Several Q's Reguarding Egg Temp

[silkiepjsg]

This seems to be a popular subject right now, and I have a few more Q's.

When I put my eggs into the bator, I noticed that it took about 3 hours for the incubator to get the eggs up to the temperature that the bator was before they were put in.. What I mean by that is that my temp was constant, then I put in eggs, then the temp went down and worked its way up for 3 hrs, then it was the same temp it was before I put in the eggs.
Whew, OK. Now my Q: If I want to raise the temp in the bator, how long does it take until you know how much you raised it - as it seems that it could take as long as 3 hours.. Does anyone know?

Next Q: I thought that my thermometer was supposed to be at the top of the eggs. Now I see on-line, some universities class says lay the thermometer on the wire screen. Where did you put yours for a successful hatch?

Thank You for reading through my long questions!

 

[PearlD]

Your bator can take a while to get set, so don't tweak it too much at one time.....you might over/under heat the eggs. I always found this out in the AM, after not checking them all night! What kind of thermometer are you using? If its the flat glass one that came with the bator......don't trust it completely! In fact, I threw mine away. I don't think I'm the only one with that opinion! You should have at least 2 thermometers in there......both digital IMO. You can get a good one at a Lowes or Home Depot that has a probe for the outdoors. I use a water weasel, so my temp probe is actually 'middle of the egg' level. If you just put them in tonight, run out and grab you a couple of good digital thermometers with humidity reading. You will be glad you did! (Water weasel is a childs toy. Water filled snake looking thing. Put the therm. probe inside it and lay it with your eggs to get a better guess as to what your eggs are feeling!) Hope I helped! I'm not the most experienced person here.....but i've learned by losing a bator full of eggs with a cheap thermometer! Good Luck!
Janet

 

[silkiepjsg]

I know a lot of people use the water weasle. The time I tried it I ended up totally cooking my eggs. By the time I saw that the temp had gone too high, it was too long to get them to cool again. I am sure I did the whole thing wrong.
My thermometer is calibrated with a medical oral "take your temperature" thermometer. For those of you who have used the red thermometer, where do you put it? Anyone put it on the wire grate?
I think that the digital probe is a good idea. I guess I will have to make a trip to Home Depot.... (It's a bit of a drive...)

 

[Llysse]

I think the idea is to take the temperature at the height of the top of your eggs, so I propped mine up. I used the thermometer that came with the incubator, but I also used a digital thermometer/hygrometer and then calibrated with a third one just to check for accuracy. Temperature is so important throughout the process, I just don't think you can be too careful about making sure your measurements are accurate.

I like the water weasel idea, but I also think an air reading gives you a little more time to correct before the temperature changes inside the eggs. Maybe use both...?

 

[kiaya611]

I must be living under a rock 'cuz I never heard of a Water Weasel...or maybe it's because I don't have any kids...in any case, can anyone tell me where they sell Water Weasels? I am getting my baotr tomorrow and my eggs in the middle of next week, so I figure if I want to use this method (which sounds pretty logical), I need time to adjust everything and let it settle before I have eggs in hand.

Thank you for your help.