Help! Have Some Stupid Hatching Questions!!

[goosemama]

We have a Hova-Bator w/fan and egg turner and after doing a lot of reading we are ready to give our first hatch a try. Collected eggs yesterday and put only the clean ones in small end down and no super large or smalls. Had the Bator running for the full day and it was right on 99. Plugged it in last year and got it calibrated then got sick and never used it. My stupid question is I have the thermometer sitting on top of the eggs and a light weight plastic humidity gauge. Everytime the eggs turn it knocks the thermometer off. Am I missing something? Should it be taped to one of the viewing windows instead? As you can tell I'm REALLY new at this.
Thanks for your feedback

 

[mykl1]

I've never had good luck with that type of thermometer, I think you should buy a digital therm/hygrometer with a probe wire.
Put probe wire thru one of the vent holes, right above the eggs. This works very well for me

 

[goosemama]

tHANKS FOR THE TIP - DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS WHERE I COULD BUY ONE?

 

[charbel]

its the first time i hatch chickens a friend told me that i can make an incubator on my own i got a box and i connected a lamp to it and i added to cups of water to the box i just like to know if its possible for them to hatch and by the way the temp. is around 40 degrees C
pls help me i dont know if i should switch it off pls i need ur help

 

[mykl1]

I've ordered mine off of ebay

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Quote:
40 is a bit high; try moving the light up to get 38. But some eggs will get more heat than others; you might want to use a small fan. Your set-up may or may not work. There are a number of things that people try to control to mimic a hen brooding on her eggs. Your set-up is not as controlled, but you might get lucky and create conditions good enough to have some hatches.

Try looking at the homemade incubators on this page for ideas. You may pick up some tricks that will make your set up more viable: https://www.backyardchickens.com/chicken-coop-incubator.html

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Quote:
I got mine off eBay, too. It is a Spot Check Incubator Thermometer by Brinsea.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Highly-Accurate-Digital-Incubator-Thermometer/dp/B001TE8EZE
Bonanza: http://www.bonanza.com/booths/AgroMercado/items/Brinsea_Incubation_Thermometers___Spot_Check_Digital_Thermom
eBay: http://compare.ebay.com/like/110675...f9f638f&itemid=110675365978&ff4=263602_324952

 

[aprille218]

I agree that the Brinsea spot check thermometers are great but to get an even more accurate temp of what the inside of the egg is I insert the probe into a water snake kids toy in the incubator. Design is up to you

You can usually find these at a dollar store or the cheap toy section of Walmart. They are a water filled tube with usually glitter and some little things floating inside. Temp inside this fake egg should be 99.5F no matter the type of incubator.
Aprille