Incubator temp too high...

[mommissan]

I ordered a Brinsea Eco 20 and set it up in my daughter's classroom. The temp has been staying at 101 to 102 even though I adjusted it twice.. I tried to adjust it but I set the eggs already. I can't take time off from work to check on it. My daughter told me it is 102 now. Has anyone had temperature problems with the Eco 20? I bought a cheap pen type thermometer/hygrometer to to put in there. The humidity is 46-49%, but that temp is still 102. A week has passed.... will all be lost?

I should have checked it at home first, but the schedule didn't work out too well. Does the ambient temp of the classroom affect it greatly? It's probably 70 degrees or more in there.... steamy kids

 

[laura877]

How did the eggs come out?

 

[mommissan]

Thanks for asking. It hung at 102° for the first week. I adjusted it a tiny bit and it hung at 101° for the second week. Day 18 when I took it off the cradle, I adjusted it once more and it finally stuck at 99.5°-100°. The temperature had no ill effects on the eggs. I increased the humidity from 35% to 70% for lockdown, and the hatch began on day 20 just as planned. Things were going great until day 22. Somehow, the humidity crept up to 86%. The pipping stopped. I bagged it on day 24, with half the eggs unhatched. I opened them up and it looked like of the remaining dozen or so eggs, 6 were duds and 6 had fully developed chicks that appear to have drowned.

The incubator worked great. I will monitor the humidity much more carefully next time. The instructions say that it is factory preset at 99.5° but to check and adjust it prior to use. Once it is set, it's solid! The thermostat is incredibly reliable. If I did a lot more hatching I would step up to the Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance with a humidity pump. That setup must be bullet proof!

Some of my results: