Hatching eggs is an easy way to boost the numbers in your flock. But hatching your own eggs is never foolproof.
There’s a lot that can go wrong when incubating eggs. If you’ve ever placed a dozen or more eggs in an incubator only to have a small number hatch (or you have issues with your chicks after the hatch), you’re not alone. Most issues with hatching eggs happen because of two factors that must be precisely controlled—temperature and humidity.
A Smarter Way to Monitor the Temperature in Your Incubator
The latest egg incubators offer features like automatic egg turning, LED temperature read-outs and auto humidity checks. That’s a nice step up from egg incubators of the past. But the one feature that’s missing from most inexpensive brooders is a way to monitor the temperature without needing to head to the brooder.
A smart temperature controller, also known as a Wi-Fi temperature controller, can be placed in your incubator to remotely monitor the current temperature of your hatching eggs. This type of temperature controller could use a small probe with a larger display that sits outside of your incubator. Or it could be a small device that’s tiny enough to sit inside.
Whichever type you choose, the temperature monitor will connect to your home’s Wi-Fi network and keep you updated on the internal temperature of the incubator via an app or text alerts.
Why You Need a Smart Temperature Monitor
If your egg incubator lets you set the internal temperature and you can see it right on the incubator’s LED screen, why would you need a smart temperature controller? Hours count when you’re hatching eggs. This type of monitor is designed to alert you to temperature drops and increases so you can react quickly to any changes inside the incubator.
Imagine if you’re away for the day and you don’t check the incubator before you leave. If the power fails in your home or something jostles the incubator, the internal temperature could start to drop.
Even if you have an alarm that alerts you when the temperature drops or increases below or above what you’ve set, you aren’t home to hear it. When you return several hours or a day later, you walk in to find your eggs aren’t warm enough or they are several degrees hotter than they should be.
That fluctuation could be enough to lose the entire batch.
Read more: Check out these common incubator issues and solutions.
Monitors for Humidity, Too
With a temperature monitor connected to your home’s Wi-Fi, you could choose to receive updates every 30 minutes or just opt to have a notification sent if the temperature drops below what you’ve set. Some temperature monitors will keep you updated on humidity too.
Humidity is just as important as temperature when hatching eggs. If the humidity is too low at hatch time, your chicks could struggle to hatch out of their eggs.
With a temperature and humidity monitor, you can receive alerts if the humidity in your incubator falls below a certain range. You’ll be able to react quickly, and that may be a lifesaver for your chicks.
An Inexpensive Way to Add Smart Functions to Your Incubator
There are a wide variety of Wi-Fi temperature monitors and temperature with humidity monitors available. Most will cost you less than $50. Because it’s a stand-alone device, it can work with any type of incubator.
The next time you’re about to put a few dozen or more eggs in the incubator, think about what could go wrong beforehand. Then, consider putting a Wi-Fi temperature controller alongside your eggs. It just may save your next hatch.
