Thermometer Temp

[Chantelletaylor]

Hi all! I am on my second incubation attempt, my first one resulted in 4/9 hatches. The other 5 unfortunately passed sometime between day 18 and day 22. This time around, I’m trying to be more vigilant at keeping the temp and humidity good, as well as avoiding candling too often, or just messing with the eggs or incubator in any way.

So here’s my question. I have two thermometer/hygrometers inside the incubator. The incubator itself is reading 101 (I know they are commonly inaccurate, I’ve opted to trust my thermometers I put in there after calibrating them.) one thermometer reads 99.5, the other 98.7. I’ve seen some people say to take the average of those two numbers, which would be 99.1. However, should I bump the temp up a notch to get the average a little higher, or would you leave it since one is reading the “ideal” temp? Is 98.7 too low? Thanks!

 

[Chantelletaylor]

Here is the current set up with the thermometers at egg level. Last attempt they were attached to the plastic dome part and I think were misreading the temp, that’s why this time I put them lower so they could read the temp where the eggs are at. I also know the incubator itself was a cheapy one off of Amazon, I didn’t know I’d end up enjoying hatching as much as I did the first time. I plan to get a better one when I can afford to!

 

[Debbie292d]

If you just calibrated your thermometers, then you should know what the accurate reading of each is. What I mean is, if you calibrated them at 40°F in your refridgerator for instance, and one reads 40°F and the other 39°F, then you'd know the one reading 39°F reads one degree lower than it really is.

Is this the situation?

Incubators surely can be off, as I have three Brinsea 56EX and only one is right. 101 sounds like it's off pretty extremely, so I'd hate for you to up that any more than it is without knowing absolutely you need to.

Yes, 98.7F is still safe, but that would slow down their development rate slightly, and it's not their "optimum" temp.

 

[Chantelletaylor]

If you just calibrated your thermometers, then you should know what the accurate reading of each is. What I mean is, if you calibrated them at 40°F in your refridgerator for instance, and one reads 40°F and the other 39°F, then you'd know the one reading 39°F reads one degree lower than it really is.

Is this the situation?

Incubators surely can be off, as I have three Brinsea 56EX and only one is right. 101 sounds like it's off pretty extremely, so I'd hate for you to up that any more than it is without knowing absolutely you need to.

Yes, 98.7F is still safe, but that would slow down their development rate slightly, and it's not their "optimum" temp.

I’m guessing maybe my incubator just has so warm spots and some not so warm spots. This morning one thermometer reads 99.3 and the other 100.2

 

[kattabelly]

I’m guessing maybe my incubator just has so warm spots and some not so warm spots. This morning one thermometer reads 99.3 and the other 100.2

How did you calibrate your thermometers, and were they showing a 0.8-0.9C difference from each other when you did?

What happens if you swap them around (so thermometer A goes to the spot in the incubator where thermometer B was, and vice versa)?

 

[Chantelletaylor]

How did you calibrate your thermometers, and were they showing a 0.8-0.9C difference from each other when you did?

What happens if you swap them around (so thermometer A goes to the spot in the incubator where thermometer B was, and vice versa)?

I calibrated in the fridge set to 37, they were the same.

I’ll swap them and see what happens

 

[Chantelletaylor]

I calibrated in the fridge set to 37, they were the same.

I’ll swap them and see what happens

Swapped and now reading 99.7 and 100. I’m not sure. I may order a few more thermometers to test them out.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I cannot find that incubator online to read about it. Do you have a link?

Is that a forced air or still air incubator? In a still air the temperature will change as elevation changes. I don't know if that is part of your issue.

I use a medical thermometer to calibrate mine. The medical thermometer should be calibrated and reads in the incubation temperature range. I trust that more than calibrating for freezing or boiling temperatures.