temp question

[matthundley]

ok , I made a incubator from a cooler. I have it on a thermostat. Well I was just wandering does it hurt anything if the temp hits 103 or 104 for just a minute before climbing back down. My stat is kicking on about 96-97, then kicking off about 101.7-102 , but then it climbs to about 104 after it shuts off. but then climbs back down. just wandering if that is bad. Thanks

 

[purelypoultry]

That is a pretty bad range for temperature for incubation. If ya get up to 105 that is totally fatal.

 

[Ban seabhag]

Only if it lasts for a while. A spike like that if brief, (like an hour) is probably okay. It takes awhile for the egg to absorb that heat. I was just talking to some people here who had spikes to 108 for a short time and most of the eggs hatched. I don't know how long yours was, but I bet all is not lost

Edit: a few minute is not a problem...They can't warm up that fast. Just keep an eye on that thing!

 

[matthundley]

ok, thanks guys

 

[jimma207]

I see you are having the same problems I am. cant seem to get the temps to a small range. I wonder if our thermostats may be bad, or just not sensitive enough. I have a probe in a wiggler, the temps are within 1 degree, but the temp is lower than the bator temp. I wonder which thermostat to set it to. I am starting to doubt this design. thanks jim

 

[signguy765]

I had the same problem using a water heater thermostat. I just switched to a wafer and now it's either 98.4 or 102.1! I just can't find 99.5.
So far, I don't have the answer yet.

 

[Msbear]

I made a bator with a wafer thermostat and love it. It rises and falls within a half of a degree. I do have two cool spots in the corners because of where my light is but am aware of it and I rotate my eggs in and out of those spots. Be sure you have a precise thermometer/hygrometer... makes all the difference in the world.

 

[matthundley]

ok, so I have been doing some tuning on the thermostat. If you go just by your air temp it will drive you crazy !! So I am going by the internal temp of the egg , with a small jar of water. It is staying at 99 deg, which is acceptable to me. If they hatch Ill continue this, if not, ill test and tune some more. But just to help you out, my thermometers are reading about 98-101 , with a slight jump to 104 for just a min. but it seems to be keeping a nice temp on the inside, even with the range of the temp. I will let yall know if they hatch in 9 days

 

[Msbear]

I've heard of folks using the wiggleworms.. or something like that... same basic concept. Keep us posted!

 

[gckiddhouse]

If you have a water heater thermostat, there is a BYC page that you can access from my BYC "homemade chickens"page that tells how to drill small holes in the thermostat to make it more accurate. The guy who did it says that his stays within .5*. I haven't done it, so if you do, let us know how it goes.

I had that thermostat in and ended up taking it out and using a dimmer switch. Not the greatest, but better than the thermostat was doing.

Hope it goes well for you!!!