Day 14, not sure what I should do

[Delighted]

I have 18 eggs setting, and have had a horrible time regulating the temp. I have a Hovabator-- not sure which model at the moment. I'm on day 14

All I have is the thermometer that came with the Hovabator, and about a week ago, my son was checking the thermometer (We check it several times a day), and he calls for me to come-- the temp is reading 106! YIKES! And it might have been there for several hours-- this was the first check of the morning. I am having trouble candling--not a bright enough flashlight, and we can't run out and get a good one-- or the hygrometer--waiting on a paycheck.

I put a candy thermometer in there-- I figured that was very accurate--it's at the right place when the water boils, or at any of the other candy boil temps. That says 100 while the cheapy continued to read 103. So. . . okay. . . maybe the chicks aren't fried. Well, tonight I put in another cheapy thermometer--one a friend had from Tractor Supply. I set it right beside the candy therm. Guess what-- it reads 103 as well. So I have two cheap thermometers reading 103-104, at different locations in the bator, and one candy therm that reads 100--yet is accurate at the high candy cooking temps.


Should I just toss these eggs and not waste the electicity for the last week, or what? (I don't know if I can handle tossing eggs--"just in case"). And yet if it really is a electricity drag, maybe I should cut my losses?

 

[debilorrah]

NO!!!! The thermometers that come with bators are total crap. Give them a chance!!!!

 

[australorp_breeder]

I just finished incubating 24 chicken eggs two weeks ago in a Hova-Bator. I used the temperature that came with it and I had to move around the temperature a bit the first two days, but after that it was fine. Are you keeping the thermometer on top of the eggs and not on the wire? If you keep it on the wire it will read a few degrees below the actual temperature because the higher the thermometer is the closer it reads to the ideal temperature. I kept the thermometer in the middle of the incubator, not that I think it really makes a difference.

Also, are you keeping the incubator out of sunlight? I kept mine in my closet with the door shut, that really helped keep the temperature stabilized. At night sometimes the temperature would drop by around two degrees but then I would just turn the knob a little until the light came back on and then leave it. All in all, I highly suggest you continue on hatching the eggs. Don't forget to fill both the inner and outer troughs with water on day 18 and DO NOT open the incubator from day 18 onward. I would give the chicks to hatch between day 21 and 25.

I got a lot of help with my first time incubating, so it was really fun! A lot of people here on BackYardChickens helped me!! I plan on incubating again next month

!

P.s: At one point one day when it was warmer my incubator read 105, but I just turned it down as soon as I could. I have no clue how long it was at that temp.

 

[Delighted]

Thanks, debiraymond and australorp_breeder
I didn't really want to quit, but I wondered if I had killed them. It's worth a try, I hope! The cheap thermometers are sitting on top of the eggs and the candy thermometer sits a bit lower--it's not as low as the turner rack, but sits suspended between eggs--lower than the tops of the eggs. Hopefully we'll be okay.

The incubator sits in a room with the blinds drawn, and is inside what will eventually be the brooder. We put a solid lid on top of it right now--it will have a chicken wire lid when we have chicks. (We HAVE to lid everything, or the cat will sit on it! LOL!)

I think I set the eggs in the evening of the 13th--but it might have been the morning of the 14th. I'm guessing day 18 will be this coming Sunday, May 2. I started with water in most of the troughs, then read about the dry hatch, so about day 6, I took the water out--then got nervous and put a tiny bit back in! LOL! Hope these eggs will make it.

If they do, it will be in spite of me!