Acceptable amount of fluctuation in incubator temp?

Just like the title says... I recently built another incubator out of a mini fridge. Everything works great but there seems to be a small amount of fluctuation. I have it set on 89 and it fluctuates between 88.6-90.4 is this too much? I have a ton of water bottles and hot/cold packs to help stabalize the temp as well. Thanks guys.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by zach_24_90

Just like the title says... I recently built another incubator out of a mini fridge. Everything works great but there seems to be a small amount of fluctuation. I have it set on 89 and it fluctuates between 88.6-90.4 is this too much? I have a ton of water bottles and hot/cold packs to help stabalize the temp as well. Thanks guys.

---

I dont think that amount of fluctuation is enough to do any harm and is well within the proper incubation temps. Its only when you get large fluctuations under 87 and over 91 that you could have some issues. But also a big part is the temp recovery after opening the incubator which it sounds like you already took care of with the water bottles.

This seems like a large variation to me. I am not a breeder but have been doing a bit of research on the subject. Typically most use 88.5, my understanding was that temps should be steady even if a little high or low but not swinging back an forth.

What thermostat are you using? This seems like a big swing I don't get that much variation in my enclosures day to night.

From my research it seems that it's not that big of a swing and way less than would be expected in the wild anyways

Im pretty sure on another thread I read about people losing power and their egg temps dipping down quite a bit and the eggs still hatched fine. Another person said that the breeder they knew just stuck them on the top shelf in the breeding facility to hatch. So i think you should be fine.

You will be fine some incubator fluctuates, temperature can vary from top to bottom or left to right and the fluctuation you are experiencing will not be an issue.

are you measuring temps in the incubator,,, or temps in a "test tub" thats in the incubator?
spooky

Interesting... I thought you would need more stability. So just a small hyjack if you are using egg tubs do you need an incubator at all?

I don't see that much variation in hot spot or cool spot temps in any of my enclosures. Could I flatten the gradient to 88.5 and raise the ambient air temps to the same and just use an empty enclosure? I likely would only have a degree up or down shift in temps ? I could likely reduce that with covering the vents some.

I have a walk in incubator and get flucuation from 88 to 91 at times and never had a problem. This is one of those topics that can easily become an overthinking issue.these animals have been reproducing in the wild for along time and im sure temps dont stay at a constant 89. I know of other breeders i deal with that are actually incubating at lower temps in the 87 degree range and finding the babies stay in the egg longer and come out bigger. Up until about 5 years ago i used a freezer incubator and had some flucuation and never noticed issues. As long as your temps are not spiking and staying at the extreme of the flucuation your fine. Also it is important to know exactlly what the temp is in the tub. I have a dummy tub mixed with vermiculite and i put the stat probe in their so i know exactlly what my eggs are getting. Also its important your fan is running constantlly instead of having it kick on when the heat kicks on. I also have 6 filled 5 gallon buckets with tops to help with keeping constant temps. Now granted its a walk in so i need the buckets but you just scale that down for a smaller bator.