Hova help

[AccidentalFarm]

I have had my Hova set up for two days now, trying to regulate the temp and humidity so that I can get my eggs set. This thing is fluctuating all over the place...what in the world am I supposed to do to get it right?? Any tips? It's either way too hot, low humidity, or the other extreme-humidity way up and low temps...help?

The area I have it in stays a pretty steady temp so I don't think that is the problem. I have a regular thermometer, and a digital Hygro/Therm in it. (Today I'm adding another Hygro/Therm with a water weasel.) The reg. and digital thermometers seem to consistently show the same temps.

Oh, I have the turbo fan and egg turner in it as well.

I should be maintaining a temp of 101-102 or is it 99.5 for the turbo fan model, and 50-55% humidity?

 

[BirdBrain]

AF,
Is this a new bator? I read somewhere recently that this guy had a new hovabator that took 5 days of fluxuations before it settled down and did what it was supposed to. Don't remember now where I read it. Can you leave it on and monitor it to see what happens after a few days?

--Bird

 

[AccidentalFarm]

I guess I'm going to have to. Yes, it is brand new...wish i'd have known it might take that long to regulate. Thanks.

 

[BirdBrain]

AF,
I found the link !!

http://www.poultryconnection.com/quackers/incubator/batortest.html
Go to the bottom of the page. I hope that yours settles down soon and that you get a great hatch!!

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Thanks for the link..headed over to read it right now. Incidentally, the bator seems to have stabilized, just not at the right temps/humidity.

I've adjusted the temps once more - crossing my fingers i'll get it right this time. It's gonna be difficult, though, to add water to this thing with the turner in it ...grrrrr! Who designed these things anyway??!!

 

[SunChick]

How long are you waiting to change the adjustment knob? Give it at least 8hrs between settings. I found that the instructions for my hova didn't work for me at all. Sometimes you gotta feel it out. Don't use the little thermometer that came with it, its no good. Keep the temps at 99.5 for the forced air model according to your water weasel. I just bought one too, but have to wait until hubby is looking the other way for the next hatch. wink wink

The humidity is usually at 45-50%, which depending on where you live...has to be adjusted by which part of the tray you fill (more square area = higher humidity). If you live in a humid environment read up on the dry incubation method that may work really well for you. My hova settled in 2-3 days. Once you get that temp with the water weasel you shouldn't have to mess with the adjustment knob.

 

[SkeeredChicken]

Alot of the articles I happened upon while I was researching how to build an incubator seemed to concur. They pretty much said that incubators should be left on for about a week to stabilize it. Seems it's a kind of break in/warm up period. Other than that, how's the air flow in it? Are all the holes opened?

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Well, it's been going for about 3 days now. Still no consistency in the temps. The humidity is going fine, it changes some, but within acceptable ranges. I don't have any water in it at all. I did in the beginning and the humidity was way to high. I live on a lake, near the coast so I guess our relative humidity is good enough with out adding water.

I now have the thermometer that came with the Hova, an Accurite digital therm/hygro, a Springfield therm/hygro, and another Springfield with the water weasel. None seem to want to agree with each other. We've adjusted the house thermostat to maintain a constant 72 degrees in the house and I have both plugs in the bator.Sheesh! This is just craziness!

I gave it a very slight adjustment this morning, then left for work. Hopefully it'll be right by the time I get home. At this rate, my eggs are gonna be too old to even attempt to hatch.

I also just got my LG in the mail this morning (thanks nenenick!), so I'm going to set it up today and see if I have better luck with it.

 

[SkeeredChicken]

1 more thing you may want to consider. There may be some defect in your thermostat. Just a thought, but here a post about it:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4644

Quote:
This quote is from this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4064

Hope this helps.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Thanks for the link to the thread. I'll check tomorrow about another wafer.

I went ahead and set the eggs - the water weasel temp decided to stay at 100 for several hours now. The temp in the bator is still reading a bit high (and low) on the other 3 thermometers, by about 2 degrees each way. I've given another very slight adjustment and am waiting to see if it will drop another degree in the weasel and stay steady. I'm figuring that I need to pay more attention to the weasel temp than the ambient. I've finally decided to try and go with an average from the 3 thermometers not in the weasel.

Where did I get the idea that I'd set the eggs and forget about it for the next 3 weeks???

As many times as I've gotten up to check this thing in the last couple of days tells me by the time hatch day rolls around, I'm going to have a path worn into my tile floors from the pc to the bator.