Question about incubator temperature

[Junglebob]

I have some eggs in 2 older hova-bator incubators that have the wafer thermostats. Both of them have egg turning racks and fans. I understand that 99.5 degrees is the best temperature to set them at. However I have a 1" high plastic cup in the middle of each rack with water in it and check that for temperature. I am using a digital medical thermometer that says it is accurate to plus or minus .2 degree. I also have a lazer thermometer, which seems to read a little low. I can check the water in the cups and they are 98.5 in one and 100.1 degrees in the other. However the lazer reads about 95 degrees if I point it at the water in the cup and 100 degrees when pointing at the top of some of the eggs, making me think it might be 105 at the top of some eggs. The lazer thermometer is supposed to be accurate to within 5% I believe, always seems to read low compared to the medical themometer.

Which reading should I go by, and what is the lowest temperature that is acceptable, I'm thinking I should go closer to the low end with the medical thermometer. The readings I take are with the indicator light off so it should be about as warm as the incubator is getting. I will have had the eggs in the bator for a week on friday. I will also be giving some eggs to a young boy with a similar incubator, but without a turner, also wafer thermostat (new wafer). Plan on giving him about 48 eggs for his hovabator, Ive given him a medical thermometer to get the temperature set and plan on bringing him eggs tonight. I sure want his to hatch well. He is quite enthused and I'm sure he will turn them as needed.

 

[thechickonthehill]

Junglebob, here is a suggestion - get yourself a digital thermometer (the Brinsea Spot Check is great) that has a probe and a water weasel and this will help.

(A Water Weasel is actually a kid's toy. It's made of a special rubber in a shape like an elongated cheerio. It's full of water, and sometimes come with glitter or little creatures in them. They slip out of your hands as they turn inside out over and over again.)
All you do is slip the probe of your digital thermometer into the weasel. Place it in your incubator just as if it was an egg. Once the weasel comes to the bator's temperature you'll have the temperature of the inside of your eggs. When you use a thermometer in your incubator you are reading the temperature of the air in your incubator. Most incubators, unless they have a very expensive heating system, have a great variance in air temperature as the bator cools and reheats. Your thermometer is always rising and falling with the air temperature in the incubator. If you read your thermometer one time, it may say 97 degrees. If you leave it alone and come back a little later, the thermometer may read 101 degrees. This can be caused by inaccurate thermometers and by changes in room temperature. The weasel/digitherm combination takes all the guesswork out of controlling your incubator's temperature by using the weasel as a "heat sink". The ideal place to measure temperature in your incubator is inside your eggs, because that's where the temperature really matters. The water weasel simulates the evironment inside your eggs and gives you a more exact temp reading.
The nice thing about the weasel is that whether it's still air or forced air, you set your incubator at 99.5 degrees. There may be a slight rise and fall of the temp but it will be greatly reduced and give you a much more accurate reading.

This is a slightly condensed/edited version of an article on "The Easy Chicken" website. A lot of BYCers use water weasels to regulate the temps in their incubators with great success. Hope this helps.

 

[Junglebob]

I'll have to try an find one of those Water Weasels, however I wasn't measuring air temperature with my medical thermometer or my laser thermometer. I was measuring temperature of the water in the little cups with the medical thermometer and temperature of the shell of the egg with the laser thermometer.

Update:Well I looked at Walmart and Dollar General today not at either one.

 

[Laurieks]

http://www.brinsea.com/SearchResult.aspx?KeyWords=spot check on sale now-I just bought one for 19.95 +10 shipping

do I want 99.5 inside the egg? new thermometer on top of eggs in Rcom says 95, but fan blows across the top.