incubating chicken eggs and guinea eggs

[thechickgal]

I just received 4 guinea eggs and 14 chicken eggs. I'm setting up the incubator now and plan on putting the guinea eggs in soon. I planned on waiting 7 days then putting in the chicken eggs. Any advice or tips would be great. Ill try updating daily on the eggs.

 

[Pyxis]

Were the eggs shipped? Do you know how old the chicken eggs are? Waiting to set them to avoid a staggered hatch is the right thing to do, but if they're more than a couple days old they may lose viability before you can set them - eggs start to lose viability at 10 days.

 

[thechickgal]

I received the eggs from someone local. He said the eggs were all 1-2 days old.

 

[Pyxis]

That will hopefully be fine then

 

[thechickgal]

I've officially set the guinea eggs.

 

[thechickgal]

Okay so the temperature was perfect when I first set the eggs. It was at 99.7 degrees. I cant seem to get the temperature to stop fluctuating. It went from 99.5 earlier to 102! Hopefully it didn't fry the eggs. I just checked again and it was at 96.7 . How do I keep it at a steady temperature. I have a styro incubator. I've had two successful hatches with it before with a 70% hatch rate. Now it wont stay at a good temp. Please help!

 

[Pyxis]

102 won't have killed them

Styrofoam incubators are really bad about holding steady temperatures. You want to make sure it's in a room with as little temperature fluctuations as possible, and no drafts. You can try adding a heat sink, or covering it with a towel to help keep the temperature steady.

 

[Leaguinea]

Okay so the temperature was perfect when I first set the eggs. It was at 99.7 degrees. I cant seem to get the temperature to stop fluctuating. It went from 99.5 earlier to 102! Hopefully it didn't fry the eggs. I just checked again and it was at 96.7 . How do I keep it at a steady temperature. I have a styro incubator. I've had two successful hatches with it before with a 70% hatch rate. Now it wont stay at a good temp. Please help!

How big is your incubator? I have a styrofoam bator that holds 42 eggs. I find that it holds the temp best when it is full to capacity. (right now I have 54 eggs crammed in there, they are not all fertile but the temp is holding and I am leaving them all in there until lock down) candling 2xs / per week to monitor for anything that might be going bad.
Try what @Pyxis said, put something in there as a heat sink.

 

[thechickgal]

The incubator holds about 40 eggs. And Okay thanks, I'm putting in the chicken eggs now. I'll put in something as a heat sink too.

 

[neontlnurs]

What is heat sink?