Is 103 too high

[countrybum]

I have a big plastic thermometer that sits at the middle of my eggs. I have a still air incubator and I keep the temp between 99 and 100. I hatch out almost all of my eggs and they usually hatch right on time. Out of 15, I hatched 14, this last batch. I usually only lose 1 or 2, so I think I am doing pretty good. I also keep the holes plugged until the day before hatching and I keep all troughs full of water, until the day the eggs start to peep. After all the eggs have hatched I remove the others and clean to get ready for the next batch. Which for me will be the 31st, and the 14 hatched out the 27th. I do not have a turner so I turn my eggs everytime I walk into the room. I do not quit turning until the egg has peeped.

As I was told, think like a mother hen and do as she does. I watched my hens for days until I decided to incubate. A hen turns her eggs until the day they hatch. She also will get off the eggs through out the day and they then cool down. So the only time I worry is if the eggs are to hot, or get to cold. Which I will find out in the next few days about the cold - our electric went off some time last night and did not come back on until 6am. My incubator went down to 82, I did not even know until I got up or else I could have added some heat.

Do you all think my eggs will be alright getting that cold?

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

you might loose a couple, but hopfully will be fine. Sounds like you incubate just the way I do. I have never heard of folks running ANY incubator over 100.5, so the high 102-103's must just be lucky or have a bad thermometer? 99.5-100.5 is always been the standard with the still air being the higher of the 2, but still not 103?

 

[Akane]

My thermometers are all compared to each other and a very accurate digital probe I got for my saltwater tank. I'm actually running serama eggs 104F at the hottest point in the incubator right now and I've only lost 1 that looked good. The others I lost were all on the edges where it's cooler and didn't look right from the time they started to develop. I incubate the japanese bantam eggs with 103 as the high in tilted cartons or 102 at the center egg if they are laid down. They always pip within 12hrs of the time I set them 21 days later and I've had 95% hatches. The air temp especially in a still air doesn't mean that's the internal temp of the egg and a chicken's body temperature is 102.

Personally I don't see a real problem with turning eggs up until hatch except for humidity. A hen regulates humidity better than an incubator and the humidity comes back up as soon as she sits down unlike an incubator which can take awhile. I always lose chicks if I open after day 18-19 and before they are done hatching. Nearly every one of them appears to have been from humidity fluctuations. That's the biggest reason I see to stop turning in an incubator. In a humid climate you can get away with opening the bator but those in drier climates may have major losses doing that.

 

[Suess hens]

I have been trying to stabilize it all at 101. That was my goal at least. Still struggling a little, but that is why no eggs are in there yet. I shifted my probe up to where the eggs will be, setting it on an egg carton...this really threw me off...it shot up...arg!

 

[Akane]

Try sticking some bottled water containers (with water) in the bator to hold temp better. An empty bator doesn't hold temp well at all and will make it much more difficult to regulate. Especially if you open it to add or remove water while getting the humidity figured out.

 

[Suess hens]

Quote:
Through all of this my humidity has been holding steady. But this idea was why I put the empty egg carton in. I think I will try the water bottles though. Should I remove them once eggs are in, or leave them?

 

[countrybum]

Well I finally had a chance to check my eggs from the no electric incident over night. Everyone looks well and I have one pipping already, sure surprised me. There were a couple that I am not sure of, but only 1 out of my 30 ended up not being fertile, but everyone else was moving around. As for the Andalusian eggs I just put in Saturday, I will not know for a couple days. I did go ahead and check them and a couple had a wierd white circle in them. Has anyone ever seen that before? It was not a blood ring, but it was a clear ring.

 

[Akane]

A carton has little mass or capacity for holding heat. Water will hold heat nearly as well as the eggs and there is more mass in a water bottle than a few eggs. You can leave them in if you have room. I've left water bottles partially just to hold the edges of the mesh down while eggs hatched.

 

[Suess hens]

Thank you Akane.
I am thinking eggs in in the morning. I had to do a little more moving of things, and I have a steady temp since putting in the water bottle. But am thinking I should let it run all night first...but I may get antsy in the next 5 minutes and put them in tonight and see if I did a bad thing in the morning