Temperature difference- help?

[LedgeWoods]

I have a "Farm Innovators" styrofoam incubator with a Farm Innovators egg turner. Just set eggs on Tuesday (19th). I have 2 thermometers inside - one on top of the eggs, one resting on the screen at the bottom of the incubator. The top thermometer on the eggs is holding nicely at 99.5. The bottom one reads 94-95 degrees. The external temp gauge attached to the lid says 92.

Is this OK?? Normal? Anyone else notice this?

 

[brahmabreeder]

Does your incubator have a fan in it?

 

[LedgeWoods]

No fan - just "still air." I have it in the basement where the temperature stays consistent - no drafts.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Your going to have various temperatures in your incubator since there is no fan. I think you are suppose to set those kinds of incubators a bit higher in temperature than you would a circulated air incubator. I found an article. http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/res19-opincubator.html

 

[LedgeWoods]

Great article!!! Thank you so much

...but it also raised another question. Do people really take the eggs out of the turner 3 days before hatch or just unplug it?

 

[brahmabreeder]

You are suppose to remove the turner all together. Then you lay the eggs flat and raise the humidity. I don't have a turner for my incubator. I have an octagon 20 from brinsea so I just turn the whole incubator. Then on day 19 I remove the egg divider things and lay the incubator level. If everything went right you should have chicks in a few days.

 

[LedgeWoods]

Top thermo says 105 while bottom one is at 97...hope I'm not cookin' 'em!

 

[brahmabreeder]

I would install a fan after this hatch. Then please report back because I am thinking of getting one of those incubators with a fan.

 

[LedgeWoods]

Installed a fan and was able to keep the temperature much more consistent. Now i seem to have trouble at hatch time...the temperature is all over the place. 95-105. The knob on the temp control is super sensitive. The fewer the eggs in there, the harder to control it seems. Hatched out 33 of 38 eggs with one egg to go. It hasn't pipped yet, but it's wobbling in the water test. Had one dead chick in the bator this morning...sort of a cruddy surprise for Easter Sunday, so I'm hoping this little chick makes up for it. Last chick hatched Saturday afternoon...this one is just pokey.