Getting ready to go with my first hatch.

Hi there everyone,

I'm expecting some shipped eggs at the end of the week and I have a couple questions about my setup.

I've built an incubator out of an old cooler, two lamp sockets, PC fan, and an STC-1000 to run it all.

I read through Sally's Hatching 101 page and I'm left with two questions.

The first is ventilation. Do I need holes in the cooler if I'm going to be opening it to turn the eggs?
As it stands I'm not really happy with how often the lights go on and off. After reading about the cooler based incubators in the incubator forums I was expecting more stable temperature retention. (People talked about stable temps through the night with power outages.) What are others' experiences with the frequency of the lights cycling? I'm concerned that adding more holes is going to reduce the efficiency even less. Maybe the temperature dissipation is an indicator that I already have enough ventilation?

I noticed that people use jars of water to stabilize the temperature. I have a bit of porcelain tile lying around and am considering lining the incubator with that to store some heat. Thoughts?

Finally, regarding egg turning the Hatching 101 article suggests setting shipped eggs pointy side down. What’s the strategy for turning the eggs if they are pointy side down.


Thanks for the help!

How fast is it cycling? Usally 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off is a nice number I like.. if it only take 10 seconds to get up to temp..I'd try lower watt bulbs..

Far as turning some people use cartons with top cut off.. some even cut out bottoms..tipped to one side on a stick.. next turn do it opposite .

I don't know if you need a hole..since your opening it often.. but can't imagine one hole hurting either.

Thanks for the response Rod-T!

And thanks for the reference data about light cycling. I think I'm actually better than 30 secs on - 30 secs off. I guess i was imagining longer times, like 10 minutes. Mostly I'm just concerned about the added stress of the off and on on the light bulbs. Otherwise it's not a big deal to me. Is there any concern if the cycle is too long?

So regarding turning, they don't have to rotate 180 degrees everytime? The Hatching 101 article mentioned drawing X's on on side and O's on the other and then alternating with each turn. That's why I thought they needed to turn 180 degrees. It seems the stick method would leave them at a 45 degree angle and then tip them 90 degrees to lean at the opposite 45 degree angle. Is this is sufficient?

Thanks!

Ya your egg turners are only tipping them at 45 degree..it's fine..

Is your controller set at celcuis?
Have the diferance value set at .3?

Yes controller is Celsius. Temp is set at 37.7˚C .
The difference value is set to 0.5˚C.

I usally set mine at .3