I just bought an incubator (on Monday), and set it up Monday night. I put it in my garage (out of the way), and set 3 Partridge Rock bantam eggs. Well my daughter and myself get up Tuesday morning and go to the garage to make sure the temperature is regulated at 99.5, and it was not! It was at about 92-93, and we freeked out. So we increased the temp, and left out for school at 7:30. Then when we return at 3:30 the temp is 107... and we really flip out! We made an executive decision and moved the incubator into the kitchen and regulated the temp by 3:45. My daughter and myself are calling on our "friends of the feather" to give us your feedback and input. Are we doomed for the time our eggs were not regulated at 99.5??? By the way, Jill (our Partridge Rock pullet) laid another egg today and we added it after we regulated the temp. Thank y'all for your insight! Rome & MeMe (Oklahoma)
Does the incubator have a thermoSTAT? How many thermometers are you taking temperature readings from? What kind of incubator is it? All I can say is to keep it regulated at the proper temperature, and candle in a few days.
It's too late now, but I believe you're supposed to warm up the incubator and let it run for a few days before adding eggs, to make sure it holds temp and avoid this very issue, for future reference. I would also not keep adding eggs, staggered hatched don't do well in incubators, especially if you're newbies. Collect the amount of eggs you want to hatch, store them at room temp, and put them all in the incubator together. That will give you a hatch window of just a day or so, as opposed to straggling out over longer time. Having to open the brooder to remove a hatched chick will lower the humidity and possibly endanger the remaining chicks.
