Farm innovations 4250 incubator

[glacierridge]

Any feedback?

I got mine 2 days ago. I started my 4200 the day before. I just moved the egg Turner over. First I changed the tops. The 4200 was actually running 104 degrees according to the 4250 digital display. I also had a thermometer inside that came with the 4200 which was about 2 degrees warmer than the one on the case. So I bought 2 glass fish tank thermometers and put those inside each. I confirmed 100 on the 4200 was 104. So when I was trusting the previous inside thermometer it was then 106. I'm hoping that is the source of all my hatching problems. The 4250 is dead on with temperature indicated on the inside thermometer. So 18 more days and I'll find out.

 

[Shadow722]

Any feedback?

I only hatched 2. I have 1 problem I discovered too late and I wonder how much business my rooster was doing. I discovered on day 20 the lid wasn't on good. It looked good but when I gave it some more water because I was having trouble keeping humidity over 50% it dropped on better. I put a cloth down in the bottom and used a large straw through the vent hole to add more water. I got rid of 15 Golden lace hens which seemed to have the highest fertility rate and I have had the most success with their eggs. My hens have been real good at hatching the Maran eggs, so I'm suspecting my incubation skills have been bad. I put a fish tank thermometer in both incubators and discovered the 4200 was was running 4 degrees warmer than the built in thermometer. The 4250 seemed very close to the fish tank thermometer.

I'm not going to say the the 4250 is no good. I think it was my incubation skill. I'm going to give it one more shot before I sell it.

 

[glacierridge]

Thanks.
This is the unit I get to work with. My nephew was disgusted how poor the last hatch rate was and I'm supposed to take the next turn. Maybe I'll see if there's a way to calibrate it, and I'll still probably get another hygrometer to check and verify against.
I'll be darned if I'm gonna fail the next lot of eggs if there's something I can do to help.
Thank you for the report.

 

[Spatzerl]

I just bought the 4250 and it is my first try at incubating eggs. Will see how it goes, but to start off with: do I just pour water into the bottom tray? I don't understand where the water is supposed to go.

 

[nanachic]

I have 2 of them.. I think they work great. I have had great results. 16 eggs on my first batch (my first time ever). And I had 10 baby chicks. And 6 did not hatch I think was my fault. Because I couldn't keep my hands off of it when they were hatching. I took out each one as they hatched. And the second incubator I had 12 eggs with good success rate of 10. Think I did very well considering I have never hatched before.

 

[abbevilleoz]

Just received the 4250 as a Christmas present. It did not include the "included" egg candeler. Test run seemed okay but the motor on the egg turner gets really hot. I'm not confident it will work for 21 days with that much heat build up. Farm and Fleet contacted the manufacturer about the candeler and they were out of stock with a two week delay on the back order. Think I'll try to return this and get my $ back.
P.S.> This is my first incubator so take my experience with a grain of salt.

 

[Shadow722]

The candler light that comes with it is not very good. I use an LED MiniMag light that is much brighter and easier to see through the eggshell. But I have Marans and their eggs are so dark the provided light is useless.

 

[abbevilleoz]

The candler light that comes with it is not very good. I use an LED MiniMag light that is much brighter and easier to see through the eggshell. But I have Marans and their eggs are so dark the provided light is useless.

Did the incubator work okay for you?

 

[Shadow722]

Did the incubator work okay for you?

It works fine as long as you use an accurate thermometer. I have the 4200 and 4250 and they both run hotter than indicated by about 2 degrees which would leave me with a poor hatching ratio. Once I got a good thermometer in it I hatched many more out of each run.

 

[Saltlife4ever]

How did you change the temp to match your new thermometer? Mine is a bit too cool and I have eggs coming tomorrow. :/

Edit: Never mind. I thought I couldn't change the temp but I just didn't hold the button down long enough. Lol