little giant getting cool at night

[TomsChickens]

Hi
I am new to hatching chickens just got a little giant at the feed store. set it up ajusted the temp was good several hours yesterday. I heat with a wood stove so the temp in my house drops at night.
temp in the bator had dropped 5 degrees along with the house temp. My question is should I put a small lap blanket/thro over the bator at night to hlep it keep its temp stable in the cooler room?

 

[dominiquePL]

I think you have to do something about it - blanket is a good idea but you have to make sure that temp don't get to high, at least at first when you cover the bator while it's still warm in the house. Do you have eggs in it? It not I would wait with adding eggs untill you get it steady. Maybe try to use mercury thermometer - it will show you the highest temperature and then you can be sure there's no danger to the eggs.

Temp swings aren't good for the eggs - I ruined my whole hatch because of it - now I have a thermostat and wow... what a difference (in terms of temps - can't tell you about results yet since I started 2 days ago).

 

[TomsChickens]

I am thinking of tossing a pillow case or something over it I think a blanket might be too muck I dont want to roast the eggs

 

[abhaya]

maybe try wrapping it in bubble wrpa but make sure to leave the ventilation open

 

[seminolewind]

Same thing happens with me. I find the most heat is lost thru the window. At night you can loosly place some bubble wrap over it, or I have also put a regular lamp bulb in a lamp shining on the bator, it kind of gives it a little extra stability heat wise.

 

[jvls1942]

make it easy on yourself, use duct tape.. your heat fluctuations are most likely caused by air leakage.. the seal between the lid and the base is a poor invention of the bator mfgr..

just take four 18" long pieces of duct tape and tape the seam ..

do this in the daytime so that you can monitor the temp..

I run 8 hovas and LG at a time..

after doing this, and your fluctuations still exist,, and if they go to the same high reading to the same low reading it is your wafer(if you have one) In the meantime, just set it so that it doesn't go over 101F and send for a new wafer..

 

[silkie_sue]

Quote:
I take 2 regular bath towels and fold them in half length wise and wrap the edges of my LG and use clothes pins to make corners. It sort of fits like

a cozy around the edges but still leaves the vents open. Might want to check the windows to be sure they are all the way fitted in.

Suz

 

[chickened]

I too have wood heat and can relate. Put the incy in a room close the door use a portable heater with a thermostat to keep the room at a stable temp. You are not trying to keep the room at a perfect temp as much as a stable temp. Hens seem to deal with this issue every day your losses will most likely be greater from other factors that are harder to determine than temp fluctuations. In my humble experiences, Oh I did eventually get a cabinet style for that very reason, now I really have chickens.

 

[thatchickenlady]

I would not cover the incubator but rather you need to have the 'bator in a room where the temperature stays pretty much the same as chickened said.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Im going to assume your incubator has no fan. Adding insulation will not help. It is caused by the thermal layering that happens inside a still air incubator. If the room temp drops 10 degrees the air at the middle of a still air incubator drops about 5 degrees. Here, read this. http://cmfarm.us/stillair.html