Incubating eggs...having temp problems HELP!!

[stephanie1992]

my still air little giant incubator usully stays at 99.5 degrees like the instructions say it needs to be at with the auto egg turner in it. let it sit for two days before putting eggs in and temp stayed the same. now that i put eggs in the temp moves down to 98 degrees or 101 degrees. is that normal? is it going to kill the eggs? trying to keep it at 99.5 but its still moving. this is the first time ive used an incubator or ever hatched eggs. room its in stays at 70 degrees. any ideas?

 

[shanshan51]

Mine has that same problem with fluctuations. So far so good mine should be hatching in next day or so. If you think about it (in my opinion) mother hen doesn't hold a perfect temp 100% of the time

 

[stephanie1992]

Quote:
ok thank u

i never thought about that. i hope they all start showing signs of growth in the next few days. hope they all do ok

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

Its normal for the temp to go up and down like that. Its trying to warm up the eggs. Depending on how many eggs you set it will take awhile to normalize. I have 2 incubators going right now. The one with 20 eggs normalized in 3 hrs. The one with 48 eggs took almost 6 hrs. Hope that helps

 

[stephanie1992]

right now it has 10 eggs in it. they have been in there for since yesterday after noon. will the tempeture stop moving eventully?

 

[yinepu]

it may help if you had "heat sinks" in the incubator (jars of water with lids, like baby food jars).. the water heats up and helps hold the temps a little more steady ...

also is the incubator in an area of your home where the temperature stays steady and there isn't a lot of fluctuation?

 

[stephanie1992]

the temp seems to be ok now. im going to check it again in the morning. it hasnt changed its temp from 99 degrees for almost 4 hrs now. hope it stays

 

[Chinchilla2]

The LGs do take a bit to stabilize after putting in eggs. I've noticed that it really doesn't matter if you have 4 eggs or 40 in it. As the motor for the turner kicks, the temp may climb just a bit since it generates a little heat as well (this may be your 101). Just keep an eye on it and unless it starts to spike, don't fret too much. If it does start to climb closer to 102, then adjust.

 

[stephanie1992]

ok thank u, and is it ok to open it to put water in it and candle them? i know mother hens will get of about 15 min each day to eat. so should it b ok

 

[Chinchilla2]

Quote:
It should be fine. The trick is to do both as fast and efficiently as possible. If you plan on candling them at the same time you add the water, I normally candle then water. That way I can trap as much of the humidity in as possible from the warmish water I add.