Temp variation?

[Laylahege]

I'm prepping for quail eggs. I've never incubated before, always had a Mama to do it for me!
I have a Kebonnixs.
Temp is 99.5 steady however both temp/hydro meters inside are reading 97 and 96.8
Should I be concerned?
Also, while I'm here, what's the opinion on humidity for quail. I've seen 30-50% until lockdown, then around 75%
Any advice will help!

 

[007Sean]

I know nothing about the Kebonnixs incubator but will tag someone who does! @Nabiki

You will want to put an independent, calibrated thermometer or 2 inside the incubator, OEM's sensors are notorious for not reading accurate temperatures. Also, a salt test calibrated hygrometer for %Rh,
Depending on which species of quail your going to hatch, will determine at what %Rh you will want to incubate the eggs.
Coturnix are usually incubated at around 30% Rh and 99.5°F. The percent humidity will be raised to about 50% for the last 3 to 4 days of incubation.
Bobwhites need to be incubated at 99.5°F and 40 to 45% Rh until the last 3 to 4 days of incubation, then raised to 55 to 60% for hatching. Do not go over 70% Rh or you will encounter 'hatching' problems.
HTH

 

[Laylahege]

I know nothing about the Kebonnixs incubator but will tag someone who does! @Nabiki

You will want to put an independent, calibrated thermometer or 2 inside the incubator, OEM's sensors are notorious for not reading accurate temperatures. Also, a salt test calibrated hygrometer for %Rh,
Depending on which species of quail your going to hatch, will determine at what %Rh you will want to incubate the eggs.
Coturnix are usually incubated at around 30% Rh and 99.5°F. The percent humidity will be raised to about 50% for the last 3 to 4 days of incubation.
Bobwhites need to be incubated at 99.5°F and 40 to 45% Rh until the last 3 to 4 days of incubation, then raised to 55 to 60% for hatching. Do not go over 70% Rh or you will encounter 'hatching' problems.
HTH

Thanks for the info! The 2 meters inside the incubator are independent. They're not the best (about 5 bucks each) but are both reading a lower temp than 99.5.
I may pick up a different one before putting them in tomorrow

 

[Susan Skylark]

Even a cheap thermometer (in small herds) if they all agree with one another and not the incubator, believe the thermometers (use multiple!). Up the incubator temp until they are a steady 99.5 or you’ll be hatching on day 20 (personal experience!). Also, quail pips are ridiculously small: slight cracks or a little flaked off shell, they are there but you have to look for them. I’ve run a couple extreme humidity hatches (10 or 80 percent until lockdown) in one of those bubble incubators and no issues, so really focus on stable temp first, humidity isn’t going to wreck your hatch, though the extremely dry hatch (don’t go that dry though!) might be my best hatch yet as far as chick vigor and hatching ease, so will probably use some form of dry hatch in future. On my el cheapo bubble incubator humidity is very hard to regulate (hence my hatching trials) but the temp stability has been awesome.

 

[Laylahege]

Even a cheap thermometer (in small herds) if they all agree with one another and not the incubator, believe the thermometers (use multiple!). Up the incubator temp until they are a steady 99.5 or you’ll be hatching on day 20 (personal experience!). Also, quail pips are ridiculously small: slight cracks or a little flaked off shell, they are there but you have to look for them. I’ve run a couple extreme humidity hatches (10 or 80 percent until lockdown) in one of those bubble incubators and no issues, so really focus on stable temp first, humidity isn’t going to wreck your hatch, though the extremely dry hatch (don’t go that dry though!) might be my best hatch yet as far as chick vigor and hatching ease, so will probably use some form of dry hatch in future. On my el cheapo bubble incubator humidity is very hard to regulate (hence my hatching trials) but the temp stability has been awesome.

thank you!

 

[Laylahege]

I'm prepping for quail eggs. I've never incubated before, always had a Mama to do it for me!
I have a Kebonnixs.
Temp is 99.5 steady however both temp/hydro meters inside are reading 97 and 96.8
Should I be concerned?
Also, while I'm here, what's the opinion on humidity for quail. I've seen 30-50% until lockdown, then around 75%
Any advice will help!

I'm going to add what I did and how it went just in case anyone has the same question in the future.
I got an old school thermometer (not digital) and it was also reading low, but only by about 1-1.5 degrees. I upped my temp on the incubator to 100.5 and it created a consistent 99.5 on my thermometer. The digital ones varied a bit, but the old school one stayed consistent. My humidity stayed around 35-45 with no water added.
Added water at lock down and it kept a consistent 60-65. It was in an empty room with no traffic.
I had 18 of 29 eggs viable at 15 day lock down (candling).
Of the 18, 15 hatched healthy on day 17 into day 18.
Needless to say, I think I was spot on with the temp. I feel like I got a decent hatch rate considering I ordered online right before a weekend and holiday like an idiot, so they took a few extra days to get to me.
So yea... don't trust the cheap digital thermometers. Get an old school one and adjust accordingly. Even though I had to adjust the incubator I was really happy with it!