Turner best practice and Removal/Temp

[MightyMama]

I now have a new LG with circulated air. I'm getting everything ready for my first hatching next week. And there's still a few things that I'm trying to work out.

When I remove the egg turner on day 18, the instructions suggest setting the thermostat to 103.5 to keep the eggs the same temperature as they were when positioned higher in the egg turner.

Do you find this to be true?

And is it more beneficial to still move the eggs around to different spots on the days that they are weighed/candled? Or best for them to stay where they are set originally.

Also, I read a few posts on there being better places in the incubator for placing the eggs (specifically not the corners), but I'm not sure if it's better for all the eggs to be close together in the middle (like a nest) or more evenly spread out so the air can circulate around them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

With circulated air, I would be very fearful of raising the temperature that high. It is always possible the thermometer is off. Any significant amount of time above 104 can kill the embryos.
If still air, I could see doing so if measuring the temp at the top of or higher than the eggs.
Close to hatch, they will be generating some metabolism heat of their own.
I would probably cluster them near the center if you have room but not necessarily touching each other. I thing the jury is out on that.

 

[Feathers4Fun2]

LG with circulated air can stand a slightly lower temp of 99 -102 degrees F. The LG without circulated air is operated slightly warmer but not higher than 102 degrees max.

 

[MightyMama]

Thanks. I've been running it for 2 days, and I still can't get it to 99.5. It's either 98.8 or 100.2. I'm slowly inching the temperature .1 at a time with 3 hour increments. I only have to Tuesday to figure it out (intended incubation day). Is it better if it runs a little high or a little low?

 

[Feathers4Fun2]

When I fired up my LG for the first time it was preset for 99.5. I was happy with that for a day or two then I learned that the still air LG should run a tad warmer than the circulating air LG. The still air target temp is 101.5 while the circulating air LG target temp is 99.5. Max temp for both incubators is 102. So I increased the temp from 99.5 to 101.8 at increments of (.1). My temp has been steady 101.6 to 101.8. With your model I would be happy with a target of 100 or 101.

 

[MightyMama]

That's incredibly helpful. Thank you so much.

 

[lazy gardener]

I now have a new LG with circulated air. I'm getting everything ready for my first hatching next week. And there's still a few things that I'm trying to work out.

When I remove the egg turner on day 18, the instructions suggest setting the thermostat to 103.5 to keep the eggs the same temperature as they were when positioned higher in the egg turner.

Do you find this to be true?

And is it more beneficial to still move the eggs around to different spots on the days that they are weighed/candled? Or best for them to stay where they are set originally.

Also, I read a few posts on there being better places in the incubator for placing the eggs (specifically not the corners), but I'm not sure if it's better for all the eggs to be close together in the middle (like a nest) or more evenly spread out so the air can circulate around them.

If you have not yet done so, I suggest that you read all of "hatching eggs 101" in the learning center. It will answer questions that you have not yet thought to ask.

correct incubation temps: 99.5 for forced air. (I use 100 with excellent results) 102 measured at the top of the egg for still air. If your bator instructions say 103.5, I do hope that the higher temp at the placement of the thermometer in that case correlates to 102 at top surface of egg.

I have never used a turner. This is what I do: I incubate in egg cartons (tilt cartons to turn) through day 14. At day 14, I lay the eggs flat, and continue to hand turn until day 17 - 18. I then move all the eggs to the optimum spots in the incubator where the temp is at the best range. (I've found that even with a fan, the temp can vary from one spot to an other. I sometimes have 5 thermometers in the bator at a time up until lock down! (OCD, much????)

In commercial hatching, they actually decrease the temp a bit for the hatch. So, I'd be a bit leery of the 103.5 recommendation. Test it out at egg surface.

When going to lock down, it's best if the eggs touch each other. This is how the chicks communicate with each other to encourage them all to hatch at the same time.

Finally, have you calibrated your thermometer? You can't trust even the thermometer that comes with an incubator. I calibrate against a good medical grade thermometer in a cup of water to 100*.

 

[MightyMama]

Here is what I have. The digital inside is calebrated. It does seem to change based on which way it's leaning, which is why I started noting that (r=right of where I stand, l=left), in starting to suspect that it reads a little higher when it's facing the opposite way. I'm trying to catch it when the turner is in the middle. The incubator sensor sits a bit higher, I tried to show how that hangs down. I'm debating on turning the temp up again, I would like to see the low temp not go below 99, but then I worry that the high temp would be too much.