What temperature is optimal for incubating?!?!?!? 100 or 102 degrees??

[Arielle]

I've read everything I can find about incubating since starting to collect turkey and chicken eggs. One university fact sheet requires 102 degrees and another, seemingly reputable source, clearly states 100 degrees plus/minus 1 degree; then the univeristy info says to follow manufacturer(of incubator) instructions to the letter! ( um, number,

)

I'm planning to borrow an LG. What is an LG supposed to be set at??? And for those of you that have very successful hatches, what temp is your goal at egg level????

I'mmmm ssssooooo confussssed !!!!!!!

 

[blkwdw]

is this a still air incubator or does it have a fan?

 

[Ridgerunner]

A forced air incubator (one with a fan) should be the same temperature throughout the incubator. Those should be set on 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hot air rises. The temperature will vary depending in what elevation you are at. It can vary a lot. The temperature in a still air should be 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit at the top of the eggs.

Hope this helps.

 

[cashdl]

I keep my still air incubator at 100 and sometimes it goes as low as 97 and as high as 102. I don't worry about it.

Lanae

 

[Saltysteele]

your goal is 99-100

 

[Arielle]

Can you see my dilemma? THe temperatures are all over the place. Here's more details.

THe manual, found one and read it CAREFULLY, said for turkeys 99 degrees at the top of the eggs. No mention of still air or fan.

I'm going with still, hand turning, mason jars of water for stability. In southern NEw England about sea level, can be cool at night 50's to 90's' can be humid, can be dry( NOT talking desert dry here).

I spent hours calibrating the LG thermometer and others I have; based the calibtation off 3 brand new $5-6 human thermometers, which all calibrated to with in 0.1 degrees. I put all five in a mug of warm water, trying for about 100 degrees. Repeated this 3 times. (Really about 6 until I got the method down >

)Noticed that the human thermometers needed to be shaken down to decrease the "mercury". Can't use those as measures of current temp; but they could record spikes of temps for me!!

The LG manual says to put the thermometer in the LG and work on setting the temperature. SOme info given; some info lacking. So based on the incubating temp being on top of the eggs I lined up 3 toilet paper tubes ( tested height by inserting large hen eggs in the opening) and check the temps every 2 hours. I write it all down. I pulled ONE red plug, like the directions call for. It is 90 degrees today, so I am concerned the ambient room temp is up or will go up. (NEed a thermometer for the room too) I'm hoping a few factors will balance out.

--toilet paper tube a little shorter than a turkey egg, good for the hen's eggs
--ambient room temp increasing slowly
--one red Plug out per manual

ridgerunner, this makes sense :

Hot air rises. The temperature will vary depending in what elevation you are at. It can vary a lot. The temperature in a still air should be 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit at the top of the eggs.

This makes total sense to me, but the manual specifies 99 degrees at the top of the egg and doesn't specifiy fan or still. I'm using a still air.

In the manual, the humidity, the filling of the wells, is addressed AFTER the temperature is set and stable. I am planning to use a wet bulb measure of the humidity. Will look up the wet temp again at that point. But I still need to set the dry bulb temp FIRST.

I think I need to be an engineer to figure this out!

DH just arrived home with 2 new fish tank thermometers. I will calibrate those so they can show me the fluctuations in the LG.

Please bear

with me as I struggle thru this. I will set it up well. Really.​

 

[dwhite]

The best thermometers I have found are accurite from Lowes, they are 6.00 each, buy a few, put the probes through one of the holes with the red plug, tie the probes together and put the probes at the level of the eggs. I bought a bunch of these thermometers and only one was off.

 

[Griffin Nest]

with still-air 100 works fine.

 

[Arielle]

I will settle for 99-101 at egg level, any where in the incubator. Waiting for last adjustment to take effect; did that about an hour ago. Is the middle a cool zone or a warm zone? I figured that right under the heater coil would be the hottest. Does anyone know?

Got the eggs out of the basement(62 degrees); pulled out the turkey eggs to let them come up to room temp (75 degrees) and kept them in the plastic egg carton to reduce the possibility of condensation.