I have a homemade incubator and have been testing it the last few days. I have the temp and humidty right.. but when the lid gets opened the unit lowers in temp and humidity. I plan on hand turning my eggs.. will this be a problem - if the temp and humidity lowers every time I turn them? Also, does my incubator need to have vents open before the hatching? I put some in but when they are open the temp drops low. What about the tiny spaces left in the cord holes I drilled is that enough? Then there is also the air coming in when I turn the eggs. Want to figure all this out before I get my eggs.
most likely your temp. will come back on point but it takes a little while, when i turn mine my temp. goes high & then it will level off & go back to where it was, i would not worry to much about the humidity, i dont run any water at all until the last 3 days which is lock down, & then you get your humidity up to about 65-70% & leave it closed until they hatch, good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alright.. so it's ok for the temp to drop during turning. Thanks -I'm a little nervous this will be my first hatch lol
yea think about it, when the hen comes off of the nest the eggs cool off a lot in 10-15 minutes, so yea your OK, good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im not very experienced with chickens yet, but I think that it's not very harmful to the egg if the temp cools down for just enough time for you to turn them.
I havent's really timed it, but it seems to come back within the hour. I have discovered a problem with my incubator.. I'm using a 25 watt bulb witha dimmer switch. When I have the dimmer set to get 100 degrees I notice it cools to 97 degrees several times a day and stays for a little while. Later it goes back up to 100. Why is this happenening? I am not turning the dimmer switch at all. How can I fix this? All vents are closed except minute spaces where I've drilled holes for wires. Should I try a bigger watt bulb? I'm thinking that's not going to be good for the eggs.
you really need a wafer thermostat they have worked great for years, but as far as going down to 97 & back up to 100 will probably be OK, but i would try to get it up a little higher than that, mine will go down as far as 97.7 & back up to 101 & it does great, i have never used a dimer switch so i cant make a call on that, but get you a wafer thermostat & you will be happy.
