Chrifister
Songster
- Apr 5, 2020
- 47
- 70
- 104
Hey everyone,
So a little background, we incubated and hatched chicks out twice last year. We used 2 different forced air incubators we purchased from Amazon. They are both sold by a number of different Chinese vendors and don't seem to have a "brand name". The first was a 16 egg small one I think and the second was a 36 egg larger one with a water tray. The first hatch we used the small incubator and followed the included manual. This resulted in a 50% hatch rate. Feedback from you guys suggested the manual was useless and the humidity was likely way too high. The second batch we used the larger incubator along with some hygrometer/thermometer units we purchased. Those units never showed the same readings but we just took the average of them. We hatched 60% of the eggs that time.
So fast forward to this year and we just pulled out the larger incubator for some Bourbon Red turkey eggs we purchased. Wiped everything down and plugged it in, everything seems to work except the humidity is flashing "EE" which some googling suggests the humidity sensor is toast. That's fine because it was never trustworthy anyway and we use those other units. Ran it for a while with 5 of those sensors in it and there seemed to be a hot spot in the top left corner and a cold spot in the bottom right corner, a difference of almost 2 degrees F. I moved the sensors around and same readings roughly. Right in the center seemed to be dead on temperature wise.
Around supper time yesterday we added the 21 turkey eggs. Some were a little dirty and I wiped what I could off with my fingers and an old toothbrush but I didn't want to rub too hard. I kept the 5 sensors in at the same places they were, one in each corner and one in the middle. Set the incubator to 37.5C and waited for temperatures to settle. So by early evening I was checking every hour and the temps finally settled at 99.5F in the top left, 97.1F top right, 99.8 center, 98.2 bottom left, and 96.8 bottom right. Was a little worrying because only 1 sensor is at the minimum 99.5F. So I turned the temperature up to 37.7C to adjust. Checked this morning and the new readings were 99.6F top left, 97.7 top right, 100.2 center, 99.1F bottom left, and 97.7 bottom right. So 2 sensors are now hitting the minimum. About half an hour ago I increased the incubator to 38C and now the temps are 100.2F top left, 98.2 top right, 100.7 center, 99.8 bottom left, and 98.4 bottom right. So currently there are 3 sensors hitting between 99.5F and 100.5F.
My question to you guys is if what I'm doing temperature wise is a good idea? I'm concerned because I have the incubator set half a degree C higher than it should be. Do I trust the incubator thermometer or the 5 units I put in there? Keep in mind I bought a batch of 10 of those units from Amazon so I wouldn't stake my life on them anyway, however, I assume some of them must be okay and therefore the average of 5 of them is likely more accurate? Of course that's just an assumption. Is it possible the turkey eggs are so big that they are preventing air flow and thereby reducing the temperatures of the sensors because they are lower? Am I overthinking this?
I'm not concerned humidity-wise because I seem to be holding good at 50% starting dry with only a few drops of water having to be added late last night. I am following a guide I found on here and will monitor the air sacs for humidity.
So a little background, we incubated and hatched chicks out twice last year. We used 2 different forced air incubators we purchased from Amazon. They are both sold by a number of different Chinese vendors and don't seem to have a "brand name". The first was a 16 egg small one I think and the second was a 36 egg larger one with a water tray. The first hatch we used the small incubator and followed the included manual. This resulted in a 50% hatch rate. Feedback from you guys suggested the manual was useless and the humidity was likely way too high. The second batch we used the larger incubator along with some hygrometer/thermometer units we purchased. Those units never showed the same readings but we just took the average of them. We hatched 60% of the eggs that time.
So fast forward to this year and we just pulled out the larger incubator for some Bourbon Red turkey eggs we purchased. Wiped everything down and plugged it in, everything seems to work except the humidity is flashing "EE" which some googling suggests the humidity sensor is toast. That's fine because it was never trustworthy anyway and we use those other units. Ran it for a while with 5 of those sensors in it and there seemed to be a hot spot in the top left corner and a cold spot in the bottom right corner, a difference of almost 2 degrees F. I moved the sensors around and same readings roughly. Right in the center seemed to be dead on temperature wise.
Around supper time yesterday we added the 21 turkey eggs. Some were a little dirty and I wiped what I could off with my fingers and an old toothbrush but I didn't want to rub too hard. I kept the 5 sensors in at the same places they were, one in each corner and one in the middle. Set the incubator to 37.5C and waited for temperatures to settle. So by early evening I was checking every hour and the temps finally settled at 99.5F in the top left, 97.1F top right, 99.8 center, 98.2 bottom left, and 96.8 bottom right. Was a little worrying because only 1 sensor is at the minimum 99.5F. So I turned the temperature up to 37.7C to adjust. Checked this morning and the new readings were 99.6F top left, 97.7 top right, 100.2 center, 99.1F bottom left, and 97.7 bottom right. So 2 sensors are now hitting the minimum. About half an hour ago I increased the incubator to 38C and now the temps are 100.2F top left, 98.2 top right, 100.7 center, 99.8 bottom left, and 98.4 bottom right. So currently there are 3 sensors hitting between 99.5F and 100.5F.
My question to you guys is if what I'm doing temperature wise is a good idea? I'm concerned because I have the incubator set half a degree C higher than it should be. Do I trust the incubator thermometer or the 5 units I put in there? Keep in mind I bought a batch of 10 of those units from Amazon so I wouldn't stake my life on them anyway, however, I assume some of them must be okay and therefore the average of 5 of them is likely more accurate? Of course that's just an assumption. Is it possible the turkey eggs are so big that they are preventing air flow and thereby reducing the temperatures of the sensors because they are lower? Am I overthinking this?
I'm not concerned humidity-wise because I seem to be holding good at 50% starting dry with only a few drops of water having to be added late last night. I am following a guide I found on here and will monitor the air sacs for humidity.
