Turner Heat Spikes/Lows

[Pele]

Hi all,

I have two batches of Marans eggs on the way to me after Veteran's Day, and I am trying to decide if I should give my egg-turner another try.

I am using a hovabator, and have had successful hatches with hand-turning, but only failed hatches with the auto-turner. I believe it has to do with the temperature spikes and lows that it generates when I turn it on and off.

When I turn it on at beginning of hatch, the temperature spikes wildly upwards, and I have to spend a day slowly easing it down (which I can avoid by just having it running when they go in). However, the really lethal issue comes with lockdown, when turning off the turner causes the temps to go way low. This has caused 3 hatches to fail while I struggle to get it up again.

Any ideas? Suggestions?

 

[sumi]

Get rid of the turner?

 

[Pele]

I am trying to avoid having to do that, because hand-turning is extremely tedious and exposes the eggs to potential infection, no matter how well hands are washed.

I am considering putting miniature heat-sinks into the unit, in the form of sealed containers with water. They may stabilize any temperature changes.