had a chick hatch this morning at the end of day 24! This time when day 21 went past with no pips I used a digital oral thermometer which is accurate to double check the temperature. It read 97 degrees! But the incubator control said it was 100 degrees. I increased the incubator control to 102 but the oral thermometer said 99.5 A few of the eggs started pipping a few hours later.
After candling and removing the unhatched eggs I looked at the electronics and they were coated with a build up of dander and dust. The sensors couldn't have been reading the temps and humidity right. I will use a can of compressed air that is used in cleaning computers to try and clean the fan and sensors. But A lot of testing will need to be done before putting any more eggs in.
Out of 33 eggs, 18 went into lockdown. 8 chicks hatched and 2 died while hatching. One of my worst hatches yet. But hopefully this information will help keep others from having the same problem.
This season my hatches have gotten successively longer, 22 or 23 days before hatching. I had a chick hatch this morning at the end of day 24! This time when day 21 went past with no pips I used a digital oral thermometer which is accurate to double check the temperature. It read 97 degrees! But the incubator control said it was 100 degrees. I increased the incubator control to 102 but the oral thermometer said 99.5 A few of the eggs started pipping a few hours later.
After candling and removing the unhatched eggs I looked at the electronics and they were coated with a build up of dander and dust. The sensors couldn't have been reading the temps and humidity right. I will use a can of compressed air that is used in cleaning computers to try and clean the fan and sensors. But A lot of testing will need to be done before putting any more eggs in.
Out of 33 eggs, 18 went into lockdown. 8 chicks hatched and 2 died while hatching. One of my worst hatches yet. But hopefully this information will help keep others from having the same problem.
