What is the best thermometer to use in your incubator!!!!

[TCollier]

I have bought many thermometers and some seem really accurate and some are off by a lot. I was wondering what your opinions are. I was looking to get something like this.

I was also thinking about getting one of those egg-o-meter thermometers that replicate the mass of an egg and tell you what the temp inside the egg would be.

Please give me your input.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

 

[bigdawg]

Quote:
the egg temp in your post is the best. once you figure out how to use it. it reads the the temp every second. so your temp will vary from 98.5 to 100.5 to get a 99.5 average. just a example. you will take the lowest and highest reading and get your temp. i tried the egg-o-meter and after two great hatches it went haywire, lost a bunch of eggs. so dont try to adjust temp to keep up with temp changing. incubators will vary in temp. try to get a 99.5 average with a fan,101.5 still air

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Quote:
Really? That works?

 

[joebryant]

I just now copied the following from a post that I replied to a few months ago. I have two Vicks thermometer/hygrometers now, and I wouldn’t trust anything else.
*******************************************************
I tried EVERYTHING that Walmart and all the pet stores in the area sold. I ended up taking them all back; basically, they were all junk. Then a buddy, just to shut up my complaining, gave me a Vicks like the one sold in the ad below. The temperature is always right on, and after the salt/water test, I know that the humidity is 2% off. I really like it.
http://www.kaz.com/kaz/humidifiers/products/vicks-healthcheck-hygrometer-v70/
I have two Genesis 1533's, and when I am incubating, the first 18 days I do not use the wire bottom under the egg turner. I only use the wire for the last three days. So, the first 18 days it sits nicely on the outside edge of the egg turner near the turner's motor. The last 3 days it just sits along with the eggs in cartons on the rubber mat that covers the wire.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
Really? That works?

Thats what I have been using for years. I use one stuck threw a whole in the incubator. You just have to hit the button to get a reading. Its instant though sense its already hot. I do keep a cheep weather thermometer in there to just to reference for change but only trust the medical thermometers.

 

[ChooksChick]

You have to know your incubator, but I recommend that you use the cheap, glass tube fish tank thermometer from Wal-Mart that runs a whopping $1.70. It has green suction cups. The suction cups prop the thermometer up to the level of the yolk.

If you get more than one, you can place them around the incubator to know if you have zones that vary from one another. Sticking a thermometer through the hole can kill you if you don't have the sensor right at the level of the middle of the egg, as that height is going to be a totally different temp than what you need to measure. Even ONE INCH above the yolk height is a totally different heat than what you want to cook the eggs at, and it's irrelevant- your eggs need to be 99.5-100.5 and the other heights don't matter.

The sealed thermometers don't have the cardboard they're glued to expanding and contracting with humidity changes, either, which can throw the whole thing off if a millimeter can make such a big difference in the temperature at which you think your eggs are cooking along.

If you know your incubator has hot spots, you can know you need to rotate your eggs in the turner occasionally. I use 3 cheapos at a time.

ETA: I've had some really nice, expensive initially accurate digital thermometers that failed as time went on because the humidity necessary during the last 3 days can toy with the electronics. They failed over time, which went unnoticed until it caused a problem.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Sticking a thermometer through the hole can kill you if you don't have the sensor right at the level of the middle of the egg, as that height is going to be a totally different temp than what you need to measure. Even ONE INCH above the yolk height is a totally different heat than what you want to cook the eggs at, and it's irrelevant- your eggs need to be 99.5-100.5 and the other heights don't matter.

Mine are in a hole I made where I needed it but yea that is true especially with a still air incubator. Not as much of a issue with a incubator with a fan but still something to remember.

Here's why you need to read the temp at the right height in a still air incubator.
http://cmfarm.us/stillair.html Thermal layering chart.

Most foam incubators are short enough that if you push a oral thermometer in from the top you can get the probe at egg height before the button is covered. If not then put it in the side at egg height.​

 

[reachjake]

I would not recommend the little yellow thermometer. I brought one off ebay and it is rubbish. I put in is a didgital incubator that I know is accurate and one second it was 36, then 40, then 37 then out of range. I would not buy one of these again

 

[Islandia]

I am constantly seeking out which device is giving me an accurate temperature read out. I tried four thermometers, 3 different digitals (including the eggs shaped one, and all had different temps and the one that was consistent was the cheap little analogue thermometer that came with the incubator. Certainly the one of the top of the incubator is WORTHLESS.