Help with inconsistent incubator temperatures 🤒

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

I’m going to go insane. I have two 56 egg incubators (one that I use for the first 14 days, and one for hatching). They are a couple of months old, but I’m feeling really defeated, as I just can’t seem to get my temperatures evened out, or consistent. I’ve spent over $100 on thermometers over the past month, and I’m finding the spot check to be wonderful, but every part of my incubator is off, other than the area right above my center fan. In each corner they range from 95, to 105! I know I’m killing embryos, and I’m sick to my stomach about it. Have you ever seen temperatures ranging like this and actually have a hatch rate that is over 25%? I know all incubators come with a learning curve, and I’m getting slightly better with every hatch, but I’m at the point now where I think a may just need to buy completely new machines? There is nothing obstructing airflow... Maybe I will just be able to put eggs right in the center and leave all edges and corners free? I’ve tried to rearrange eggs last time, but I feel that the ones I migrate to the corners will be doomed, and will eventually die during incubation if I shift them to these areas at all... I’m just at a loss. What should I do?

 

[Nabiki]

Are your incubators in a place where the temperature is relatively stable? That helps a lot. If you have serious variation in consistent spots, you may have to avoid putting eggs in those places.

What brand/model is your incubator?

 

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

Are your incubators in a place where the temperature is relatively stable? That helps a lot. If you have serious variation in consistent spots, you may have to avoid putting eggs in those places.

What brand/model is your incubator?

I have the incubators in a room on my main floor, out of direct sunlight, and each room entrance is curtained so that fan or AC doesn’t greatly effect. I think I’ve driven my husband crazy over this room. The incubator is a generic model, sold under a few names, but is commonly called “56 Eggs” incubator. They were about $120 each on Amazon...

 

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

I’ve even thought of taking out the racks and hand turning them on crates so they could all be as centrally places as possible, but I don’t know if that would make things worse?

 

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

Trying to tweak the Hatcher... I just made a wire basket with the section that gets 102-105, blocked off... My thought that that no eggs would roll to this area, and no chicks would venture into it it and overheat... But now, I’m wondering if I should move the incubating eggs that are in the unsafe areas to this Hatcher and hand turn them on crates until I put them all into the Hatcher for lockdown... Thoughts? Is there anything you can think of that would help, that I possibly haven’t considered yet?

 

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

I’ve started up the Hatcher and added in the original egg turners, and am working on bringing the temp up. I think if I take half the eggs out of the first incubator and place them in the center turners they will be in better shape. *I just candled 4 of the eggs that were in the area that read 105, and 3 of the 4 are moving about inside the egg, so I’m hopeful I can save them in time. These eggs are on day 9.

 

[coastingangel]

Hi I know this is an old thread but really interested to know if you have solved this or given up? I have an incubator very similar to this and have had 5 disastrous hatches and still no closer to figuring it out. I get 2 or 3 hatch out of a batch of I am lucky. I am trying to decide whether to throw it out and buy something else or try more modifications. Thanks