Really Frustrated

[gp]

You have to add WARM water not cool water.

[stewaw]

 Is the incubator sitting where sunlight hits it ANY time during the day?  If the answer is no then you probably have a problem with the thermostat (either bad/loose wafer if it's that style or bad adjuster stem if it's the electronic type).  Do you have a pet cat/dog inside the house?  Those nice warm incubators make a VERY cozy place for a cat (or dog if it can get to it) to lay up and take a nap.....unfortunately, it's also VERY easy for them to "adjust" the temp for you in doing so.  As to your water question- The water is lower in temperature than the air inside of the incubator.  Straight from the faucet I would expect it to be around 45-50 degrees F.  If it's stored at room temp it will still be (using your numbers) 73-74 degrees. Try this experiment- place a glass 1/2 of ice and 1/2 full of water on the counter to simulate the water you just added to the incubator.  Wait about five minutes and then without touching the glass, move the back of your hand near it.  You will notice that the air immediately around the glass is "colder" than say one foot away from the glass.  This is what is happening inside your incubator when you add more "cold" water (it is cooling the air around it).  A method I use to counter this in my large incubator is that I store a closed bottle of water INSIDE the incubator, that way when I have to add more water, it is already at the operating temp.  Don't worry about the temporary drop in temp when you refill....Won't matter during the long run.  Think of the hen in the wild....She has to get off the nest at some point and take a walk to use the bathroom or grab a bite to eat....When she does, the eggs cool down slightly. Several of us have had power outages where the incubator was without power and still had no measurable effect on the hatch rate (in my case- power outage of 12 hours where the inside incubator temp dropped to 37 degrees F and still had a 92% hatch rate).

David

[magnumhntr]

Dude, I'm dying to know how you are adding water through the vent holes? Doesn't that cause the water to get all over the eggs? Try using a turkey baster to suck up the fresh water and squirt it slowly in the water trough... you can take the top off to add water.

[Bobwhite quail24]

I used a kitchen funnel, and a straw duck taped on the bottom

[sawblade]

I am thinking that your thermometer is the real problem. What thermometer are you using? My incubator has a 2 degree swing from the hottest to coldest temp, 99-101 degrees, that gives me an average temp of 100 degrees. In my turbo fan Hova Bator thats about right. I started out with a digital weather station type thermo-hygro and the temps were crazy with that thing but the humidity was pretty close. I still use it for humidity readings but bought a dial type thermometer from GQF and it is way more accurate than the digital junk.

[Bobwhite quail24]

yah It is a digital.

[magnumhntr]

Get rid of the digital. They don't keep up with the temp fluctuations very well. Heck, the little crappy ones that come with the incubator are probably better than a digital.

Check this unit out. This is what I used when I was using the styrofoam units....

http://www.cagenbird.com/Thermometers_9.htm

Sedcond one down = HIGH ACCURACY 6" THERMOMETER/HYGROMETER for $30. It works great in the styrofoam incubators....