Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[cmom]

Might be a silly question but ...When you add mason jars with water is there a risk a chick could drown in them?

Im setting my first eggs tomorrow morning. Fighting the humidity right now. Staying at 50%..need it to go down a bit.

This thread has a lot of good information for incubating and hatching with any styrofoam incubator. I only put the mason jar with a sponge in the incubator after I have taken the turner out and have set the eggs for hatching. I have never had a chick drown in the jar. I use very little water during incubation as I get a better hatch when the humidity during incubation is around 35% and after I take the turner out and go into lockdown I get the humidity up to around 75%. Sometimes I put 2 jars with sponges. It just depends on the humidity. If the humidity is too high during incubation, moisture will condense in the air cell and when the chicks pip the air cell (internal Pip) they can drown from the moisture buildup in the air cell. Some people say why didn't my chicks hatch. They were fully formed and many times it is because of incubating at too high of humidity. This is from my experience. Since I have been incubating at a lower humidity my hatches have increased a lot. I have had 100% hatches. There are times when an egg or two quit and don't hatch. Good luck and have fun...

 

[jklyles1]

Thank you everyone! Ive been researching for months, read the entire thread and put my eggs in a dry incubator this morning. Now, i have to walk away and let the temp stabilize!!! This is the hardest part!!! LOL My kids are soooo excited. I hope we have a good hatch.

 

[jklyles1]

after 15 hrs the temps are fluctuating between 99.0-100.4 Humidity is 20-30% (2 hygrometers say 25%, 1 says 20%)

Room temp is consistently 74-75

I hope to see 99.5 on all thermometers in the morning!

 

[Arielle]

after 15 hrs the temps are fluctuating between 99.0-100.4 Humidity is 20-30% (2 hygrometers say 25%, 1 says 20%)

Room temp is consistently 74-75

I hope to see 99.5 on all thermometers in the morning!

It is ok to NOT have 99.5 on all the thermometers. THe LG has areas that are not the same, so take the average. Same for hygrometers.

Rolling the eggs to new locations if you hand turn; and using a fan can help, too. THe eggs will be fine if you can't do either of these things.

YOu are off to a good start.

The eggs will tell you if the temps are good-- note the hatch date, as in number of days. Knowing exact set time is a plus here.

Are you planning to use the diagrams on aircell development when you candle?? This will help you know if the humidity is correct.

Have fun!

 

[jklyles1]

It is ok to NOT have 99.5 on all the thermometers. THe LG has areas that are not the same, so take the average. Same for hygrometers.

Rolling the eggs to new locations if you hand turn; and using a fan can help, too. THe eggs will be fine if you can't do either of these things.

YOu are off to a good start.

The eggs will tell you if the temps are good-- note the hatch date, as in number of days. Knowing exact set time is a plus here.

Are you planning to use the diagrams on aircell development when you candle?? This will help you know if the humidity is correct.

Have fun!

Set day was Saturday Aug 31 at 7:45am. I woke up to a temp spike of 102, temps reading at 7:45 today were 100.8. Im not freaking out because the thermometer that read 102 is large and closer to the top of incubator than eggs. Added a touch of water to get humidity back up and barely nudged the knob to decrease temp. I plan on charting air cell development. I have a couple dark Wellie eggs so im not sure abt those.

Question 1: Will the temp spike on Day 1 hurt the eggs ?

2: If i put them in on Aug 31 at 7:45 am do I candle on Sep 7th at 7:45am? Im confused abt how to count days.

Thank goodness for this website, thread, and nice people willing to help the newbies! I think i might be able to keep my sanity during the next 20 days!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Please, stop playing with the knobs

-- it needs time to settle down. DAYS. ANd it will fluctuate as it cycles. A hen is 102. (I have hit 110 and had great hatches. All depends on timeing and length of time at that temp.) 102 is NOT a spike. Record the temps as many times a day as you like; if you have the time, try 6-8 to get a feel for what the machine does. WHen you are comfortable, back down to 3 if you want. I learned a lot when I recorded often.

I use the calandar to count 7 days. Which is why I always set at midnight or close to, as I get mixed up on the count very easily.

WHy did you add water?? RH doesn't need to be constant-- it will fluctuate with the ambient RH in the room. Mine fluctuates 5-15 points. Look at a few eggs on day 5 to look at the air cells. If they are bigger than the diagram at day 7 you know you can add a little moisture. If smaller, wait until day 7 and look again. NOt drying the eggs down enough is the biggest reason for eggs not hatching IMO.

We'll walk you thru this. Just stop messing with the knob.

 

[jklyles1]

Please, stop playing with the knobs

-- it needs time to settle down. DAYS. ANd it will fluctuate as it cycles. A hen is 102. (I have hit 110 and had great hatches. All depends on timeing and length of time at that temp.) 102 is NOT a spike. Record the temps as many times a day as you like; if you have the time, try 6-8 to get a feel for what the machine does. WHen you are comfortable, back down to 3 if you want. I learned a lot when I recorded often.

I use the calandar to count 7 days. Which is why I always set at midnight or close to, as I get mixed up on the count very easily.

WHy did you add water?? RH doesn't need to be constant-- it will fluctuate with the ambient RH in the room. Mine fluctuates 5-15 points. Look at a few eggs on day 5 to look at the air cells. If they are bigger than the diagram at day 7 you know you can add a little moisture. If smaller, wait until day 7 and look again. NOt drying the eggs down enough is the biggest reason for eggs not hatching IMO.

We'll walk you thru this. Just stop messing with the knob.

OK, Im sorry

LOL!! I wont touch the knob anymore. The temps seem stable right now. 99.0-99.5 IM NOT TOUCHING IT!

 

[Arielle]

Quote:

Good job!!


ONe of the purposes of recording the temps is that you will see when the temps start to drift. I noticed that even though my house is very well insulated, the outside temps altered the inside temps, which caused a drift in the LG temps. THe eggs are somewhat resilient; ANd can handle some spikes, depending on length of time and how high.

WHere are you measureing the temps??? At half height of the eggs??

 

[jklyles1]

Good job!!


ONe of the purposes of recording the temps is that you will see when the temps start to drift. I noticed that even though my house is very well insulated, the outside temps altered the inside temps, which caused a drift in the LG temps. THe eggs are somewhat resilient; ANd can handle some spikes, depending on length of time and how high.

WHere are you measureing the temps??? At half height of the eggs??

I record the temps about 4-5 times per day. I have a therm at middle of eggs, on top of eggs, on bottom wire mesh, and one in the corner around top of eggs.

I noticed the temp stays more consistent if the door to the room they are in stays open. I also lowered the AC 2 degrees. Temp is holding great right now.

 

[RickaRae]

I sure wish I had found this thread last week! We had already set our eggs & the humidity has been too high since we set them on Thursday! Eek! I'm trying to bring it down now & I think if we can get 1 to hatch this time, I'll consider it a success! I'll definitely be following the cheat sheet when I set the batch of eggs I ordered for later this month! The temp is driving me crazy & I'm leaving the knob alone!!! Unfortunately, while I let the LG warm up for a few days, I didn't have the temp stable, so I'm kind of fighting that, too! Arg! Crossing my fingers & hoping for at least just 1 this round! (We only set 7...). Thanks for all of the great info on here!

I do have one question...We are attempting to hatch bantam eggs. IF we can get some to make it to lockdown, should I put them in early? I saw mention a few times that bantams hatch earlier? Thanks again!!!