rant rant rant!!! stupid hovabator temp!!!

[sonew123]

OK if I didn't 75$ worth of eggs from the BYC members in my incubator right now Id go to my bonfire pit and burn the dang thing-I have a hovabator 1602N with turner-temp was awesome for the last 4 days-put the rest of the eggs in last night-left it alone this am I get up and bang 104.6! what the heck! I flipped the top open blowing on my eggs to cool them down--temp went down to 100.8 in about 10 minutes-an hour later 100.0 which for a still air is still low right? the humidty has never been a problem it's at 41% and Im happy with that...why does this thing do that??? We are gone 10 hrs a day to work-and need sleep-this only does it when I go to bed-I wake up and I get a heart attack in the morning? it is day 5 for 3 eggs and day 1-3 for the rest ( it is full) do you think they'll be ok if I dont keep getting spikes? I want to incubate soo bad and have been so good not to open when I dont have too-(lesson learned from last time)-as Im looking at it now the heater light came back on-ahhh-thank you just needed to blow off steam!

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Still air temps aren't lethal until they get to 107...

Ambient room temperature has a lot to do with the spikes as well....

 

[sonew123]

thank you--that makes me feel a little better!!! I just dont get it! I even have my DH looking when I'm not! I just keep praying I get something out of my hatches....I candled real quick as I was adding the last of my 15 silkies eggs-( I candled my 3 eggs from my chickens) all I think had veins on day 5!!! I use my eggs as testers for the rest of the batch-very dark brown eggs-but I could see life..I am waiting until next Sunday to candle all the others-mostly silkie eggs-which should be fairly easy to see veins and life signs. It's just so frustrating--This was supposed to be my last batch to incubate-hoping I got lots of silkie babies-and some EE's and a few other breeds people were gracious enough to include for free-Im still smiling though-positive positive-positive-what would be your ideal humidty % for the the first 18 days and then the last 3--Ive been reading on it and I thought 41% WAS GREAT. Then I see so many others having humidity issues and they need to crank theirs up higher than I have mine set?

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

You might also loosen the wingnut that holds the thermostat in. I've found that if I have it TOO tight on mine, it holds the wafer to tight and doesn't allow it to contract and expand properly.

FYI... I've had mine for about three weeks or so now and I'm just now finally getting it set correctly. At first it would drop at night and spike during the day, due to the heating and cooling of the weather. Now that our temperatures are starting to remain somewhat even, I'm having better success. Trying moving it to a different room in your house that may have a more even temperature at all times.

 

[hollymh]

I agree with the above poster! I have the same bator as you and I had mine in my room last hatch and well you know it was just bad, I moved it to my room that stays warm and humid all the time and it has been fine ever since

So apparently where you have it makes a HUGE difference...

 

[sonew123]

Thats what I was thinking of doing too-moving the bator-the bathroom seems to be the most stable with temps! minus shower times-but our bathroom is pretty big so Im not concerened. Oohh the whoas..hahaha--I loosed the wingnut too-just now--my fingers are crossed..

 

[sonew123]

ok 99.1 now! stupid thing!

 

[MissPrissy]

In a still air incubator measure the temps at the top of the egg height as they sit in the bator. It should read 101 at the top and get cooler toward the floor of the incubator where the bottom of the eggs rest.

Also rotate the eggs around to different places in the still air. They go through periods of hot pockets and cold pockets and eggs may not develop at the same rate.

The room temps now that warm weather is upon us also causes a flux in the temps. Try to keep it in a stable room with little traffic, no cross breezes and room temps that don't change more than a few degrees in the day to night.

 

[sonew123]

ok-I have right now my temp/humidty gage on top-where I've been leaving it-and I also have a temp gage on teh bottom-they are always a degree or two different-which is good I see--rotate them in bator? I will do that-but that kinda scares me that the temp will jump again because of the bator being open like that No? I'm assuming that it will go back to normal after a little bit--Im trying so hard not to open the bator unless I need to for candeling-maybe Im taking it to the extreme again-first hatch opened wayyyy to much-this hatch not so much-I will rotate when I get back from church-after I pray! Thank you Miss Prissy

 

[MissPrissy]

Are they in a turner in your still air? If so, once a day change their positions. The hottest ones can develop faster and perish while the colder ones may not develop fast enough and perish.

Just be very careful and shift positions. Left front moves to right rear etc.