Need help with Little Giant

[AussieSharon]

I got a Little Giant bator and egg turner for Xmas. Never used one before and have had a hard time regulating the temp. I did as Miss Prissy suggested and wrapped it in a blanket. Ok I first wrapped it in bubble wrap, then a blanket then to top it off surrounded the blanket with insulation that I had frozen foods delivered in. So we are saying TRIPPLE wrapped.

For the past 2 days it has held the temperature well, staying fairly constant in the water wiggler between 99.5 and 99.7. Forgot to add DH installed a small PC fan in it. Well today I left the house for 1 1/2 hours and come home to find the temp in the water wiggler at 98.0 and the internal bator temp at 96. I know it cycles but it's never dropped the water wigggler temp below 99.1 The house temperature has remained constant, it's not near a window or any drafts.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[PurpleChicken]

My LG's take a while to tweak and I still check the temps several
times a day and make TINY adjustments.

I haven't wrapped mine with anything.

Suggestions:
Keep it full. Use water bottles and extra wigglers. The more mass
you have the more stable the temp will be.

Run it for at least 5 days before putting eggs in.

You hubby may have put too large a fan in. I have the LG fans and they
don't move around that much air.

Make only TINY adjustments to the thermostat. If it's too cold don't turn it
until the light comes on, just turn it a TINY bit and check back in an hour.

 

[tiffanyh]

are their eggs in it now???

I would unwrap it and get it set it higher so that the wiggler reads 99.5. With my still air LG that has neant having air temps at 103-104. But I have had great hatches. without the fan you do get a distinct air gradient. The "wire floor" will read 95 and the air temp around my eggs (with a scientific calibrated therm) will read 103.5 and my wigger (sitting in the floor near my eggs) will read 99.5. It took quite some time to get it. When you do get it, write it all down.

Personally, I would think adding the extras on the outside are going to make it hard to duplicate the circumstances if you, say, unwrap to candle or add water. IMHO.

Every night my temps drop a a couple degree so I just throw a towel over it at night.

Being in a room that cool--even without drafts- has had a HUGE affect on my temps.

Good luck

 

[luvzmybabz]

the LG is fairly hard to tweak "just a little bit" someone on here said they had made a knob for one so I looked at what I had around here I had just installed a dimmer switch I bought at lowes it came with 2 knobs one white one cream I used the extra one and it fits the LG control spindle just great makes tweeking so much easier.

Kasi

 

[AussieSharon]

Thanks for the suggestions. There are 2 wigglers in it and 9 eggs. The PC fan is very small, less than 2 inches. I've been running the bator for almost 2 weeks unwrapped trying to get it to regulate before I wrapped it up in desperation. Before wrapping it the fluctuations in temp were all over the place.

All day yesterday and last night the internal temp ran at 101.1 which kept the wiggler temp at exactly 99.5
It just freaked me out today when out of no where in an hour and a half it had made such a temp drop.
The eggs in it now aren't fertile, they are just in it for filling space. My "real" eggs are being shipped in a month, so yes I have some time, if I don't go insane first.

Should I keep tweaking or just give up and buy the Hova-bator Genesis 1588?

 

[MaransGuy]

If you have the means, I would say buy the genesis. I got tired of dealing with the wafers as barometric pressure will also affect them and cause temp fluctuations. When I did have a wafer type I found I would need to adjust it every couple days to keep it where it was supposed to be. With this digital one I have not touched it once in three hatches, my fourth is ten days underway now. I did have to set it down a bit when I first got it so it would stay at 99.x but it now fluctuates less than a degree. My house varies from 63 to 75 over a 24 hour time period and I do not wrap the bator in anything. I probably sound like a broken record but I think the digital thermostat is the most important and cost-effective investment in an incubator.

Richard

 

[therealsilkiechick]

do u have a hygromiter in there? if u don't have one you can get them at a pet shop that sells reptiles and supplies. right now i have holmes ones they are cheap at walmart it is the best cheapy ones i've found most accurate but the pet store here has exo terra digital ones. on payday i'm gonna get one off ebay they are cheaper there and give it a try. i'd assume a digital would be so much easier to use.

any way sounds to me like the humidity is the prob. higher humidity = lower temp, lower = higher temp. try that see if it fixes it. if it's rainy out i usually take the plugs out. if ya need more humidity i add pieces of new clean sponge and rewet or add more sponges as needed to increase it slowly. i have never covered mine and i have 4 still airs, i have never heard of covering them till today when i was reading another post. i'd be afraid of a fire myself i know mine get hot on top but some of mine are older with the medal screw type adjustment so that mabe why cause my new ones are a plastic stick that sticks up.

the only time i really have a prob is when night temps drop or the a/c kicking on and off. with them i turn up or down as needed 1 click at a time when the light is off if i need it turned up and on if i need it to go down. it's alot easier to warm up a bator than it is to warm it down. where can u get a scientific calibrated therm??? i'd love to find one.
silkie

 

[AussieSharon]

Thanks Richard and Silkie. Silkie I have 2 hygrometers in the bator. A fluker and accurite, both of which are within 1% of each other. The humidity in the bator has stayed very constant at 40% ( that was the one thing I could regulate easily ) The humidity in the house and outside has been pretty constant for the past couple of days too. I have a hygrometer in the kitchen and one outside.

The strange part to me is the big temperature dips I've had are not at night ( that I am aware of ) but late morning. Both times around 11 am, yet the house temperature is unchanged.

Richard I am so paranoid I am going to mess up my Welsummer eggs that I think I'm going to get the Genesis Hova-bator to be on the safe side, maybe later I can "play" with the LG when the eggs aren't so important. With all the enablers on here I know 1 bator won't be enough for me. LOL

Thank you again for the responses, it really is appreciated.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

lol, sorry u didn't mention humidity that's why i asked. humidity should be 55-65% the first 18 days then last 3 days 65-75%. our hatch rate is usually 100% with our own eggs and 60% or higher on shipped eggs. we keep temp at 99.5 and we don't use wigglers at all they don't seam to fit right with the turner,lol.

i haven't herd of that bator u listed i'll have to check it out i wanted to get another bator, was thinking a top hatch one but after checking it out i don't like it's heated by a light bulb.
hope that helps too,
silkie

 

[turnerstar31]

i have an lg as well and i like to get mine to about 100-101 degrees in the air. I let it sit for a couple of days and make sure that it does not jump or drop to much. I usually get a fluctuation of about 2 degrees either up or down and have had good hatches with that method. Don;t worry to much if it goes up or down a degree and it is better for the temp to be low rather than high.