Question about temps in the incubator.

[Lana's_mom]

Sorry to ask so many questions. And I don't know why I am having so many problems with my incubator. It worked great last year, and I set it up almost a week before my eggs were laid and it ran fine until a day or so before the eggs were laid. So the problem I am having now if I moved the thermostat probe to the outside of the egg box, just on top. The thermostat is set on pulsing heat, and is set to 86 degrees and is steady there for the most part. I know that is really low, but the 2 thermometers that are inside the egg box are reading 90 degrees on the zoo med, and 92 degrees on the exo tra one. I am not sure what to do about these temps, I know something, some where is off and not working right, but I don't know where. My girl laid 7 nice eggs on Monday, and I am really worried about the eggs right now. They looked fine when I checked on them yesterday, I have been trying to not disturb them to much while trying to fix the temp issues. Thanks for any help.

[joebad976]

Is it a cooler setup? Do you have any pics?

If you move the probe down to maybe half way the height of the tub that should get your temps to an acceptable level (If this is a cooler setup). I guess it will be hard to help without the pics or a better understanding of your setup.

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

What t-stat? I would set it to dimming if possible.

Invest in a quality IR gun. Exergen is the best at a tag of $250 and a Raytek MT4 will do you nice for $70.

I check actual egg temps. I could care less what anything else says.

[Lana's_mom]

sorry that it took so long to reply, I got my temperature's under control but have another question. I checked on my eggs this morning and noticed one is turning slightly yellow from the top heading down. I'm not sure what this means. could this be caused by water dripping off the lid on top of it? I noticed one of the other eggs has a small spot on its side like that. but this egg is almost halfway covered. does this mean the egg is going bad? it still has some veins. I will post a picture of it once I get home. thanks in advance for any information.

[BHReptiles]

If there is water dripping on the eggs, that's not a good thing. You can raise one end of the egg tub up by a couple of CDs, or just something to raise it up a hair. The water will run down the lid before hitting your eggs.

[Lana's_mom]

Ok here are some pictures.

This is the Egg I am worried about


Close up of Egg


The setup with the eggs in it


And the setup all closed up


I added like 4 CD under one side to encourage the water to drain to one side away from the eggs.

[joebad976]

You need to move that egg so it is not touching the side of the tub. None of the eggs should be touching any plastic around them including the lid.

It is possible that water dripped on it and you may lose it but I have seen worse looking eggs make it. Don't open the tub too much the change in air temps will cause condensation and they may all get water dripping on them.

Just move them more towards the center. Dry off the lid and let them be. Only check the once a week if you feel the need to. These year I have only checked them around Day 50 only because there are too many to check. I know it is hard not to check them daily I was the same way.

Congrats and Good Luck.

[grcforce327]

I won't use that controller on an incubator because of the 2+degree fluctuation in temps. Get one from Spyder Robotics and cut that down to .1 - .2 degrees !

[Lana's_mom]

OK, I moved the eggs more towards the center, But I noticed 2 things, the first was that there were little maggots crawling on the egg I am worried about, and not sure where they came from or if they will harm the other eggs or not. And also the other eggs are firm, but the one I am worried about is really soft and squishy. Plus the veins seem to be no longer all of the egg, but just in one half of it. So this leads to a couple more questions. Are the maggots going to hurt the other eggs, I had another egg tub empty so I put fresh vermitulite and water in it and gently moved the grate with the eggs on it over to the new tub to try and help get rid of the maggots, and if this egg goes bad what do I do since it is stuck to the egg next to it?

[joebad976]

Sounds like that one is going bad and the vultures of bad eggs (maggots) have swarmed in. The other eggs should be fine as long as they do not start going bad.