Incubating Temps

[ClarkT]

How warm is too warm for incubation? If the temp reaches 94* during the day, but is no lower than 89* at night, is it a problem?

I ask because of the idea of having the incubator in an out building that may get that warm in the summer. Would I need some means of cooling it to keep it from rising higher than 90* or so? What would the highest acceptable temp be?

[muddoc]

You may be okay with a spike to 94 degrees, but in my opinion you are pushing the limit. I personally prefer to never see the incubator over 91 degrees. We are incubating at 88.5 this year. It sounds to me like you are getting too much variance in your temps. I believe it is one of two things going on here. A) You need better insulation in your incubator, or B) you need to get a thermostat with a tighter variance. It sounds like you may be using a Ranco type on/off thermostat, and you set it at 90 with a 2 degree variance. That means it can range from 88-92 degrees. I think one of the most important thermostats in your collection is the one on your incubator, and it should be the best money can buy. Even with only a few clutches a year, it is possible that you have $10,000 worth of eggs in there. Why skimp on the device that regulates their potential to hatch?

Hope that helps,

[ClarkT]

The questions are just theoretical. I have no incubator yet.

I'm mainly wondering about having it in an outbuilding. Will the insulation of the incubator keep the temps down when the ambient is 94-98*?

I do agree, too, that it's not worth risking potential high dollar eggs on a crappy incubator setup.

[ice#1]

get an incubator that cools if temps get to high

[snakesRkewl]

get an incubator that cools if temps get to high

Links to such a beast?

[Adam Chandler]

I like to keep it in the 88-90 range, 92 is what I consider to be the limit, get higher than that and your chances for kinks go way up.