First timer- donated LG- having trouble setting the temp

[Ruditchka]

Its very difficult(if not impossible) to maintain temps to the tenth of a degree! I you can keep temps in a fairly constant range(for example, 99-101, though mainly reading on average say 99.5-100, you should have pretty good results. Those "tenths of degree" swings are always going to be there, so don't worry about them too much! Good Luck!!!

 

[kupi99]

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I kept hearing that temp is so important and to keep it 99.5 that I was worried when I couldn't get it to hold those 10's of a degree. It seems to be holding steady in that range. I'll check it to make sure.

 

[3 chicken farmers]

i have an LG and a hova bator and neither of them will stay at temp i am a first timer so i tried to keep it in the 99. to 100. range and sucsess i have two chicks so far. dont stress too much besides as im shure you have figured out, a tiny adjustment on the thermostat can be a 2 degree change this is not the case w/the hova bator it even locks in place so your kids cant come by and help. my son didnt see the light on so he turned it up just a little and cooked all but 2 it went up 18 degrees in minutes. the lg is just a little harder to work with. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[birdlover]

Hi Kupi and

You and I can keep each other company while we brood our eggs! I am helping the Headstart hatch eggs in a LG starting today, too! My LG is very old and I let it run for a good week before determining it was holding steady enough to put the eggs in. I used to teach kindergarten and attempted to hatch eggs every year for many years. I had various success rates as I didn't have this wonderful site to come to then. Last time I used the incubator was in 2003 so I feel like a first timer in a way. What breed(s) of eggs are you putting in your bator. I have a mix I got from a BYC member here: silkies, cochins, orpingtons, a blue laced red wyandotte, an aracauna, and a couple of mixes (Leghorn x redstar). I'll

for you if you'll

for me!

 

[kupi99]

Oh, I haven't put the eggs in yet. I will next Tues. The orginal plan was to get them in there today, but since I wasn't ready to go, I decide to wait. This will give me a chance to see what the bator does on its own over the weekend too. I have an egg turner, so I won't come up here over the weekends.

My kiddos are very young (3-4yrs) so I'm hoping for a decent hatch, as anything less might be hard on them. I've been preparing them though for all the eggs not hatching.

I have no clue what kind of eggs I'll have. One of my students parents has some chickens and a rooster, and they volunteered to donate some eggs to our class (they don't raise baby chickens at home, they just eat their eggs). This means I have no idea about quality of the eggs, b/c they've never been bred before, but we'll see. Right now I'm just hoping that we get some fertile ones

. The good thing is that I'll be able to put the eggs in right away, without having to worry about shipping or storing the eggs.

I'm definately

for you too! Good luck with your hatch. And I agree that BYC has been VERY helpful so far. Thanks again to everyone!

 

[Fox]

Welcome to the frustrating world of LG incubation!

I am only on my second batch of eggs in a LG, but I got my incubator at a garage sale. The plugs were missing. What works very well for that is the soft foamy ear plugs. You can get them at Wal-mart in the Pharmacy area. It fits right in. We leave one in, one out, but I don't have forced air. There will always be a swing, and to top that, different areas of the incubator (at least in my still air) have different temps! I have found you can stress and worry over every little change or not, and nothing will change that! So you just have to adjust the best you can. You may need to make minor changes as the chicks develop too and start to retain their own body heat, more toward the end. You temps normally do dip a bit at night, but hopefully for not a very long period. Overall, your temps seem pretty good. I wish you the best!

 

[kupi99]

Does it matter at all the I attatched my digital thermometer to the one of windows? This was the easiest place for me to put where I could read it accurately. However, a couple other people on posts here have recommended putting the thermometer on top of the eggs, and to use fake/clear ones to get the temp set. Any advice?

 

[Fox]

Quote:
It does matter...

The temp should be read as close as possible to the top of the eggs because, especially with a turner where the eggs sit up, the embryo is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the top, so the temp needs to be maintained there. Your temperature may be reading higher up top and if you lower it and it doesn't need lowering down low, then your eggs will be underdeveloped or quit in the process because they were not warm enough. So you either need to have another temp reader lower so you can compare what the two say. You could potentially know that if the upper one was reading a certain temp, then down lower it would be the difference between the two, and therefore know what the upper should be reading. If it helps you to read it up high that is. If your thermometer is a flat sort, then attach it to a very thin piece of light plastic, perhaps something in the office section at Wal-mart that might work on a flexible binder, and see if you can lay that flat on top of the eggs. A lot of people use the water wigglers and insert a probe into the middle to find the internal egg temp. But I don't have a probe type thermometer.

All that to say that where you take the temperature does matter... I hope someone with more experience can give you some additional information!

 

[kupi99]

I've put some fake plastic eggs in and moved the thermometer. I'll if I can read it from there.