Help! Duckling still alive, but incubator not right temp?

[risingeaglefarm]

Emergency!
As I posted in my last thread, I had some quail eggs in the incubator with some duck eggs and chicken eggs. I added the quail eggs first, but they all died before hatching. I concluded the temp must be off, and I can't find an accurate thermometer for the life of me.
I candled the duck eggs just now, and at least one is still alive and moving. Now I'm desperately trying to save it.

I'm trying to figure out the temp inside the incubator and failing miserably. I have 8 different thermometers and now I have two incubators. I bought the new incubator when I realized the other one was not working. It's a little giant, and it's supposed to be preset to stay at 99.5. But I'm not sure it's right.

I can't calibrate any of the thermometers-two of them are paper, one of them is too big, some of them just have too small of print to be accurate, the others are built into the incubators.
I ordered this thermometer on eBay-do you think it's good?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Incubator-D...344?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4180b3a228
That's coming in a few days, but the question is what to do right now.

I'm trying to figure out the temp with two medical thermometers. I put two jars with water in the incubators and tested them with the medical thermometers. The medical thermometers agree with each other, which is good, but I'm not sure what to think about the jars. I have small tupperware containers in there too. When I measure the tubs they seem to be a few degrees less than the jars. The temp is different every time I take it-sometimes as low as 92, usually it hovers around 95, and only once did it say 99. At the moment, it's my only option. All the stores are sold out of thermometers.

Please help-I need a working method right now, I'm afraid my (possibly last) remaining duckling won't make it.

 

[chaddyville]

Emergency!
As I posted in my last thread, I had some quail eggs in the incubator with some duck eggs and chicken eggs. I added the quail eggs first, but they all died before hatching. I concluded the temp must be off, and I can't find an accurate thermometer for the life of me.
I candled the duck eggs just now, and at least one is still alive and moving. Now I'm desperately trying to save it.

I'm trying to figure out the temp inside the incubator and failing miserably. I have 8 different thermometers and now I have two incubators. I bought the new incubator when I realized the other one was not working. It's a little giant, and it's supposed to be preset to stay at 99.5. But I'm not sure it's right.

I can't calibrate any of the thermometers-two of them are paper, one of them is too big, some of them just have too small of print to be accurate, the others are built into the incubators.
I ordered this thermometer on eBay-do you think it's good? 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Incubator-D...344?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4180b3a228
That's coming in a few days, but the question is what to do right now.

I'm trying to figure out the temp with two medical thermometers. I put two jars with water in the incubators and tested them with the medical thermometers. The medical thermometers agree with each other, which is good, but I'm not sure what to think about the jars. I have small tupperware containers in there too. When I measure the tubs they seem to be a few degrees less than the jars. The temp is different every time I take it-sometimes as low as 92, usually it hovers around 95, and only once did it say 99. At the moment, it's my only option. All the stores are sold out of thermometers. 

Please help-I need a working method right now, I'm afraid my (possibly last) remaining duckling won't make it.

If you've just candled the duck egg and it's still alive and moving and you have it in the new incubator with built in thermometer that is showing 99.5 then I think you're duck egg should be fine. Try not to panic. The fact that the duck in the egg is still alive shows that your incubator is doing OK. Hope this helps.

 

[risingeaglefarm]

Hope so, but Ive had two disaster hatches in a row-i think the temps too low and they're developing but quitting early cuz its just taking way too long.
Anyway-to my utter amazement one of the quail eggs actually hatched today. So all hope is not lost. It was a quail egg I moved to the new incubator to finish last couple of days... So hopefully that means its working
I guess I'll just wait until the new thermometer comes and then calibrate it with the medical thermometers and go with that?

 

[chaddyville]

Hope so, but Ive had two disaster hatches in a row-i think the temps too low and they're developing but quitting early cuz its just taking way too long.
Anyway-to my utter amazement one of the quail eggs actually hatched today. So all hope is not lost. It was a quail egg I moved to the new incubator to finish last couple of days... So hopefully that means its working
I guess I'll just wait until the new thermometer comes and then calibrate it with the medical thermometers and go with that?

Sounds like a good plan too me. Good luck. Keep us posted. If you don't succeed this time with all the mishaps you've had at least when you get your thermometer to go with the new incubator you've got all the equipment you need for a more successful hatch next time.

 

[risingeaglefarm]

Yeah, thats a plus

 

[risingeaglefarm]

I am sooo frustrated right now! A few days ago I candled the eggs in the new incubator, they all looked good, now today the new thermometer came. I calibrated it by dipping it and the medical thermometer in the jar of water I had inside the incubator, and the medical thermometer said 104.5, and the new thermometer said 105.1!! A few days ago it was reading 101. I was hoping this wasn't right so I put the thermometer inside the incubator and the temp went above 107!!! I turned the eggs and they felt HOT. Some of the ones on the outside felt cold. I checked the temp several times in a few places and it gave me a different response each time!! Once it said 104, once it said 100, once it said 96 and NOW, after being in there for about an hour, it says 90 degrees!!! What the heck is going on!! The old incubator I've adjusted a little bit and it's at 99.5 according to the new thermometer... But what the heck?? This is just so frustrating and I can't figure ot how I'm supposed to hatch anything correctly without getting the temp correct. It's super wet inside the incubator from the humidity and I'm wondering if that's messing with the incubator and/or thermometer. The only option I feel I have left is to just try to get the right temp out of trial and error, but I'm going to have to go through a loooot of eggs that way. At this point I'm just guessing

 

[WalnutHill]

I am sooo frustrated right now! A few days ago I candled the eggs in the new incubator, they all looked good, now today the new thermometer came. I calibrated it by dipping it and the medical thermometer in the jar of water I had inside the incubator, and the medical thermometer said 104.5, and the new thermometer said 105.1!! A few days ago it was reading 101. I was hoping this wasn't right so I put the thermometer inside the incubator and the temp went above 107!!! I turned the eggs and they felt HOT. Some of the ones on the outside felt cold. I checked the temp several times in a few places and it gave me a different response each time!! Once it said 104, once it said 100, once it said 96 and NOW, after being in there for about an hour, it says 90 degrees!!! What the heck is going on!! The old incubator I've adjusted a little bit and it's at 99.5 according to the new thermometer... But what the heck?? This is just so frustrating and I can't figure ot how I'm supposed to hatch anything correctly without getting the temp correct. It's super wet inside the incubator from the humidity and I'm wondering if that's messing with the incubator and/or thermometer. The only option I feel I have left is to just try to get the right temp out of trial and error, but I'm going to have to go through a loooot of eggs that way. At this point I'm just guessing

That is exactly why so many people give up incubating, or just spend years being frustrated. Let me venture a guess that it may be a Little Giant or a Farm Innovators?

 

[risingeaglefarm]

Yes, little giant. That and the still air is all they got at the store
What's so frustrating about it is how ridiculously easy it was when I first started. I did everything wrong and still got perfect hatches for several hatches, and I was just using the flimsy little paper thermometer they had included in the incubator. But then when I thought I was a pro, and decided to move up to something challenging like peacock eggs, I spilled water on it and its been all downhill from there. The water shrank my thermometer and now I don't know what to trust

 

[WalnutHill]

The controllers on the inexpensive incubators are notoriously fickle and they get worse over time. If your budget doesn't support purchasing a better incubator, stop at a pet store and buy a reptile habitat thermostat with a remote probe. Set the reptile thermostat, put the probe in the incubator at egg height and not by the heating element (middle vent hole is good, or through a cord slot in the base is even better) and plug the incubator into the reptile thermostat. Turn the knob on the incubator all the way up, you won't be using its circuitry any more. Fix the probe so that it does not move, and calibrate with your trusted thermometer.

I did the same with a DIY kit and it made the LG much better, but the foam still got porous so it wouldn't retain humidity.

I named my LG the Easy Bake.

 

[risingeaglefarm]

Thanks for the advice. Ill look into it.