I hate my incubator. help wanted

[silkie freak 22]

i was hatching quail eggs and im on the 17th day and my incubator spiked a temperature of 103.5

do you think the chicks will hatch? i have a little giant still air incubator and it is doing this a lot. anyone know of a cheap incubator that does what it is supposed to do "hatch eggs"

 

[Frizzled]

I have a LG with a fan, its always help at the temp. I set it at with no problems. Maybe it would help if you added a fan to it. That might be cheaper than buying another incubator.

 

[silkie freak 22]

thanks ill check it out
i wonder if a thermostat will make it more accurate?

 

[WalkingWolf]

Quote:
Not sure about the eggs. I have 2 LGs and no problems. Here are some things I do. Run incubator 48 hours before setting eggs, in this time period gradually increase temp until you reach 100F at the warmest setting. Then wait at least 24 hours before setting the eggs. Before starting to warm LG place several water bottles in the LG to stabilize the temps between swings. I use pint containers of sand though instead of bottles.

The temp in the LG is spiking because your room temperature is spiking, so keeping temps stable in room helps. When setting up record the time of the highest temps, this is the time you try to get your LG at 100F. Once you accomplish this leave the temp alone, even if it drops. When a hen sits on eggs the temp drops when she leaves to eat and drink, this is ok.

When setting eggs use every bit of available space for either containers of water or sand to off set swings. I use the sand containers because I also use them to control the humidity. Put a dimmer switch knob on the stat control, mark settings on the knob for reference points.

I like my LGs but two things I dislike are the water troughs and the small adjustment knob. You can buy cheap pint storage containers in the grocery store by the sandwich bags, leave the tops off, add sand and a piece of sponge. Add water to sand and sponge as needed.

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
doesn't it already have a thermostat?

 

[kelseygirl707]

Yup, add a fan and things will get a lot easier. I have one I'm selling right now that I have added a fan to and now it works great.

 

[silkie freak 22]

Quote:

hey how much you wanna sell that baotr for i think i want another one to put the eggs that are hatching in because i only have a few eggs a day and have seperate incubating times so i have to keep the humidity even.

 

[quailbrain]

I'm not sure how many eggs you have but the last few days the eggs have started to produce their own body heat. Most incubator instructions books tell you that you may have to slowly turn the knob down to adjust for this rise if you have a large number of eggs. I don't know how long your bator was at the high but I think you'll still get a great hatch. Though 103 isn't perferred it isn't too bad. My kids got ahold of my incubator when we had company and had to move it somewhere not ideal. The temp went to 115!!! I was mad and ready to throw out the eggs but we still had a hatch!!! Couldn't believe it. The eggs may not have had a chance to get that high even if the incubators air was.

I left the eggs alone and most of them hatched on the 17th day but one chick hatched on the 21st day!!! I have always left eggs in the incubator a bit to long but never really had a chick hatch that late to justify it... this one proved me wrong.


Hope you have a great hatch!!!

 

[quailbrain]

Quote:
I bought a 30mm fan off of ebay for less than a dollar for a computer. Spliced the wires and attatched it back into the incubator wiring. The fan works great and I have much better temps. and it was CHEAP

 

[farrier!]

I finally broke down and bought a thermostat/humidity from wal-mart. Paid a whole 9 dollars for it. It is so much easier to read then a regular thermometer.

I also have had the temp go up as eggs near hatching. They have done fine.
Good luck!