New here, have a question

[sifl79]

I had made a homemade incubator and can't seem to get the temp right. My thermometer was inaccurate and apparently they've been sitting in 104 degrees for 2 days. Is it likely that I've cooked them? I'm only using a 40 watt bulb so I'm not sure why it got so hot.

 

[LuckyQuail]

No idea but wanted to state my light bulb stabilizes temperature really well. Its for reptiles.

Have you hatched quail with this previously?

 

[Fat Daddy]

I had made a homemade incubator and can't seem to get the temp right. My thermometer was inaccurate and apparently they've been sitting in 104 degrees for 2 days. Is it likely that I've cooked them? I'm only using a 40 watt bulb so I'm not sure why it got so hot.

Your light bulb didnt get any hotter than normal. Its your thermostat's job to shut it off when the set temp is reached.... you could use any wattage bulb and the only difference would be the time it was "on", if your thermostat is set right..... as far as your eggs.... There are a ton of variables that could come into play. I would at least go to 10 days and candle the eggs..... is the temp stable at 104 or does it swing several deg every cycle of the light? Is your thermostat a brass wafer type?

 

[sifl79]

It maintained a stable temp. No fluctuating except for when I turned the eggs. I didn't have a thermostat wired in because when I tried to, it was too close to the light and was shutting off randomly. I do have it at a temp of 100 now and it's remaining stable. I removed the jars of water I had in there that were acting as Heat sinks and the temp came down to where I needed it. I had been using a digital therm/hygrometer I had gotten at Walmart, but today I bought a reptile thermometer with a probe. It's been more accurate because I can put the probe in next to an egg, it's actually reading about two degrees lower than the digital one. I'm just hoping I didn't poach my babies!

My other issue is humidity. I have a dish of water under a wire rack that the eggs are on, it's a wide dish, but humidity is staying around 30%. Adding more water doesn't seem to help. I've heard about dry hatching, if anyone has any experience I'd be grateful.

 

[Fat Daddy]

It maintained a stable temp. No fluctuating except for when I turned the eggs. I didn't have a thermostat wired in because when I tried to, it was too close to the light and was shutting off randomly. I do have it at a temp of 100 now and it's remaining stable. I removed the jars of water I had in there that were acting as Heat sinks and the temp came down to where I needed it. I had been using a digital therm/hygrometer I had gotten at Walmart, but today I bought a reptile thermometer with a probe. It's been more accurate because I can put the probe in next to an egg, it's actually reading about two degrees lower than the digital one. I'm just hoping I didn't poach my babies!

My other issue is humidity. I have a dish of water under a wire rack that the eggs are on, it's a wide dish, but humidity is staying around 30%. Adding more water doesn't seem to help. I've heard about dry hatching, if anyone has any experience I'd be grateful.

If you have no thermostat wired in. the bator temp will creep up until you open the lid or turn the light off. Once up to temp, in a foam cooler type bator. A 40 watt bulb should be able to maintain temp with it "on" no more than 3 mins. The light "off" time will depend on the size of air vent you made and how thick the cooler is..... if you have a large water dish and humidity didnt rise, you may have your vent too large. if more than one, close them some down, if just one large one, tape up part of it... I use water bottles as heat sinks sometimes too..... Dry hatching works well for chickens, its not the best for gamebirds IMHO....