Help!!! having Problems Stabilizing Temp in Homemade Bator

[hillbrothers eggs]

Hello All,

I have built a homemade bator. I have a 25 watt light that stays on all the time and a light that is attached to a water heater thermostat. Right now I have a 57 watt light bulb in that light socket. I have a circulating fan on at all times. I also have a egg with a thermometer in it. My thermostat is above and to the right of the light with foil over the light to keep some direct heat off of it. I have all vent holes covered except 2 quarter in holes. My humidity is holding pretty good at around 40%.

I actually just checked my temps and the one light shut off at 99.5. The temp of the egg is also 99.5. The issue that I am having is that the thermostat will not kick back on until around 94.8, which then drops the egg temp to around 99.1.

The question I have is, is it OK to have small fluctuations between 1 and 2 degrees?

Also, would it be better to have the thermostat in the middle of the bator to get a more accurate temp?

Thanks,

Steve

 

[hillbrothers eggs]

OK, I have switched the light bulbs. Now the 57 watt is in the socket that stays on and the 25 watt bulb is in the thermostat controlled socket. The air temp is hanging out at around 102.2 and the egg temp is 98.6. Humidity is 40%. I took out one of the plugs in top of bator, which is about 3/4 of an inch.

Another question: Is it better to look at the egg temp or the air temp when trying to stabilize the temps?

There is also about a 1 degree difference from the thermometer in the bottom of the bator and the electronic thermometer at the top.

Steve

 

[mrslb333]

Thermometers tend to differ slightly to other ones I measure the air temp at the top of the eggs. Fluctuations don't harm too much just as long as it stays between 99.5 and 102 degrees

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Sounds like your setup is doing ok. Your foil blocking the light from hitting your thermostat is actually hurting you. You want the thermostat close to the light with direct light hitting it. That makes it cycle off faster an makes your temperature variation smaller. You do want to block then direct light from hitting the eggs if there close.

 

[hillbrothers eggs]

Thanks for the input. I will try taking the foil out. That makes sense. I tool the eggs out that I had in the incubator. I am going to try to work with it and get it to stabilize better. I feel better knowing that if I keep it in the range of 99.5 to 102 I am OK.

Steve

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Anything from 97* to 102* will hatch fine. But for the highest hatch rates an less sleepless nights you want to push for as close to a stable 99.5* inner egg temp as you can get.