Incubator temperature

[Saraschickens]

Hi, I've been hatching eggs under silkies for about 17 years now with great success. I had multiple broodies working hard and decided to buy my first incubator for my birthday, and some new breeds eggs off craigslist. This is my first time hatching in an incubator. I got a double pack of hydrometer thermometers to place inside. The incubator holds 18 eggs and rotates them, forced air, off brand "IBKINXX" off Amazon. I understand that 99.5° is ideal. My house gets kind of cold so I picked the best room I could for it. I have a bath towel wrapped around it, and the Styrofoam on it (as the instructions mentioned for houses like mine).
The room gets about 68° at its absolute coldest, at night, but is basically always somewhere between 70°- 80°. I keep a small heater on by the incubator all night. The thermometers both read lower than the one on the machine. Likely because they are stuck to the plastic dome and reading ambient temperature as well. I have the incubator set high, because the other thermometers read so low. Right now when the one on top reads 100.7-100.9 (it's set to 100.9), the other 2 read 98.2 & 98.3, and on many moments they can read around 97.7 & 98.8. They're all over around these ranges. But I've seen them as low as 96 and as high as 99, while the one on top always yo yos between 100.7-100.9, which I understandis high for forced air. I know it's kind of late to ask, since I just began lock down today. But I've also heard to lower the temp. around lock down. For lock down, my humidity went up to 74% after adding the second bottle and hasn't budged. Does anyone have any thoughts on my temperature?
So far, there was 6 infertile, and 2 died early, and 10 look good as far as I understand. So I removed the ones that were no good and left the 10 good eggs.
Thank you to anyone with insight on this.

 

[Saraschickens]

I don't know if this helps, but this is my notes. I know it's messy, but it's what I wrote, lol! The low humidity to high humidity is because it isn't drinking water out of the bottle quite right and occasionally I have to squeeze it a little. Also, I had a couple times the bottle slightly popped up/out and humidity dropped, so I would push it back down and squeeze it a little and humidity went back up. Also I was messing with the vent the entire incubation (opening it when humidity was high, closing it when it was low, and half way at times too). I read that they need air so I was definitely trying to have it open or half way open as much as possible. I have it fully open right now for lock down.

 

[Saraschickens]

Lock down notes

 

[Saraschickens]

Most of those measurements were taken around 8am-ish when I would check on it in the morning. You can see in the gray of the day, occasionally, I wrote the time, and if not it was usually morning time around the colder time of day. Obviously it read a little warmer mid-day.

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Did you calibrate your gauges? There is a guide for how to do that on here somewhere, as well as a salt test for hygrometers, for next time.

My first incubator we just went for it, half way through got couple of Govee hygrometer and mercury thermometers. Calibrated to best of my ability and hoped for the best. Some can be off.

Hopefully someone else chimes in

 

[Saraschickens]

Also, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do white eggs and brown eggs together (but that is the 2 breeds I bought, Tolbunt Polish and Barnevelders). So I've been trying to find an in between temperature, but don't know exactly what that is. I was thinking 60%-65%ish? My question is, during lock down, with the 2 colored eggs, what is the best humidity? Right now it's at 71% on the main incubator hydrometer. The vent is all the way open. It's day 19 & a half. Thank you.

 

[Saraschickens]

Did you calibrate your gauges? There is a guide for how to do that on here somewhere, as well as a salt test for hygrometers, for next time.

My first incubator we just went for it, half way through got couple of Govee hygrometer and mercury thermometers. Calibrated to best of my ability and hoped for the best. Some can be off.

Hopefully someone else chimes in

No, I didn't calibrate. Should I just Google how to do that, for next time?

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Also, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do white eggs and brown eggs together (but that is the 2 breeds I bought, Tolbunt Polish and Barnevelders). So I've been trying to find an in between temperature, but don't know exactly what that is. I was thinking 60%-65%ish? My question is, during lock down, with the 2 colored eggs, what is the best humidity? Right now it's at 71% on the main incubator hydrometer. The vent is all the way open. It's day 19 & a half. Thank you.

I've never heard of not doing colored eggs together, I just hatched a rainbow.

But yes, you can search in this forum or Google for calibrating the gauges for next time to give you an idea of their accuracy. It could also be placement within the unit. If I put my govee on the bottom it reads lower than the gauge for top readout. If I put it on the eggs it reads roughly the same. But generally within a degree.

Definitely search forum for candling eggs and photos, the more you do the better you get to see what's going on and where they may be for lockdown stage. *I say this from experience lol

I believe 65-70% humidity works, I always have to search and see what others suggest, even after doing it a couple times.

But yet vent open. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Saraschickens]

I've never heard of not doing colored eggs together, I just hatched a rainbow.

But yes, you can search in this forum or Google for calibrating the gauges for next time to give you an idea of their accuracy. It could also be placement within the unit. If I put my govee on the bottom it reads lower than the gauge for top readout. If I put it on the eggs it reads roughly the same. But generally within a degree.

Definitely search forum for candling eggs and photos, the more you do the better you get to see what's going on and where they may be for lockdown stage. *I say this from experience lol

I believe 65-70% humidity works, I always have to search and see what others suggest, even after doing it a couple times.

But yet vent open. Good luck and keep us posted.

Great! Thank you so much for your insight!
I read that it had to do with how porous the shell is. They said white eggs have a more porous shell and lose more moisture so need higher humidity and brown eggs have a less porous shell and loose less moisture so need a lower humidity. They said with too low a humidity on white eggs they'd dry out too much and with too high a humidity on the brown eggs they'd drown. So they said to shoot for a humidity in-between what the two needed.
I'm happy to hear you're hatching a rainbow of colors (I'm assuming white as well), and having good success!
What humidity do you run your incubator at with the rainbow of eggs during the first 18 days?

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

45-50% with fluctuation. I have a thread on last hatch