Hello, All. I'm new to the incubating thing and after 2 and half months of doing it I learned some stuff and I thought I'd write about it in case it's helpful to others. I don't know everything and do not intend to come across like I do. I also know there are many ways to do things and this is just my take on it; this is working well for me. YMMV. I try to be very careful in making distinctions between what I know (facts) and what I think (may or may not be right).
Spring 2017, Tractor Supply had chicks on clearance for 50 cents each. Fall 2016 I started raising goats and sheep on 100 acres I have in North Central Texas. Adding chickens to the ranch seemed like a fun thing to do and I had 40 x 96 barn not being used except to shelter some of my livestock...what the heck? Let's do this....I got 27 chicks, mostly sexed females. Between the dogs and cats at our house and then the dogs and the cats at the ranch, I lost 21 birds. I was hot. I bought some more from various sources, including more clearance birds at the end of the summer when our TSC got them again. I got back to 29. More predation and I got back down to 15. <angry>. I removed some cats, the dogs took up living at a neigbor's, and FINALLY some birds started laying eggs. I wanted all my birds back and I said, "I'm gonna hatch some ##^$#& eggs!". And I did. My first hatch was 6 live chicks out 12 set and 7 which passed 7 day candling. That was 10/13/17. Tuesday into Wednesday, 12/26 - 12/27, I hatched number 100. After 10 weeks and 100 birds, I trust my incubator settings and I don't hold against me the failed eggs at 7 day candling; that is, as far as I'm concerned, I hatched 6 of 7 in that first batch, 86%. Because some eggs may not be fertilized and some are of unknown age (my birds sometimes find new and hidden areas to lay eggs in the roof structure of the barn and the eggs fall to the straw bedding at random times on the floor).
I started out with a heavy-duty styrofoam cooler from Wal-Mart which was about $10 and had about 1.25 inch thick walls. I cut an opening for a window and put 5x7 picture frame glass inside and out, held in place with white caulk and aluminum tape (aluminum strip with sticky on one side; used for HVAC ducts and such). I put a lightbulb socket on the floor, secured with small machine-thread screws. I used a small torch and a metal wire to quickly and cleanly poke holes in the cooler for the fasteners. I put a dimmer switch in a double gang box on the side, affixed with similar screws. I had read about using salt and water in a zip lock bag to calibrate a hygrometer and did so. Basically, you put salt in a small container and wet the salt, not soupy, just wet. Place the small container in a zip lock bag with your hygrometer and seal it and let it set overnight and read the humidity. It should read, IIRC, 50%. Mine read 52% so wrote on the bezel "subtract 2%". Easy. I'm using Accu-rite brand temp and humidity devices; they're small and fairly cheap. I have a low-RPM 110v fan (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009OXTWZI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to stir the air up. I had to manually turn the eggs which got super old, super fast. I sometimes rotated the eggs twice a day, sometimes 3 times a day, sometimes once a day.
The first light bulb lasted a week and burned out. The second one lasted 2 weeks, going out 2 days before the hatch date and the eggs got to room temperature, 70 degrees. Still 6 of 7 hatched. But, I needed something better. At this point I will say that having the incubator in a climate-controlled area is important. I found a thermo controller, STC-1000, for $25,000. It was on sale and with a $15,000 discount it was only $10,000. Really (wish I could find that link). If you're a tight-a**, you could get this one (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BMLCGF8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) for about $16 with free shipping; it's identical except you don't to get financing to buy it. I wired it into the existing box, severed the duplex outlet in the box (there's a little bridge from one side to the other; just clip it off), and now have one outlet on temperature control and one always energized for the fan. The bulb that's in it has been in it for almost 2 months; running the bulb on a dimmer switch is not only a pill to keep the temperature right, it also very much shortened the life-span of the bulb. I put a glass with water in there for humidity, trying to hit 45-50%. I've read that to control humidity you need to control surface area. I found that to be true and I floated a variety of items on the surface until, at temperature, I hit 45-50%. Now I just fill the glass, float a plastic bottle cap on it and forget it; I don't even use a gauge in the box anymore. Then I bought a Hova-bator Genesis.
I got the Genesis with the egg turner for chicken eggs which accommodates 41 eggs (don't put an egg next to the turning motor, it will strike the turner motor). Then I filled different water trays until I hit my 45-50% range, set eggs, and forget about it. Lovely. Score! I now use my first incubator (the cooler) as my hatcher. This is the way to go because hatching eggs is messy business. The picture of my hatcher is with it up on one end drying after I bleached it and it still looks nasty. You don't want your chicks hatching in the incubator, particularly in the turner.
I can't say it enough: the Hova-bator Genesis is a very nice unit, I now have 2, and the first one has been running almost continuously since 10/20/17. It is, however pricey at about $188 delivered with the egg turner (Fleming Outdoors http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/hova...arge-window-incubator-w-electronic-therm.html). That's basically $4.58 per egg for the first batch. But, it...just...flippin'...works! We built a large cabinet incubator with auto egg turner for about $300...then, three weeks after we turned it on, the house burned down with it in it (in the laundry room), which is when I bought my second Genesis. The incubator we built was NOT the cause of the fire, a faulty electrical outlet in the attached shop was (the insurance fire investigator said it was), but it makes me really appreciate that the Genesis uses a transformer power supply and that the actual heating element/fan run on 12 volts DC.
Having the incubator and the hatcher automatically temperature controlled and with forced air is really awesome. Throw in the auto egg turner and there's nothing to it.
I write a group number on each egg. Out of about 15-20 egg-laying-age birds, I may get 10 eggs a day, I may get 2. I recently found that some birds had accessed a space in the roof and laid eggs there; I found 40 eggs there. I healed that area up and expect to get more eggs now; but I still think some are laying somewhere besides the barn, I should be getting more eggs. Regardless, I write a group number with a regular pencil on the round end and track the groups in an Excel spread sheet. This way I know exactly which eggs need to be candled and which eggs need to go to the hatcher. I read a useful post here by someone who said something like this, "if we're not setting eggs, candling eggs, or hatching eggs a couple times a week, we feel like we're not doing anything". Or words to that effect. I feel the same way and I set/candle/send to the hatcher on Tuesdays and Fridays. This means my eggs are fresh (certainly less than the 7-day window when, I've read, the hatch rates drop). However, this means that I have to tweak the days a bit for everything to happen on those two days; for instance, I set eggs in the hatcher at day 17, not 18.
I've had a lot of fun doing this (I wish people would actually start buying chicks from me...I....can't....stop...hatching...eggs but I can't house them all).
All of my birds were born in 2017, so they're all young and, I suppose, in their peak performance period. I have probably 7 or 8 roosters, leaving me about 40+ hens. For roosters I have one that my wife thinks is a Brahma (big sucker), two Buff Orpingtons, two Black Americauna (free birds, I was told they were Americauna), and a couple of California White (or some such). The females are all some variety of those EXCEPT the Brahma. I get some really neat colorations in the chicks I'm hatching.
Attached are photos of my setup, a PDF file which is a template for cutting a hole for the STC-1000 temp controller (print at 100% size, not fit to page), and I'll see if I can upload my Excel spread sheet for what it's worth.
I hope this is useful to some folks.
--HC
Spring 2017, Tractor Supply had chicks on clearance for 50 cents each. Fall 2016 I started raising goats and sheep on 100 acres I have in North Central Texas. Adding chickens to the ranch seemed like a fun thing to do and I had 40 x 96 barn not being used except to shelter some of my livestock...what the heck? Let's do this....I got 27 chicks, mostly sexed females. Between the dogs and cats at our house and then the dogs and the cats at the ranch, I lost 21 birds. I was hot. I bought some more from various sources, including more clearance birds at the end of the summer when our TSC got them again. I got back to 29. More predation and I got back down to 15. <angry>. I removed some cats, the dogs took up living at a neigbor's, and FINALLY some birds started laying eggs. I wanted all my birds back and I said, "I'm gonna hatch some ##^$#& eggs!". And I did. My first hatch was 6 live chicks out 12 set and 7 which passed 7 day candling. That was 10/13/17. Tuesday into Wednesday, 12/26 - 12/27, I hatched number 100. After 10 weeks and 100 birds, I trust my incubator settings and I don't hold against me the failed eggs at 7 day candling; that is, as far as I'm concerned, I hatched 6 of 7 in that first batch, 86%. Because some eggs may not be fertilized and some are of unknown age (my birds sometimes find new and hidden areas to lay eggs in the roof structure of the barn and the eggs fall to the straw bedding at random times on the floor).
I started out with a heavy-duty styrofoam cooler from Wal-Mart which was about $10 and had about 1.25 inch thick walls. I cut an opening for a window and put 5x7 picture frame glass inside and out, held in place with white caulk and aluminum tape (aluminum strip with sticky on one side; used for HVAC ducts and such). I put a lightbulb socket on the floor, secured with small machine-thread screws. I used a small torch and a metal wire to quickly and cleanly poke holes in the cooler for the fasteners. I put a dimmer switch in a double gang box on the side, affixed with similar screws. I had read about using salt and water in a zip lock bag to calibrate a hygrometer and did so. Basically, you put salt in a small container and wet the salt, not soupy, just wet. Place the small container in a zip lock bag with your hygrometer and seal it and let it set overnight and read the humidity. It should read, IIRC, 50%. Mine read 52% so wrote on the bezel "subtract 2%". Easy. I'm using Accu-rite brand temp and humidity devices; they're small and fairly cheap. I have a low-RPM 110v fan (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009OXTWZI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to stir the air up. I had to manually turn the eggs which got super old, super fast. I sometimes rotated the eggs twice a day, sometimes 3 times a day, sometimes once a day.
The first light bulb lasted a week and burned out. The second one lasted 2 weeks, going out 2 days before the hatch date and the eggs got to room temperature, 70 degrees. Still 6 of 7 hatched. But, I needed something better. At this point I will say that having the incubator in a climate-controlled area is important. I found a thermo controller, STC-1000, for $25,000. It was on sale and with a $15,000 discount it was only $10,000. Really (wish I could find that link). If you're a tight-a**, you could get this one (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BMLCGF8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) for about $16 with free shipping; it's identical except you don't to get financing to buy it. I wired it into the existing box, severed the duplex outlet in the box (there's a little bridge from one side to the other; just clip it off), and now have one outlet on temperature control and one always energized for the fan. The bulb that's in it has been in it for almost 2 months; running the bulb on a dimmer switch is not only a pill to keep the temperature right, it also very much shortened the life-span of the bulb. I put a glass with water in there for humidity, trying to hit 45-50%. I've read that to control humidity you need to control surface area. I found that to be true and I floated a variety of items on the surface until, at temperature, I hit 45-50%. Now I just fill the glass, float a plastic bottle cap on it and forget it; I don't even use a gauge in the box anymore. Then I bought a Hova-bator Genesis.
I got the Genesis with the egg turner for chicken eggs which accommodates 41 eggs (don't put an egg next to the turning motor, it will strike the turner motor). Then I filled different water trays until I hit my 45-50% range, set eggs, and forget about it. Lovely. Score! I now use my first incubator (the cooler) as my hatcher. This is the way to go because hatching eggs is messy business. The picture of my hatcher is with it up on one end drying after I bleached it and it still looks nasty. You don't want your chicks hatching in the incubator, particularly in the turner.
I can't say it enough: the Hova-bator Genesis is a very nice unit, I now have 2, and the first one has been running almost continuously since 10/20/17. It is, however pricey at about $188 delivered with the egg turner (Fleming Outdoors http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/hova...arge-window-incubator-w-electronic-therm.html). That's basically $4.58 per egg for the first batch. But, it...just...flippin'...works! We built a large cabinet incubator with auto egg turner for about $300...then, three weeks after we turned it on, the house burned down with it in it (in the laundry room), which is when I bought my second Genesis. The incubator we built was NOT the cause of the fire, a faulty electrical outlet in the attached shop was (the insurance fire investigator said it was), but it makes me really appreciate that the Genesis uses a transformer power supply and that the actual heating element/fan run on 12 volts DC.
Having the incubator and the hatcher automatically temperature controlled and with forced air is really awesome. Throw in the auto egg turner and there's nothing to it.
I write a group number on each egg. Out of about 15-20 egg-laying-age birds, I may get 10 eggs a day, I may get 2. I recently found that some birds had accessed a space in the roof and laid eggs there; I found 40 eggs there. I healed that area up and expect to get more eggs now; but I still think some are laying somewhere besides the barn, I should be getting more eggs. Regardless, I write a group number with a regular pencil on the round end and track the groups in an Excel spread sheet. This way I know exactly which eggs need to be candled and which eggs need to go to the hatcher. I read a useful post here by someone who said something like this, "if we're not setting eggs, candling eggs, or hatching eggs a couple times a week, we feel like we're not doing anything". Or words to that effect. I feel the same way and I set/candle/send to the hatcher on Tuesdays and Fridays. This means my eggs are fresh (certainly less than the 7-day window when, I've read, the hatch rates drop). However, this means that I have to tweak the days a bit for everything to happen on those two days; for instance, I set eggs in the hatcher at day 17, not 18.
I've had a lot of fun doing this (I wish people would actually start buying chicks from me...I....can't....stop...hatching...eggs but I can't house them all).
All of my birds were born in 2017, so they're all young and, I suppose, in their peak performance period. I have probably 7 or 8 roosters, leaving me about 40+ hens. For roosters I have one that my wife thinks is a Brahma (big sucker), two Buff Orpingtons, two Black Americauna (free birds, I was told they were Americauna), and a couple of California White (or some such). The females are all some variety of those EXCEPT the Brahma. I get some really neat colorations in the chicks I'm hatching.
Attached are photos of my setup, a PDF file which is a template for cutting a hole for the STC-1000 temp controller (print at 100% size, not fit to page), and I'll see if I can upload my Excel spread sheet for what it's worth.
I hope this is useful to some folks.
--HC
