Is it my incubator or temp rise due to egg development???? Ugh!

[vetgirl00us]

I've got eggs in the bator that are about 12 days today and my temps in the hova bator 1602 have been steady at 100.9 on top of the eggs (no air fan). Just a little while ago I walked by and happened to look thru the window and I saw a reading of 104 deg! WTHeck????? I read something on here about temp rises in the styrofoam bators due to chick development but can't remember when it could happen. Also, the temps in the house have been fairly steady. The bator is in the hallway near the thermostat (bator on floor, thermostat on wall) so the temps there are the least fluctuating.

Soooo......is it the bator or the eggs causing these crazy fluctuations?

I swear I need to make watching this bator a full time job. I've got Serama eggs in there I paid a handsome price for and I've candled and taken out the quitters so I'd like to not lose any more due to scrambling them in the shell thanks to bator hell.

 

[medan]

I dont know who told you 100.9 was ok but id freek if my temp got that high I shoot for 99.5 and keep it as close as i can and 50 -55 % humidity untill hatch then i raise the humidity to 75 % or so and yes the temp will rise because of development i see that happen around day 14

 

[halo]

100.9 is fine for a still air. Ive read that the temps need to be a bit higher for the still air incubators than the ones with fans, so you are fine there. Even if the eggs' temp rises a bit, it shouldnt affect the temp in the incubator, since theres a thermostat in there. Once the thermostat is set at, say, 100.9, it will stay there, or close to it, no matter if the eggs give off some heat or not. Thats what thermostats do, regulate the temp.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/res19-opincubator.html

 

[medan]

Quote:
I have the same incubator still air as the person who made the post and I am telling you 100.9 is fine if you want to poch the eggs but its not going to do well to hatch them I have killed a batch with spikes around 100.9

 

[msdoolittle]

Don't feel bad...I have a LG bator and on the day they were due to hatch, I hit the min/max button on the temps, and the max said 113!!!!!!!!!! Hello! I am sure that the probe just got too close to the heat bar, but wow, was I TICKED. ANyway, my chicks are hatching today, so I guess it really didn't hit that high. I have a still air, too, and my temps are at 99.5-100.6. They are still a day or 2 late to hatch even at that. I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya, though. I know bators can be irritating, but I promise you they are not as bad as trying to maintain my emergency bator I had to create out of a Kritter Keeper and a heating pad. Good grief, talk about a nightmare!!!!! Lol.

 

[halo]

Quote:
I have the same incubator still air as the person who made the post and I am telling you 100.9 is fine if you want to poch the eggs but its not going to do well to hatch them I have killed a batch with spikes around 100.9

You may well have killed a batch, but its not because the temp was 100.9.

 

[georgialee]

101 is what you want to shoot for for still air bators... so I think you're doing great in that area.

I hope that the spike was short lived and that you caught it in time. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[vetgirl00us]

That's what I had read on here about 100 deg on top of the eggs with still air. I can't get it regulated any better than that, trust me, I've tried. It's either 98 deg at the top or 100.9 so I settled for the slightly higher since it's at the top of the eggs. I did hatch a batch that are almost a week old now but had humidity problems so I think I killed the first 3 pippers- got the next 3 and 3 didn't hatch. Out of the ones that did hatch, it was my shipped eggs and not my own bird's eggs so that tells me it was probably me. I freaked and raised the humidity up way high at the last minute and "drowned" by babes. Oh well, that's another story alltogether. I just keep checking my bator temps and doing the best I can lol. The wafer is screwed down tight so I don't know what caused it. I just thought there could be temp spikes with chick devt so I wasn't sure if I should adjust bator or not all over again. I'm almost scared to because I don't want to wake up to 90 degree or 110 degree temps and with this bator, that seems about my luck lol.

 

[vetgirl00us]

thanks georgialee! Love your avatar! I had come home from school early today (im in college full time as a 35 yr old, lol) and already checked the bator once and it was normal. Just was surprised to see that sudden temp rise for no reason whatsoever that I could tell.

 

[Julie08]

developing embryos will make the temp rise, I always have to adjut my temp down near the end of the hatch. Up to 102 is fine at the top of the eggs in a still air.