Janoel 12 Temp/Humidity

[Crystbum]

This is my 2nd go with the Janoel 12. I picked up my chicken eggs today and turned on the incubator early this morning. I had it set at 37.5°C all day. It's been a good 12 hours and my hydrometer is only reading 95°F. It was 93 all day until I turned it up to 38.0°C and I wrapped a towel around it! Only then did it jump to 95° (still 4/5° away from where I need it to be to put the eggs in.)
So, a few questions:
1-Is it safe to leave a towel wrapped around it all the time? Fire hazard?
2- Has anyone else steadily kept it on 38.0°C the whole 21 days without it getting to be too hot for the eggs?
3- Last go round I actually kept the temperature at 37.2/37.3 and that kept my hydrometer reading at 99/100. But now I'm thinking that's too low?! I had 4 out of 4 hatch successfully though! (I did purchase another hydrometer to be sure the numbers are correct but it won't be here for 4 more days!)
4- The CA setting (calibration) is set on -1. I don't really understand what it should be on..if anything?
And finally, the humidity was very difficult for me to keep at 50% last time. I added a teaspoon of water every day and that did it. Any other ways/ tips? Thank you!!! I feel like a crazy stressin' amateur !
P.s. I haven't put the eggs in yet and hoping it reads a higher temperature by tomorrow!

 

[JaeG]

My incubator averages 38C and I've never had any problems at that temperature. You need to measure the temperature where the embryo would be sitting on top of the yolk, so the upper side of the egg if they are laying down, or near the top of the egg if you have them sitting upright.

Have you got an independent thermometer as the ones on incubators are notorious for being incorrect? The fact that your previous batch all hatched when the incubator was reading 37.2/37.3 makes me think it's reading lower than the actual temperature. Here's an article on how to calibrate both thermometers and hygrometers: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

What you set your humidity to will be unique to your set-up. You can weigh the eggs to track their weight loss as they should lose around 12% over the course of incubation. Fluctuations in humidity won't affect the eggs - it's the average that matters. If I need to add water I use a little shot glass and keep it topped up with water until lockdown. My water wells are too large to use for the first stage of incubation.

Good luck with incubating your eggs.