- Mar 15, 2016
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Hi, just put a batch of eggs to incubate last night, but thermometers are acting strangely. Previous years I used either digital thermometers or a combination of digital and analogue, but no digital thermometer ever lasted more than one season, so I decided this year to use analogue thermometers only. I usually use 2-3 in the same time just to be sure.
So I put 4 analogue thermometers in my basement where I usually incubate as the temperature there is stable, and they all showed the same temperature all the time for the 2 days before incubation. But after I put them in the incubator and warmed it up, 2 of them showed 37.5 C around the height of the middle of the eggs, or the optimum temp for incubation, while 2 of them showed only 32-33 C (at a slightly lower height, perhaps, but not enough to justify such a difference). I put the eggs inside thinking that maybe the second two were just slower to show the increase in temp, but in the morning the situation was the same.
The dilemma is, one of the thermometers that shows optimum temp now was a support thermometer last year, when I had a great hatching percentage. BUT today, the eggs are only lukewarm when I touch them, not bodily temperature (or slightly feverish bodily temperature) as they should be. The eggs feel much more like 32-33 C than 37-38 C. So I decided to raise the temp until eggs feel as warm as they should be. It worries me, though, that the eggs might be slower to warm up than I expect, and I might end up overheating them.
My primary concern at the moment: would the embryos be damaged if they spent first 12 hrs on only 33 C or so? I read that anything under 35 C can cause damage, but maybe not so much in the earliest stage of incubation?
Any other suggestions? The thermometers that show optimum temperature are both of this type, while those that show lower temperature are both of this type. Maybe that makes a difference, but I can't explain how if they all show the same temps when they are outside! Argh.
Thanks!
So I put 4 analogue thermometers in my basement where I usually incubate as the temperature there is stable, and they all showed the same temperature all the time for the 2 days before incubation. But after I put them in the incubator and warmed it up, 2 of them showed 37.5 C around the height of the middle of the eggs, or the optimum temp for incubation, while 2 of them showed only 32-33 C (at a slightly lower height, perhaps, but not enough to justify such a difference). I put the eggs inside thinking that maybe the second two were just slower to show the increase in temp, but in the morning the situation was the same.
The dilemma is, one of the thermometers that shows optimum temp now was a support thermometer last year, when I had a great hatching percentage. BUT today, the eggs are only lukewarm when I touch them, not bodily temperature (or slightly feverish bodily temperature) as they should be. The eggs feel much more like 32-33 C than 37-38 C. So I decided to raise the temp until eggs feel as warm as they should be. It worries me, though, that the eggs might be slower to warm up than I expect, and I might end up overheating them.
My primary concern at the moment: would the embryos be damaged if they spent first 12 hrs on only 33 C or so? I read that anything under 35 C can cause damage, but maybe not so much in the earliest stage of incubation?
Any other suggestions? The thermometers that show optimum temperature are both of this type, while those that show lower temperature are both of this type. Maybe that makes a difference, but I can't explain how if they all show the same temps when they are outside! Argh.
Thanks!
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