i have 3 sportsman cabinets, i myself prefer wafer thermostats. they are easier to work on in a pinch during a hatch. my complaints on it would be the auto turner should turn a little farther 30 degrees is enough but 45 is better. im custom building one that will turn 85 degrees, Petersime worked with higher turning and had awesome results, but petersime is out of my range for now.
in Ohio you might as well throw away the pans that come with it, including automatic humidity. i replaced my pans with 7x9 cake pans and no wicks. that's less room for bacterial growth. i only use my hygrometer in these units if the hatch is less than 85% on my eggs. i find its also best if you open the doors each day for 15 minutes until you see the first pip on an egg, on that day mist the eggs lightly with warm water and lock it down. my sportsmans hold 99.5 to 100.1 from 50 degrees to 100 degrees. one varies just a touch more, i set the thermostat to take it to 100 and drop to 97, that unit gives me the best hatches of the 3.
don't think of incubating as science. you'll over think it every time. your imitating nature, in nature the temperature is never constant, along with the humidity. i have never seen a hen with a wristwatch or calendar either. enjoy what your doing, don't work to hard at it or you will fail nearly every time.
i started with miller little giants, they worked pretty well for me. my complaints were space (wife complained about 12 in dining room), and bacterial buildup after constant use. if your using them and giving them a break its not near the problem. my best hatches happened with still air units, set at 100 degrees. i did use auto turners in 8 of the units, i hand turned 2 units as i needed them. the other 2 were hatchers. when i set them up (8 with turners) i removed 1 red plug and filled the straight troughs. ran the temp up to 100 degrees with the turner installed. on the hatcher units i removed both red plugs, temperature was the same. i filled all the troughs, not to full, they will get your chicks wet. you cant truly "lockdown" these units, mist your eggs lightly with warm water when you have to open them to help humidity rise. hatch rates with little giants were typically 80%-85% with a few 100% along the way. using a separate one as a hatcher will slow down the bacterial buildup. always bleach them between batches. remember they are designed to be a starter incubator, not one for a serious hatcher.
edited to correct a mistake in numbers.
in Ohio you might as well throw away the pans that come with it, including automatic humidity. i replaced my pans with 7x9 cake pans and no wicks. that's less room for bacterial growth. i only use my hygrometer in these units if the hatch is less than 85% on my eggs. i find its also best if you open the doors each day for 15 minutes until you see the first pip on an egg, on that day mist the eggs lightly with warm water and lock it down. my sportsmans hold 99.5 to 100.1 from 50 degrees to 100 degrees. one varies just a touch more, i set the thermostat to take it to 100 and drop to 97, that unit gives me the best hatches of the 3.
don't think of incubating as science. you'll over think it every time. your imitating nature, in nature the temperature is never constant, along with the humidity. i have never seen a hen with a wristwatch or calendar either. enjoy what your doing, don't work to hard at it or you will fail nearly every time.
i started with miller little giants, they worked pretty well for me. my complaints were space (wife complained about 12 in dining room), and bacterial buildup after constant use. if your using them and giving them a break its not near the problem. my best hatches happened with still air units, set at 100 degrees. i did use auto turners in 8 of the units, i hand turned 2 units as i needed them. the other 2 were hatchers. when i set them up (8 with turners) i removed 1 red plug and filled the straight troughs. ran the temp up to 100 degrees with the turner installed. on the hatcher units i removed both red plugs, temperature was the same. i filled all the troughs, not to full, they will get your chicks wet. you cant truly "lockdown" these units, mist your eggs lightly with warm water when you have to open them to help humidity rise. hatch rates with little giants were typically 80%-85% with a few 100% along the way. using a separate one as a hatcher will slow down the bacterial buildup. always bleach them between batches. remember they are designed to be a starter incubator, not one for a serious hatcher.
edited to correct a mistake in numbers.
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