Thermometer issues...which right which wrong??

[Juliechickens]

Hey,,,I have a question...I have lots of eggs in two incubators on day 21 today. Out of all my eggs only 4 have pipped so far. One of them with the most eggs in it has 2 thermometers in it. One is a regular thermometer, the other is a digital which reads humidity and temperature.
Weird thing is that regular thermometer reading 99.5 degrees,,,,,,then the digital one is now reading 95.6 degrees! What on earth?? I don't know which is right and which is wrong but if it's only 95.6 degrees that could explain why so few eggs have pipped yet. I know them to be fertile after candling. Doesn't mean they will all hatch but a good chance.
Which thermometer is more accurate?? Help!! Julie

 

[speckledhen]

Gee, no real way to know without a third one in there. A regular one these days is usually an alcohol one rather than mercury and not as accurate. Digitals vary so much, it's hard to say. Which one is it? I have three digitals and one is terribly off, but the other two are good.

 

[Juliechickens]

It's the little one that came with the incubator so I imagine it is a regular one I suppose. I hate to open the thing as some of pipped and I don't want to lose moisture. Humidity reading 75%. Oh what to do what to do!!!

 

[speckledhen]

Hmm, well at 75%, you have a little leeway if you have a third thermometer to pop in there quickly, but you'll have to decide if you think it's worth trying right in the middle of the hatch. I usually go with 65-70% at hatch time, so even if you lose a tad, it will probably build up fast. Those that come with the bators are notoriously bad. Mine reads higher than the temp actually is in the bator. I have two digitals myself that agree with each other fairly closely.

 

[Smoky73]

What kind of digital is it? Is it an accurite from Walmart? They usually have two readings, one for the unit(inside) , one for the probe(outside) and then the humidity reader. The probe one, isnt as accurate as the unit reading.
I use mostly the glass thermometers now, the spirit ones (red line) and the mercury ones. I also use the accurites for the humidity, and a round reptile thermometer and hygrometer I got at petsmart.

 

[marie_martin]

I use the accurite, but i put the entire unit inside the bator. I then put the probe into the water weasel. When the bator temp is 102, the egg temp is about 99.5-100. Working pretty good for the most part. I had some trouble getting the temp to be stable when the cool spell came through, but yesterday, I took out the other plug in my bator and adjusted the heat up a tad and that seems to be the answer. Holding steady on day 19 now.

Marie

 

[speckledhen]

I have this small one by Springfield that agrees pretty closely with the AcuRite, which I also have attached with the probe in the water weasel. There is a white one by Springfield that does not read fractions that is terrible, but this one is great. Got it at Home Depot last year. Right now, the AcuRite probe in my weasel says 99.1 and the Springfield in the bator reads 99.5 so they are very close.

 

[marie_martin]

Well I have mine a bit higher because it is a still air and I read that it should be a bit higher in the bator. So with the bator temp at 101.6-102 I get about 99.5 to 100 inside the eggs. So do you think that is on track. I will be on day 20 tonight at about 7pm. No rocking or movement here yet. I hope they hatch. I hope yours do ok as well. Good luck.

Marie

 

[speckledhen]

Marie, mine is circulated air, so that's why mine is that temp. Your air temp needs to be 101.5-102 or so at the top of the eggs because it's cooler at the bottom of the eggs and that helps it average out properly inside the egg, as I understand it. Sounds like you are on track. Good luck with your hatch!

 

[silkiepjsg]

I just went through this same Q as to which thermometer was reading more correctly. If the highest one was reading high, then the whole time the temp was too low. If the lower one was accurate, then the temp was too high in there. Guessing by putting the temp btwn the 2 didn't make me feel any better, because what if one was way off - then it still could be too high, or too low.

I finally figured out to get a cup of warm water and put my thermomoters in the water along with my "medical" thermometers that have mercury in them. I have 2 of them, to see if you have a fevor. Anyway, it ends up that my cheapy red thermomoter that came with my little gian incubator is pretty much right on.

Who would have thought? So my other one is pretty useless.

So you could throw in a medical thermometer, but you have to read it within a couple of mins, and then it will only tell the temp right then. But you could use that to compare.