Help, what to do?

[Bluegenes]

I just got some birthday money and decided now that we moved to the country and I can actually keep roosters I would get a bigger incubator. I already had a Brinsea Mini Advance. I ended up getting a getting a used Hovabator 1602N with egg turner and then ordering some hatching eggs off Ebay. Problem is when I went to set up the Hovabator for the eggs I realized it doesn't have a fan. The person had said it was one with circulated air, and I wasn't familiar with the model enough to notice the fan wasn't there when I picked it up. So I didn't really want to put my eggs in there because I know still air incubators have much worse hatching rates, and shipped eggs are touchy enough as they are. But I just had 8 Odlansk Dwarf eggs arrive and 14 Bielefelder eggs arrive any day. I thought I'd set up the Brinsea for the Odlansk eggs and order a Hovabator fan kit and hope it arrived before the other eggs... But it doesn't seem like it would get here in time and when I just to set up the Brinsea, it won't turn on. It's as if the power isn't on, but I tested the plug it's plugged into and it is working fine. I haven't used it for about a year and a half.

So I don't know what to do... suggestions? Should I just use the Hovabator as it (still air)? Is there any way to increase my hatching percentage without the fan?

 

[Bluegenes]

Well good news on the Brinsea, on a hunch I went and looked and realized I was using the wrong cord for it. We just moved and it must have gotten separated and mixed up with another similar cord. I was able to find the right one and get it going. I currently have it set for turning the eggs every three hours, a 2 hour cooling period each day, and am getting the temp calibrated. So that should take care of the Odlansk eggs... but what should I do about the other eggs I have coming? If I order the fan kit but if it doesn't arrive until after the eggs, can I install it after I've already started incubating the eggs? Or just wait to order it and incubate them using still air mode?

 

[red horse ranch]

A lot of people use still air for incubating. I started out that way a long time ago. You just need to have the temperature a little higher than you would with circulated air incubators. I think it's 100 to 101 at the top of the eggs...
I'm sure others on here can give you more advice about shipped eggs since I've never hatched them.

 

[Bluegenes]

My thermometer is laying on the bottom of the incubator... should I still have it set at 100-101 according to that thermometer?

 

[aart]

First, before any and all incubations.....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

I think it's 100 to 101 at the top of the eggs...

Yes.

 

[Bluegenes]

First, before any and all incubations.....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

Yes.

How can you calibrate a thermometer that can't go in the water? I have a digital incubating therm. I do have a food therm I could compare it to, but I don't know for sure how accurate it is, though it is brand new. And are you saying basically that incubating therms are not meant to go down to freezing and that is why you can't calibrate them that way?

 

[aart]

How can you calibrate a thermometer that can't go in the water? I have a digital incubating therm. I do have a food therm I could compare it to, but I don't know for sure how accurate it is, though it is brand new. And are you saying basically that incubating therms are not meant to go down to freezing and that is why you can't calibrate them that way?

You test the submersible ones and compare to the ones you can't submerse.
Take notes for reading adjustments.

 

[Bluegenes]

Well I calibrated my candy therm by putting it in boiling water. It read 210.5, so 1.5 degrees too low. I then used that to calibrate my two incubating thermometers which both read between 1-1.5 degrees higher, so in other words, both of them were pretty much accurate. Then I used one of those to compare to the digital readout on my Brinsea - it was a whole 2-2.5 degrees too high in it's reading! the last few hatches in it I just relied on the digital readout, but it was actually 2+ degrees lower than what it read. No wonder I had issues with chicks hatching late or dying at hatch... So this time I'm going by the therm inside the incubator that should be accurate. You'd think with such a high-end type incubator as a Brinsea the therm would actually be accurate...

My math is all solid right? I'd hate to fry my eggs by running it set at 101.5 if I'm somehow wrong about the display being wrong.

 

[aart]

Have used a candy therm before...
....know that water boils at a lower temp the higher your elevation.

Because we hatch at about 100°F, I prefer to compare my therms against a medical thermometer and it's tight tolerances(0.3-0.5°F) using the warm water technique.

 

[Bluegenes]

I guess I should have said that is was a candy/meat thermometer and has a digital readout that changes to .1 percent.