Incubator temp Question

[ambalina33]

Hi all! I have a Magicfly incubator. Before putting my quail eggs in, i ran it with another digital hygrometer inside to make sure the temp held steady around 99f-100f. I live somewhere very hot and dry (our inside temp is always between 77-79).
The incubator last night was set at 36.9C and the hygrometer inside was reading anywhere between 99f-100f. So i put the eggs in. Well now this morning the inside hygrometer is constantly reading 102f i think because the addition of the eggs has warmed it up. I have put down the temp .1 degrees three times (the incubator temp is now set at 36.6C) and the inside hygrometer is still reading 102.

What would you do?

 

[AfiafiAfi]

Hi., I raise quails and I suggest the temperature be raised up to 37.5 degrees.I’m not sure why ur hygrometer is showing wrong since the brooder temperature is supposed to be 99 to 100 degrees,try calling a mechanic or incubator specialist to check it out as it can unfortunately show opposite effects
Good luck!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'm unfamiliar with that incubator, but you do want it to stay at 99.5F (I think that's 37.5C?) Is the new thermometer calibrated? If it is, I would trust that one over the built in. They can be incredibly off sometimes

 

[Lizzy733]

The thermometers will not be accurate - that and I find temps can really fluctuate early on. With chicken eggs, it took mine 2 days to even out and the eggs themselves are said to take that long to get up to temp too.

It would be best to rely on an additional probe-style thermometer that has been checked for accuracy. This can be done by filling a glass with ice (jammed full) and sticking the probe about an inch deep into the water not touching the sides. Give it a minute to settle out and wait till the probe temp has stabilized. The ice water should be freezing - 0c or 32f. Your thermometer will likely be off and you can take this into account when using it to measure the temp.

Also, temp will vary at different locations in the incubator. There may be cold or hot spots. Temp will only be accurate for the probe's location and may not be representative of the temp inside the egg.

From what I've read, cool is safer than hot, so err on the cooler side if you find temps getting too high often. - I tend to adjust mine a few degrees up or down from day to day depending on my independent probes' readings. (I have one center, one on the cold spots and one on the hot spot - incubator probe is mounted on the top middle of one wall.)

A sealed leak-proof ziplock filled with water and folded over a probe (or a water noodle) is supposed to give a better representation of the temp inside the egg, since the egg temp will change more gradually and be slower to drop and rise than the air temp reading.

Humidity sensors can be way out too - my incubator reads almost 20% lower than actual. My calibrated hydrometers show 45-50, while the incubator reads 30. I've set it to alarm lower than 30 and it sits at 31-32 most of the time. So far my egg weight loss is right where it should be, so don't expect much accuracy from the built in humidity sensor.