High temp, will it hurt? What should I do?

[Vetai]

I'm currently in day 9 of my first hatch. With no heating element going, just the auto turner and a fan going, I can't keep the temp much lower than 100.4. If I open any of the vent holes (only 2 available), I can get the temp down slightly maybe one degree or 2 but I lose all of my humidity. One day I caught it up to 102.5 and I quickly took action to get it down. Do you think an expander ring would help? The unit is a Little Giant with the auto egg turner. Since this is my first hatch, I don't want to screw it up. There are 15 EE's that I got from Halo in Florida. I need some good advice from all you seasoned incubators out there. PLEASE help. My lock down time is still 7 days away, I hope I didn't wait too long to ask for good advice.

 

[halo]

I dont know if this helps, but Ive always read that if you dont use a fan, that you need to bump the temps up just a little bit. Maybe turn the fan off? Have you put a second thermometer in there to double check your temps?

 

[Vetai]

I don't have a separate control for the fan, it's on all the time. I've got the heating thermostat turned all the way down and the heat element never comes on. I guess I could unplug the element and fan and keep the turner plugged in. I think it's the auto turner motor. If I unplug it the temp will go down to about 99.1, but I don't want to leave that turned off do I, at this point? I thought if I can find an expansion ring real quick here locally, maybe the greater air volume would create a lower temp, I'm shooting in the dark here.

 

[Vetai]

To answer your question, yes I did. I put in the little mercury thermometer that comes with the unit. It's pretty close, maybe a half a degree less than the digital one I have.

 

[halo]

You could turn the turner off and just turn the eggs by hand. Its what the hen does, and she also gets off the nest every day, so I dont think opening the incubator to turn would be a bad thing, unless you think it would spike the temp.

 

[Vetai]

I'm not home during the weekdays. I'm away from 6:30 am to about 5:00 pm then in bed by 10 or so. Would hand turning at 5 pm then at 10 pm then again at 6 am be enough? I'm testing right now with the fan and heat element unplugged with just the turner on to see what that generates.

 

[nivtup]

Seems Odd

I have read that 103 degrees will kill, not sure about the accuracy of that info.

I would think the 100 degrees would probably be ok.

At 100 degrees the eggs should feel warm, have you felt them?

I would not worry about opening to test, as flucuations in humidity are not a big deal, it is humidity over time that is important, along humidity at hatch.

I would check the thermometers again, it just seems odd.

 

[Vetai]

I have felt the eggs and they all seem to feel the same, not extremely warm but I'm not sure what too warm should feel like.

 

[Vetai]

UPDATE on the fan being unplugged. With just the auto turner plugged in, after about 20 minutes the temp dropped down to 95 before I turned it back on. It's gradually climbing back up, slowly. I've taken the plug out directly over the fan and turned it upside down over the hole with just a slight offset to allow a small bit of air in. Maybe that will keep the fan from heating up so much. The humidity is really fluctuating it went from about 52 to 62 over the last 10 minutes or so trying to regulate the temps. This is such a balancing act, trying to juggle the two. I'm trying to keep the humidity in the low to mid 50% range for now, until lock down. But it spikes back and forth. when I play with the air flow over the fan.