LG Frustrations....

[dusky]

I picked up a LG forced air incubator recently, and it's the third day I've been trying to regulate its temperature!!! I'm starting to really worry, i gotta put in my hatchers on Saturday. Today, I finally got the temp to hover around 99.5-99.7 - I was so happy it was staying PUT. Then once night fell it plunged to 98.7!! Argh! Before I got it stable at 99.5, it would hover up into 101.6 or so. What's a good range for this? I'm trying to get it back to 99.5 again for tonight, and am just crossing my fingers the highest it'll go during the day is maybe a degree extra... I haven't been able to find a suitable 'knob' to adjust the temps, so I've been just baaaaarely nudging it. I put in two small bottles of water, and a jam jar of water too to help as heat sinks. Since I'm using it as a hatcher I'm debating if I should just put in the bowl of water for humidity now.. I don't want to put water in the channels to avoid gunking them up!
I love my hovabator genesis, it's such a saint compared to the LG.

 

[Quyen Le]

Sounds like it's in a good range, don't change that much. My home made range from 90-112 and I still have 70% hatch rate.

 

[Beckymca]

One thing I learned from my 2 LGs is not to mess with the temp controls. You've got a good range, now use your plugs to work out the details, like put plug or plugs in at night and remove during the day when it warms up. Also there is a thread here somewhere for LGs, lots of people have screwed or glued milk caps to the controller to make TINY little adjustments, they are so easy to over adjust.

 

[dusky]

I put the plug in last night, made sure all the windows were closed (even though it's not really quite near any) and it kept at 99.7..... the moment of truth, how it'll do in the daytime! I hope it'll be the last time I fiddle with it!

*edit* So, at 5:30 am, it was holding at 99.7... then as I checked it just now at 7:15, it wavered between 98.9 to 99.7 back and forth for the minute I was just checking on it! I guess if this happens rarely it's ok, I just don't want any 98.9 to 101 fluctuations (though I guess the average of that is just right?? lol) How long does it take for an egg to change its internal temperature? I know they hold their own temp for some time..

 

[Quyen Le]

The main thing is put eggs in there and watch them hatch. if mine stay between 97-102, I would be happy.

 

[silkienewbiegurl]

My forced air LG has achieved relatively stable temps at 98.5-101.5 degrees and I haven't had to touch the knob since the first day (I haven't had to use the red plugs yet but I know they're there if I have to tweak things). Of the eggs that were fertile, all of them are developing well. Best of luck to you!

BTW, what is the temp range for the Hoavabator Genesis? That will be my next purchase!

 

[dusky]

My genesis hovabator (the model before they included a digital readout) hovers around 99.5-100.6. It was reading as 98.9 in a spot, but this was inconsistent and unexplainable (thermometer placed lower? My eggs are in an auto turner, so maybe it was warmer in the top part of the incubator? A cool spot in the incubator?). When I opened it, moved the thermometer around or just put it back in the same spot it went back to being 100. I use a Caliber III. With the red plug out, the humidity in my area keeps it at about 30 % inside of it. I've had really wonderful hatches in it. Ok, just two.. but of the two, 7 out of 8 viable eggs hatched, and 3 out of 3 viable eggs hatched in a tiny december hatch i did awhile ago. The styrofoam is thicker and less flimsy feeling than the LG, and it holds the temp steady even if there are drafts, when night falls, or someone passes wind or whatever (unlike my LG............. cough -.-). I haven't had to calibrate or fine tune it at all, just plug it in and go. Oh, and it comes with a plastic liner ! No gunking up all the little pores in the styrofoam. I wish I had just spent an extra 30 for one, but maybe it's for the better because I don't see myself hatching out any more gigantic staggered batches... Unless I can have some kind of hatching service, I love fluffy little peeps (but who doesn't lol).

 

[litljenarey]

Did you try using a water wiggler?

I gave up trying to regulate the temp in my LG. It seemed like it was ALL OVER THE PLACE. Then, if you opened it for even a second it dropped like 20 degrees. At first I thought it was my thermometer but I tried a different one and it was the same deal.

Finally, I got a thermometer with a probe from Walmart. It was about $3. I made a water wiggler out of plastic sandwich baggies (there is a tutorial on here) and put that in the bator. The purpose of it is that should mimic the temp inside the egg where it actually matters. I set the temp and let the wiggler sit for 4 hours after each adjustment. Brought it to a consistant 99.5 and it has stayed there for the past 3 days. I wasn't sure the accuracy of my probe thermometer so I double checked the temp with two digital medical thermometers, and an ear thermometer. They all read the same body temp for me so I'm pretty sure they are accurate and then they read the same temps for the wiggler so I was confident in my probe.

Even when the other thermometer says all types of crazy numbers it gives me the peace of mind that the changes in temp aren't affecting my eggs and keeps me from adjusting the incubator.

I still have two thermometers on the eggs, along with the wiggler but I'm not letting the small temp changes bother me. As long as they are between 98 and 102 and my wiggler still says 99-100 then I'm leaving it alone.

Like I said, it's only been three days and I haven't actually hatched anything but I based my decision on many many posts here that swear by the wiggler so I figure its better than driving myself nutty trying to adjust at the rate the LG fluctuates.

 

[dusky]

I'll have to try a wiggler next time, but I don't think there will be a next time! I had it stabilized at 99.5, and it would fluctuate within a degree, but ever since I went into lockdown, the temperature's been fluctuating between 98.0 to 100.3 within 15 seconds! What the heck! I slept on the couch and got up every hour to try to put styrofoam or bubble wrap around it to up the temperatures.

 

[silkienewbiegurl]

Did you try using a water wiggler?

I still have two thermometers on the eggs, along with the wiggler but I'm not letting the small temp changes bother me. As long as they are between 98 and 102 and my wiggler still says 99-100 then I'm leaving it alone.

Thanks for the tip! I'm definitely going to look into it because I'd give anything for that peace of mind!