Incubator temp showing 99.5 but is actually 96.9-98.2.

[Kennas_Kritters]

I recently tried hatching some quail eggs in my nr360° incubator which has always worked perfectly in the past. Always had 95%-100% hatch rates with it. This time though it didn't work so well. I noticed my eggs were taking longer to hatch. They ended up hatching 3 days late and only 10 healthy chicks hatched out of 40 eggs. I helped another 6 out of their shells to find deformities in their legs. Incubator temp was set at 99.5 but apparently it was actually off my over 1 degree. I added another thermometer and found the temp was actually going from 96.9 to 98.2 assuming the new thermometer was right which I guess it is since the chicks had deformities and hatched 3 days late. I have chicken and ducks eggs ready to put in the incubator and plan to set the incubator temperature a bit higher this time around since it's reading higher than it actually is. What temp should I set it at? Even if I raise the temp though it will still be going up and down by about a degree. Will that hurt them even if the temp stays between 99.5-100.5? Not sure why my incubator all of a sudden isn't reading right. What should I do?

 

[junior67]

I recently tried hatching some quail eggs in my nr360° incubator which has always worked perfectly in the past. Always had 95%-100% hatch rates with it. This time though it didn't work so well. I noticed my eggs were taking longer to hatch. They ended up hatching 3 days late and only 10 healthy chicks hatched out of 40 eggs. I helped another 6 out of their shells to find deformities in their legs. Incubator temp was set at 99.5 but apparently it was actually off my over 1 degree. I added another thermometer and found the temp was actually going from 96.9 to 98.2 assuming the new thermometer was right which I guess it is since the chicks had deformities and hatched 3 days late. I have chicken and ducks eggs ready to put in the incubator and plan to set the incubator temperature a bit higher this time around since it's reading higher than it actually is. What temp should I set it at? Even if I raise the temp though it will still be going up and down by about a degree. Will that hurt them even if the temp stays between 99.5-100.5? Not sure why my incubator all of a sudden isn't reading right. What should I do?

First you need a calibrated thermometer to check temp so you know it is right. Where the tray rotates in the NR360 you will have hot and cold spots which is fine. But you want an average telp of 99.5. So like 99-100 is fine. Mine fluctuates all over with a few drops to 98 and spikes to 100.8 but it doesn't stay there long. My overall average temp is 99.3. I have my temp set at either 100.5 or 101 to achieve that since my house is colder right now. The summer with my house in the low 70's I had to set it at 100.0 to 100.5 to get the 99.5