So I made my own incubator yesterday. The temperature is consistently 102/103. I have tried to drop it a few degrees by putting holes in the Styrofoam. I don't want to put too many holes but will the eggs survive through 95*-103*. My temperature has been staying through that range. My humidity is about 45-65* In the mornings though it drops to 30. I was thinking about putting a damp wash cloth over the eggs at night while I sleep. Any tips would be fantastic! This is my first time trying an incubator. Thanks!
If it is still air (no fan) it needs to be between 101-102.(Near the top of the eggs) Less than 100 degrees runs a chance of slowing your development and causing a delayed hatch. 95 is way too low. 103 is getting to a borderline. The more fluctuation you have in your bator the less chance you're going to have a high hatch rate. If you have a fan in there making it a forced air incubator then the temp needs to remain about 99.5F. 103 would be more dire for lengthy amounts of time. (95 would still be way low.) And anything above 100 is going to increase the rate of development which increases the possibility of problems with the chicks and hatching. As for humidity, I aim for about 30% humidity the first 17 days. 45 in my opinion isn't too bad, 65% for incubation is to high. The best thing to do is monitor the air cells to make sure they are growing at the right rate and adjust accordingly. I would not put a towel over the eggs. They need air circulation as well, and as I said 30% is an acceptable amount providing your air cells are progressing fine.
After my third disastrous hatch on my hands as we speak! I would say go back to the drawing board. I am not familiar with homemade incubators. From my experiences I can honestly tell you these variances in temps and humidity will cause terrible hatch rates. I'm kind of going on a rant here because I'm very frustrated, but I honestly think you will end up in my shoes with fluctuations like that. I personally wouldn't be incubating at 65% humidity for the first 18 days, but you will have to monitor air cell development and see what humidity levels work for your incubator. As for temperature you need to get it more consistent than 95-103. At least from my experiences, and I don't wish my experiences on anyone trying to hatch eggs. Unfortunately I cant give much insight on ways to fix these issues as I have not idea on the construction of your incubator. Sorry I cant be more help at this time but I wish you luck!
