Need Help/Answer to Incubating Temperature Question?

[wingding74]

I'm planing hatching my first group of chicken eggs in the next week or so. I built a homemade incubator and have been working on adjusting temperature and humidity. I made a test egg by drilling a hole in the end of and egg, filling it with aloe gel, sticking the digital probe for the exterior temperature inside, and sealing it closed. My latest temp adjustments have held fairly steady at 101 incubator temperature & 97.5 test egg temp. I did test the exterior probe before placing it in the egg, and it matched the interior temp. Their is also a fan in the incubator circulating the air around, so I really can't explain why the egg hasn't come around to matching the incubator temperature, and I'm not sure what to do about this gap. Is 99.5 is the optimum temperature inside the egg or inside the incubator? Can anyone help with some insight?

 

[scbatz33]

In my still air, I keep the temp of the incubator at 101 at the top of the egg. In the forced air - 1588 - The temp stays right at 99.9 at the top of the egg...I have no idea what the internal temp is meant to be. As long as you keep the incubator temp correct, internally the eggs should be right on target.

 

[HatchCraft]

Air temp of 99.5-100. is correct. Internal egg temp will vary. In later stage of incubation internal egg temp will be sightly higher than surounding air temp.I have read some hatcheries now measure egg shell temperature . Measuring the internal egg temp will give a better average temperature if your incubators thermostat has wide fluctuations.

 

[rickerra]

Quote:
I too made my own egg-meter. I took a plastic easter egg, sealed it, filled it with liquid dish soap and inserted a glass bulb thermometer through a small hole in the top. I taped it so that the thermometer bulb base was in the middle of the egg. My egg-o-meter definitely reflects the temps around the egg. It's just slower to heat up and cool down (small amount of thermal mass).

So if your air temp around the egg-meter is 101, the egg/gel has to eventually come to that same temp. Not sure why it would read low. Is the probe in the middle of the egg? Not sure how it would affect temp reading it the probe was against the shell. Maybe the egg-meter shell is in the wind of the fan making it a little cooler and the probe is reading the shell temp?? Have you tried moving your egg-meter around the incubator to see if temps vary? Even with a fan, you could have "spots" of varying temps...

That's all I can think of (except thermometers being off)... Good luck!

Cheers!

 

[Lark Rise]

With our last hatch our homemade eggmeter would vary in temp between 99.4 to 99.8 and the chicks hatched just fine.

For our next hatch, starting this Friday, we have turned the thermostat around (so the metal part faces the light bulb) and the eggmeter has been reading a constant 99.3 in the center of the incubation area.

We will tweak a little once the eggs are set to try to get the eggmeter to 99.5. We don't want to tweak now because we have found that temps without eggs is different from temps with eggs in the bator. I don't know why this is.

Edited to add: I don't really pay attention to ambient temps, I just watch the temps in the eggmeter.

 

[silkiechicken]

Just make air temp of a fan assisted incubator 99.5 at top of egg.

Early in incubation egg temp is lower than air temp, later in incubation, metabolic heat waste makes eggs warmer. Air still needs to stay at 99.5.

Reason egg temp is lower at the start, and likly why your gel temp is lower is because the evaporation of water decreases the temp of the egg. And yes, water evaporates, that is why you need to maintain some humidity so they don't over dry.