The thermometer that came with mine is correct.
It is 101 up top at the elevation of the glass thermometer, it is 99.5 at egg lvl in the tray.
This is the temp variation I was having issues with (when you turn the incubator,
the eggs up top are warmer 101 than the eggs on the bottom 98)
Brinsea customer service said turning the incubator often
and the thermal mass of the eggs will keep the temp of the eggs stable.
/shrug. I thought that's what the fan was for, but whatever. My first hatch
was 4 out of 8 and the eggs were not shipped. I only turned them 3x a day.
now I have the turner and I hope to have better hatch rates. I really really want
to love this incubator. Time will tell.
I can check my records but I can say that my very first time with the
Brinsea, I had 15 shipped eggs and I paid $128.00 for a dozen + shipping. The breeder sent me 3 extras. I put them in the incubator. I didn't touch anything other then turning it 3 times a day, 9 AM - 5 PM - 1 AM then about every third day I lifted the tray and put water in the back trough. On day 18 I candled the eggs, 3 were clear so I know they were not fertile. 12 made it to lock down. 10 hatched just fine. One pipped upside down and did no more and the last one was dead in shell. So it must have been fine. As I said, that was my first time with the
Brinsea. I put 8 eggs in it a week or so later, 6 hatched fine, 2 were clear. A little later I put 13 eggs in, 3 were clear on day 18, put the other 10 in lock down and all hatched. I have 14 in it right now that have been in there since the 9th and my temp/humidity is doing great. I'll post how the hatch on these go in a couple of weeks. I don't bother with it at all. I don't even think of changing anything. I think I've used it 8 times since I got it and since I set the temp before the first usage, I have not touch anything. I put my sponges in the trough, fill it almost full with water, plug it in wait for an hour or so, put in my eggs and let it do it's job. Even a broody hen will rarely hatch every egg.
We've got to understand that these are man made machines and there is always room for error.
I called the company once about my hova bator because my temp didn't seem to stay where it was supposed to be and they ask me what my hatch rate was and I told them 14 out of 17 hatched and they said it must be okay so I left it alone.
I only tried the dry hatch one time and it was a total disaster so I don't do it anymore. I keep my humidity between 40 and 55 or so for first 18 day then when I move them to hatcher it is in the high 70's. This is what works for me. I can't say for sure how many I've hatched since December but it is well over 100.
I'm not telling anyone to do what I do but it works for me. You all will have to try and see what works for you. We all live in different places, some have different ways of heating in the winter, some have dry climates some have more humid climates. We can't all do the same things. Different thing effect these incubators I guess.
I'd bet that if we checked the eggs under a mother hen, the temp of the eggs closest to the breast bone would be warmer then the ones on the outer perimeter of the nest.
So, essentially I just bought this incubator as my homemade one was cooking them, and now you're telling me that these are innacurate and cook them too...fantastic. Sigh.
I thought that Brinsea "factory calibrated" them? And quote the booklet " All Brinsea incubators are designed first and foremost to provide the best control of temperature possible"...
