Incubator troubles

[Equimby88]

Hi.. so last year I purchased a cheep 50quid incubator from eBay.. all was ok.. I think haha.. so my first ever attempt at hatching eggs ended with a 50% hatch rate I didn't think that was to bad for my first ever attempt. So iv pulled it out again last month and put my eggs in and after about 2 weeks the temprature started dropping to 35° thru the night. Iv ended up with only 2 ducklings from about 20 eggs.. terrible.. so if set my incubator again with no eggs to see what the temprature does over the next few days. The incubator it's self tells me it's at 37.6° but iv put another in the bator and it's telling me only 34° so I now no why my eggs didn't hatch.. why is my bator telling me it's at 37.6 when it's not.. and how can I sort this out.. if I put my bator in the styrofoam box it came packed in will that help at all?

 

[JaeG]

The temperature readings on incubators are notoriously unreliable. Use a calibrated, independent thermometer. Here's a good article on how to do calibrate one: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

Incubators are influenced by fluctuations in the temperature of the room they are kept in so you may need to wrap it in a wool/cotton (natural fibre as the vents still need to draw in fresh air) blanket to help it maintain a stable temperature, especially overnight. You could possibly use the styrofoam to insulate the bottom but leaving the top open so the vents can work. I've only used the blanket method but hopefully there's someone else out there who has tried styrofoam and can advise you.

 

[Equimby88]

Thanks for reply.. I have a plug in radiator in the room the incubator is in and it's on permanently so the room stays nice and warm. So iv had the styrofoam just about 24 hours now and it's not made much difference. The thermometer on the inside is telling me it's now 35.7° rather than 34°.

 

[starri33]

any way you can adjust the thermostat on the incubator it's self? kind of like your oven when the temp is off by say 25 degree's? your needing 350 and because it's off you have to turn it up to 375?

 

[Equimby88]

Iv already set the temprature higher and it hasn't made a difference. It's supposed to he at 37.5 and iv set it to 40. I'm goin to increase it today to see what happens.

 

[starri33]

Not sure why your's would be giving you that issue, I bought a cheap little one off Ebay.. I think 50 dollars and then bought a incuTherm Plus to use to help keep track of things, I believe the only thing I've adjusted was to bring the thermostat down one degree. This is a link to the inctherm plushttps://www.ebay.com/itm/IncuTherm-...289193?hash=item3f5fecb9a9:g:lU8AAOSwJkJWjTeb

 

[Equimby88]

I havnt a clue. I'm rather mad as iv only used it twice since I brought it. Iv googled how to increase the temp and it says about the styrofoam box but that's only raided the temp by 1.5°

 

[starri33]

maybe take a towel or something to put around the sides of the top?

 

[Equimby88]

I'll try that.. I'm tempted to have a go at making my own incubator

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

What is the exact incubator? Some of them let's you adjust the temperature reading to display the correct temperature number. Like if it runs 0.8 degrees lower than it should, you don't have to raise the temperature via the display, instead you can correct it by going through steps that allows you to subtract 0.8 degrees.... thus displaying the actual temperature number on the incubator.