I decided I might want to make my own thread as a way to keep my observations regarding this venture all in one place should I ever decide to repeat this madness again 
with this same incubator.
The incubator in question is a 1602N Hova-bator with fan and Incuturner. This is the setup as of today.
These are shipped Black Bantam Cochin eggs from Georgia (not all that far,) 14 in total, that arrived on Wednesday the 14th. They were "set" around 8am on Friday, May 16th after an approximately 36 hour "rest". They were shipped in an egg carton, wrapped in bits of blue shop towels (like a Bounty towel,) in a USPS flat rate box packed tight in fine shavings. All eggs arrived safely with no evident cracks or other problems of any sort. I did not touch them again after inspection until Friday when they were set.
They were set in the egg carton as they had arrived, pointy end down, with the egg turner turned off. There are three digital thermometer/hygrometers in the incubator; a Govee H5075 with attendant app; an Incubator Warehouse Incu-therm; and a ThermoPro TP49. As they were set, each egg was weighed and numbered with that information written on the shell with ultra fine sharpie (I've read differing opinions on using sharpie. I did this the single time I've hatched eggs and had no obvious problems.) The fan was causing some low-level vibration so I placed a 3-pound weight on the top as a dampener. This seemed to work.
The initial intent was to try dry hatching but abandoned this idea when there were huge swings in the readings. At this time the Temperature had been dialed in to 100.5. Further reading indicated that for forced air (this unit has the add-on fan,) so I reduced that to 99.5. It was stable at that. I added water to one channel which spiked the humidity almost to 70%, removing one plug lowered it some, but not enough, covering about a third of the channel(s) with aluminum foil seemed to resolve that. And as of today the humidity seems to be stable in the 40's range. I keep an eye on things via the Govee App. Ordinarily the humidity reading looks like a sine wave, when it starts going down but doesn't rise back up I know it's time to add water.
It's difficult to add water in this unit. After the first experience using a condiment bottle to try to squirt some into the channel, I hit upon using one of my 20ml glue syringes that I keep in my shop. Makes it uber easy. I still have to lift the lid, but it's only the corner, and a half minute at most.
On Sunday, the 17th of May, I removed the eggs from the cartons and placed them on their sides in the turner and turned on the turner. This also caused some vibration, but the addition of a 5-pound weight dampened it down again. Not surprisingly, I have to remove the weights to lift the corner to add water.
Although I've gotten the humidity down where I'm reasonably happy, turning on the turner seems to have added a 1 to 1.5 degrees of heat. It doesn't sound much, but that's an average so it was spiking to 101°F. I've been tinkering with it, but this style of turner is making it difficult since the thermometers are now moving back and forth with the eggs. I can adjust the adjusting screw 1/4 turn, wait for results, be happy with the temperature, but then the thermometer moves so that the temperature either goes up or down depending on which direction it's moving. I've got a rocking style turner ordered, the Farm Innovators 3200, which is supposed to arrive today, and which would also probably solve this problem, but I'm on the fence about actually using it since the eggs have now been on their sides for two days.
First candling will be Friday Morning. Really, really, hoping I'm going to see some development.
with this same incubator.The incubator in question is a 1602N Hova-bator with fan and Incuturner. This is the setup as of today.
They were set in the egg carton as they had arrived, pointy end down, with the egg turner turned off. There are three digital thermometer/hygrometers in the incubator; a Govee H5075 with attendant app; an Incubator Warehouse Incu-therm; and a ThermoPro TP49. As they were set, each egg was weighed and numbered with that information written on the shell with ultra fine sharpie (I've read differing opinions on using sharpie. I did this the single time I've hatched eggs and had no obvious problems.) The fan was causing some low-level vibration so I placed a 3-pound weight on the top as a dampener. This seemed to work.
The initial intent was to try dry hatching but abandoned this idea when there were huge swings in the readings. At this time the Temperature had been dialed in to 100.5. Further reading indicated that for forced air (this unit has the add-on fan,) so I reduced that to 99.5. It was stable at that. I added water to one channel which spiked the humidity almost to 70%, removing one plug lowered it some, but not enough, covering about a third of the channel(s) with aluminum foil seemed to resolve that. And as of today the humidity seems to be stable in the 40's range. I keep an eye on things via the Govee App. Ordinarily the humidity reading looks like a sine wave, when it starts going down but doesn't rise back up I know it's time to add water.
It's difficult to add water in this unit. After the first experience using a condiment bottle to try to squirt some into the channel, I hit upon using one of my 20ml glue syringes that I keep in my shop. Makes it uber easy. I still have to lift the lid, but it's only the corner, and a half minute at most.
On Sunday, the 17th of May, I removed the eggs from the cartons and placed them on their sides in the turner and turned on the turner. This also caused some vibration, but the addition of a 5-pound weight dampened it down again. Not surprisingly, I have to remove the weights to lift the corner to add water.
Although I've gotten the humidity down where I'm reasonably happy, turning on the turner seems to have added a 1 to 1.5 degrees of heat. It doesn't sound much, but that's an average so it was spiking to 101°F. I've been tinkering with it, but this style of turner is making it difficult since the thermometers are now moving back and forth with the eggs. I can adjust the adjusting screw 1/4 turn, wait for results, be happy with the temperature, but then the thermometer moves so that the temperature either goes up or down depending on which direction it's moving. I've got a rocking style turner ordered, the Farm Innovators 3200, which is supposed to arrive today, and which would also probably solve this problem, but I'm on the fence about actually using it since the eggs have now been on their sides for two days.
First candling will be Friday Morning. Really, really, hoping I'm going to see some development.
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