Sick Of Foam Incubators...

[Barbedwirecat]

I have no fan in mine and have had pretty good hatches (100% last one) I make sure I disinfect it after every hatch. I'm going to say that and have the one sitting in there now go wrong.

You need to calibrate your thermometer and find out which one is the truest. Some may be off 2 degrees, some may be off 5. I personally don't go with the ones that come with the incubator---they have never done good. I like digital probes and digital ones (for humidity) but the digital ones MADE for chicken incubation seem the best. I still haven't bought one so I cannot personally attest to that---only from what other members have said.

this is about food, but it teaches you how to calibrate. I mark mine with a permanent marker because they can be different even if they are the same brand/model.

I also dry hatch. Temps maintained around 100 as close as possible to it. I try to keep the humidity around 25% while incubating and raise for lock-down. I delay lock-down if needed (if they have not lost enough weight). I wait for the air cell to dip and THEN I go into lock-down mode. I really think this is why I have done well with my hatch rate. Check out the stickies in the top part of this forum and read Pete55s guide. It was THE BEST HELP I ever had.

I hope some of that makes sense, I may need more caffeine today!

 

[Arielle]

I have the LG and noticed by the end of last summer the temperature readings in various area did not read the same and the range had increased. Not sure why. Plan to test it first this year before setting.

Also, I made my own cooler-style incubator. THat has worked well, once I got the adjustments correct after a week or more of tweaking!

I learned so much from managing the LG that I figured try making one.

 

[Reyvaughn]

My meat thermometer is right on. I checked the calibration using the above methods.

I checked the calibration on the aquarium thermometers and they are 2 degrees off (34 degrees for freezing).

My meat thermometer is reading 102 in the incubator and all three of the aquarium thermometers are reading 98. So, what the heck am I supposed to do? I am assuming the meat thermometer is reading the temp from the top, which would be warmer, but it is in the center of the incubator, away from the heating element. The aquarium incubators are actually down with the eggs, so I guess I need to turn the temps up. Which also means my Acurite was pretty darn accurate after all.

 

[Barbedwirecat]

I would go with the thermometer you have closest to the eggs and on the same level. The meat thermometer may be picking up the upper air temp or even the extra heat from the element since it's metal too. Stick with that and remember your aquarium ones are 2 degrees off and you should be good.

 

[dwhite]

I have about a dozen accurite thermometers, the ones with the probe, I put the probe through the vent hole. I checked all with a mercury thermometer, one was like 2 degrees off from the others, the rest run within 1 degree. I used the styrofoam incubators and hatched in my garage one year 15-20 degree ambient fluctuations no issues, it is all about redundancy and not screwing with the temp control.

@ ChickenPrnces - You must have a much more stable wood stove than mine. One day I have to fight to get it to burn and other days I fight to cool the house down. If I were to keep an incubator in my living room, kitchen or dining room, they would literally cook to death.

@ Barbedwirecat - Yes, I tighten the wing nut until it's snug. I have noticed that it does mess with the thermostat if you over tighten it or even wiggle it a little.

At the moment, my room temp is about 63 (woodstove almost went out - it isn't burning right again) and the incubator is still holding nicely at 99. It only dropped a degree and the ambient temp went down by almost 10 degrees since I first put the meat thermometer in this afternoon. I'm happy right now. I just hope this is the start to a good hatch!

Obviously, the Acurite wasn't very accurate or right.

 

[brahmapapa]

After years of varried success with styrofoam incubators, i have finally thrown in the towel. i bought some 3/4" plywood and constructed a cabinet style incubator/hatcher combo. I like to run staggered hatches and one of the problems with the styrofoam incubators is the complete loss of your humidity envelope if you open them durring lockdown. the one am building has two rollout drawers made of 1"x1" screen, each large enough to hold a GQF turner on it. I have designed it with a hatcher container in the bottom. the container that I bought was sterlite from walmart, measures 15" x 11 1/2" x 6" and is clear. I am experimenting here with this container as a hatcher. by leaving the lid on it , but cutting fairly large (about 1 1/2") holes in the lid, i will keep water saturated paper towels in the bottom for lockdown, the heat will still keep the tray at correct temp, but the partially closed tray should have a higher humidity close atmosphere. As i said this is all experimental and i will make many adjustments to make it work, but i am confident i will come to the right formular. The reason i am making the turners on drawers is because i want to minimalize the impact on the entire incubator atmosphere when opening it up. Smaller openings will lead to less change. I am also putting a window thru the opening that will access the hatch container, so I can view how things are going. the water resevoire for general humidity will be located behind the hatch container. I purchased one of the new 200+watt incukit which is digital, I mounted it in the top of a dome (I used a clear acrylic squirrel baffle for the dome) it lets me view things and the dome curves direct the heated air down into the bator efficiently. All in all things are progressing well on its construction and I plan to have it up and running within the week. I am a very science type guy and I have a few theories about hatching that i intend to prove or disprove scientificly with this bator. The absolute best hatch i ever had was with a hovabator styrofoam incubator, so i know they work well. Actually , funny story, i loaded it with 42 eggs from my own hens, set it up and forgot it. I got busy with alot of things around the farm (it was spring) and one day i woke up to chirping noise and i found a 100% hatch. That was in a hovabator with a fan and turner, I had not added a drop of water in the 21 days and i did nothing to stop the turner. no birds got injured by the turner, which brings me to one of my theories that i intend to work on. we place our eggs in the turner large end up, the chick developes in this orientation, then when we put them into lockdown we lay them on thier side. I think that this change is what leads to so many chicks that fully develope but die. I think the change in orientation makes many drown before getting into a new hatch orientation. I am going to put my eggs in the hatcher remaining upright but not being turned durring lockdown and see if this improves things, remember my best success was with all eggs hatching in this position. If enough interest isxpresses in my project i will try to post pictures of the completed unit as well as results from my experiments. I hope my getting off topic a bit didn't offend anyone.

 

[Squawkbox]

My only comment to foam incubators is if I ever get the idea to try and hatch in one again I want someone to bean me over the head. Stupid things!