Incubating temperature

[schneidercanet]

From all the information I've read so far, it says the temperature should be in the 99-100ºF (37.22-37.78ºC) range (forced air). In my incubator's user's manual, it says the temperature should be 37.7ºC (99.86ºF) until the 18th day, and should be lowered to 37.2ºC (98.96ºC) in the last 3 days. I've never hatched eggs and I'm considering doing it in the next few weeks. Howerver, I can't find anywhere, except in that manual, where it says that. Could someone who's experienced in this kind of things please tell me whether it should be done this way?
Thank you.

 

[cpegram]

dont mess with the temp keep it the same throughout the 21 days between 99-100 the humidity is what you need to change I keep it 35%-40% for the first 18 days on lock down bump it up to 50%-60%

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is yours a forced air? I so, it should be in the 99.5 range. In a forced air the temperature should be the same everywhere in the incubator. Stay with this the entire incubation and hatch.

Is yours a still air or thermal air? If so, it gets more complicated. Hot air rises. You will get different temperatures at different levels in the incubator, the higher you go the hotter it is. Where you measure the temperature is very important.

In a typical still air, the temperature should be taken at the top of the eggs and it should be around the 101.5 F range. This assumes the eggs are in a turner or somehow held pointy side down. You should find the temperature is lower about the center of the eggs, probably somewhere around 99.5 F degrees. When you take them out of the turner and go into lockdown, a typical method is to lower the temperature a bit because the eggs are lower down and it’s hotter down there. How much hotter? How high is your turner? What is the temperature down there?

Something else that is going on is that the living chicks in the eggs are generating some heat of their own. In the big commercial incubators and hatchers they may have 60,000 eggs in their at one time. Late in the incubation and during hatch the problem is often not to keep them warm but to get the excess heat out before they cook themselves. We don’t have enough for that to be a problem, but it means exactly how much heat we provide at those late stages isn’t quite as important as you might think.

As you can see there are a lot of “if’s” involved. Each incubator and each incubation is different. In spite of everything I’ve said, I suggest you follow the instructions that came with your incubator. The manufacturer wants you to have a good hatch so when you tell people about his products your report is good. Assess your first hatch and see if you need to tweak anything. What I’ve said is generic for most incubators, not specific for yours.

 

[schneidercanet]

Thank you very much for your help.