incubator temp ??

[d1]

I have a home made bator out of an ice chest(thanks to many designs found here on BYC) the problem I am having is the meter I have reads 97-99 when the light goes off and 91-93 when it comes on,the regular mercury thermometer reads 85-90 when the light comes on and 100-103 when it goes off.

my ? is : which one do I set my temp on digital or merc?

 

[TheBuff]

Merc, you have to have them on top of the eggs to get accurate reading. I like digital better. Walmart has a nice one that measures both temp, and humidity for $6.47 I used 3 of them this year with 97 to 100% hatch.

 

[roche477]

I agree, the one from Walmart works excellent for the price!

 

[d1]

prolly the same one I am using,"ACCURITE" its black and grey

 

[roche477]

Yep, that is the one I have.

 

[DANNY]

I think that would be your thermostat. What kind do you have? The thermometer has nothing to do with the temperature going up and down.

 

[Fireman26]

Hey, I have the same one too, and it works pretty good. I talked to a man that runs a local hatchery here in GA. He built all of his incubators and hatches as little as 4 and as many as 120 at one time. I really didnt think about this until he said it, but, you will have a high temp and a low temp. Water will hold the temp. longer than the air surrounding it. He told me to take my highest temperature and my lowest, add them together and divide by 2 and you will have your "constant" or "fluid" temperature (I should have known this being a fireman). It appears that my bulb in the bator is brighter than me lol. To test his theory I filled some of my sons baby food jars with water, put them in the bator for an hour or so, and then pulled them out and tested the temp of the water and they were 99-100 degrees. So even though your air temp. fluctuates some, the fluid in the jars (and that in the egg) will remain at the same temp. fluctuating 1-1.5 degree. Hope this helps some. It took me a week to figure out how to get this temperature set right. I actually leave the baby food jars filled with water in the bator as to help keep the temperature more stable. Good luck!
Jason

 

[roche477]

That is very interesting. I will have to try that, makes sense!