The incubator had been holding steady all this time... 102F'ish. Perfect.
Until last night.
When I returned from lunch and it was 104F. I don't know for how long. I was gone for five hours.
I tried to turn it down. The top of the incubator has a sticker that shows Increase on one side and Decrease on the other. I turned the knob, ever so slightly, toward Decrease. I didn't want the temp to swing too much in either direction.
It had the opposite effect... the temperature increased. I thought somehow I misunderstood and turned it the other direction. Increased. Back toward decrease. No matter what I did the temperature just kept going up. It topped out at 109F, which is NOT good. Luckily I was there to help bring it back down, but I'm sure it had an effect.
So after three nervous hours of tinkering, I finally got the incubator ranging between 101 and 102F again. Around 2:30 AM I finally went to bed but got up a couple of times to check. Still holding. Good.
At 8 AM I called the local Tractor Supply to see if they had an incubator in stock, otherwise I was going to have to drive to the next closest TSC which would be an hour or more. Luckily the local one had a whole bunch, so I drove out and picked one up. I half thought to get two so I'd have one as a backup just in case... It was easy to set up and the temp is holding steady. It has a thermometer/hygrometer on the lid, I have the manual thermometer, and I am also using the digital thermometer/hygrometer. They are all pretty much in agreement.
The humidity is a little different because one is right next to a sponge. But all in all, not bad.
I just hope the temperature spikes and fluctuations didn't kill the chicks. It would be heartbreaking to get so close to hatching then lose 19 chicks. Positive thoughts people... positive thoughts... We're on lockdown.
The chicks are still thriving. I added another cleaning measure to the routine. Before I put the gravel back down I sprinkle some baking soda underneath to help with the ammonia odor. At first I put it on top of the pebbles but thought it could end up causing skin issues on their feet, so this should be a slight improvement in that regard.
I also lifted the roost. The ducks were having to hop over the roost to get to the food, so this way they can duck under it (put totally off the cuff but completely intended) and get to it more easily.
Tweaks. It's all in the tweaks. The chicks even seem to like it better and have hopped up there more often than usual today. There's one that keeps overshooting it, it's like watching an Angry Bird missile fly through the air but miss the pigs... kinda funny.
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