Little giant 11300 incubator

[cmom]

This is our first time incubating and I decided to go with this model because it had the most features of all the ones I looked at locally. Just put 41 eggs in it yesterday, after running it for two days. I am very concerned with the variability of temperature across the egg bed! I quickly checked egg shell temperatures with an accurate infrared gun, after running it for 24 hours, and they vary about 8 Degrees F, between 94 and 102! The eggs furthest from the heater, near the edge are the coldest. I make sure the top lid fits correctly, and currently have only the vent plug near the heater removed, per the instructions. Also, for some reason, the right half averages almost 2 degrees warmer than the left half. The room is at 71 Degrees, with no significant drafts, and I have no other heat sources near the bator. I don't want to crank it up any higher for fear of cooking the eggs near the heater. I know the fan is working because I can hear it, and I made sure the blades were turning. Does not seem to be much airflow though. We will be lucky to get half of the fertilized eggs to hatch, at this rate.

The incubator's thermostat and temperature sensor seems fairly accurate, reading about 1 Degree high on mine. The thermostat maintains temp within 0.5 Degrees, where the sensor is located (on top of the eggs under the controller, per the instructions).

I am in Montana, with low humidity (now about 15%). I have found that if I put water in the outer two troughs only, the humidity in the incubator rises to 45-50%, and that if I fill both the outer and inner troughs, humidity rises to 60-75%. I use an Acurite temp/humidity gage in the bator and the humidity on the Acurite reads about 10% higher than the unit on my bator.

Anybody else experience this temperature variability problem with this unit? If this hatch turns out poorly I am thinking about adding a computer fan inside this unit to move the air around in a circular fashion, instead of blowing straight down onto the eggs.

The fan should not be blowing down on the eggs. It should be aimed to blow towards the lid so the air can circulate. The eggs at the warm area may hatch a day or two early and the cooler ones a day or two late. You can always rotate the lid of the incubator. I have hatched eggs with a broody and the broody will get off the nest 15/20 minutes every day to eat, drink and poop and the eggs still hatch.

 

[DuginMT]

Thanks guys you were right about the fan direction - I just tested it with a piece of tissue paper and the fan is not blowing down, but up across the heater and towards the lid. The air flow is still small, but this makes me feel better. I also re-tested the egg temps and the temperature variation was not as bad tonight - about 97-102. Do you think if I installed a more powerful fan on the next batch to circulate air in a horizontal plane around the top of the incubator that it would help to even out temperatures?

Of course, if I get a good hatch rate, I will not worry about making improvements!

 

[DuginMT]

Update: As I feared, we got a very poor hatch rate - less than 25%, and three of the hatchlings died. 5 hatched a day early, two on the hatch day, one a day late, and two hatched three days late - these both perished.

The good points about this unit are that the heater is of ample heat output, and the digital thermostat works fairly well. Also, the egg turner worked well, and the water reservoirs are adequate. Before I ever tried this unit again, I would add one or two small computer fans to better circulate the air, tape the temperature sensor card to the bottom of the lid so it doesn't shift around every time you tilt the lid up, or gets dislodged by hatchlings, and then put in only about 2 dozen eggs max, not putting eggs in the outside holes nearest the sides of this incubator. Then I would adjust the thermostat so that temp at the egg bed averages 99.5. I believe these measures would greatly improve the hatch rate of this unit.

 

[cmom]

Thanks guys you were right about the fan direction - I just tested it with a piece of tissue paper and the fan is not blowing down, but up across the heater and towards the lid. The air flow is still small, but this makes me feel better. I also re-tested the egg temps and the temperature variation was not as bad tonight - about 97-102. Do you think if I installed a more powerful fan on the next batch to circulate air in a horizontal plane around the top of the incubator that it would help to even out temperatures?

Of course, if I get a good hatch rate, I will not worry about making improvements!

Update: As I feared, we got a very poor hatch rate - less than 25%, and three of the hatchlings died. 5 hatched a day early, two on the hatch day, one a day late, and two hatched three days late - these both perished.

The good points about this unit are that the heater is of ample heat output, and the digital thermostat works fairly well. Also, the egg turner worked well, and the water reservoirs are adequate. Before I ever tried this unit again, I would add one or two small computer fans to better circulate the air, tape the temperature sensor card to the bottom of the lid so it doesn't shift around every time you tilt the lid up, or gets dislodged by hatchlings, and then put in only about 2 dozen eggs max, not putting eggs in the outside holes nearest the sides of this incubator. Then I would adjust the thermostat so that temp at the egg bed averages 99.5. I believe these measures would greatly improve the hatch rate of this unit.

If you're using a a computer fan, my opinion is that a Little Giant fan works better. I had a Still Air that I put a small DC fan in and used a cube from an old cordless phone. It worked but not as well as it does in the Hova-Bators because they have a more rounded lid. I eventually replaced it with an LG fan. The fan cost around $30.00 and to me it was worth it.

I came across this from Farm Innovators Fan Kit - 3100. It looks just like the one I put into my LG. http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/farm-innovators-fan-kit---3100.html The air circulates through the sides of the fan.