Styrofoam Incubators Club

[MeepBeep]

I have been pondering over the hook up of the samething you have just put on this forum. Now I can finish my incubater just in time for lock down. The water heater thermostat says 240 volts thermostat lower, time to put it all together so thank you for posting pictures, it makes it much easier for us grandmas to understand.

On thing to note if you use a water heater thermostat... Inside the water heater thermostat is a mini version of the traditional 'wafer' thermostats commonly used in incubators, inside being the biggest drawback... If you note the back of the water heater thermostat is metal, this metal has to transfer the heat to the wafer inside the housing, so it should be mounted with that metal exposed not up against the side of the incubator and a fan blowing across the thermostat will help drastically...

This might not be the best view but you can see how I mounted the thermostat in this design of mine, it's spaced off the top of the heater box by about 1" thus air can flow all around it and the fan (behind green screen) on the other side of the box makes sure that air is always flowing over it..

The metal housing combined with the fan prevents 'hot' spots...

I also drilled some very strategic holes in the housing of the water heater thermostat to allow heat to more readily enter and contact the wafer inside... I'll try and find the video that shows were these holes should be located and link it with an edit to this post...

**EDIT here is the video of where to drill some additional holes in the thermostat... Take care when drilling as to not destroy the unit...

 

[Wickedchicken6]

That is sooooo cool. WOW you turned all those eggs by hand--that's dedication! What is your average hatch rate with this incubator? I would love to see how you connected the wafer thermostat to the light bulbs. This has certainly made my decision for me--I'm building an incubator ha! Now just to find a bigger piece of land for more chickens

I can fit about 54 eggs in it, turning them is not too bad. Turning the 114 I set for Easter, wasn't quite as much fun. I see the value of egg turners there...lol.

Since all the wiring connections for my incubator are on the outside, I utilized a short extension cord from Dollar Tree to connect everything.




I did a much neater job on the newer sterilite incubator as far as cord length and such than on this one.
I also prefer the way I spliced only one side of the cord to attach to the thermostat to the bulbs. (Below)



I do recommend having two light bulbs (if you're going with light bulbs as a heat source) by either installing 2 sockets or by utilizing the two bulb adaptor. Lights do go out, I've had it happen and I was glad I had another heat source to keep the heat up.

As for my hatches and percentages, I've incubated quite differently than most. The majority of my hatches have consisted of setting aged eggs; last year from necessity as I was left with only 2 producing hens and this year eggs I've been selecting for the toughest embryos from the older eggs. I won't really have an accurate answer until my next hatch which will consist of fresh eggs...lol. I'm looking forward to a "normal" hatch.

 

[BrieCheese23]

Stalking this thread now. I have a farm innovators forced air and just finished my first hatch in it with...mmm medium success. My heat regulated fine, but the humidity never registered right and during hatch the temp kept spiking to 102 from all the moisture and I could never read the heat right because there was a boat load of water inside the temperature gauge and it was fudging with the numbers. I was left trying to pull chicks and egg shells trying to keep the humidity down and all that opening of the bator messed with what remained of the hatch. I had just under a 50% hatch rate, but I'm ready to try again with some quail eggs and a few easter egger eggs from my mother's lonely hen (who has an easter egger rooster and an old Mille Fluer D'uclle rooster who live with her..chances are any fertility came from Hawk, not Hector ).

I will be using a plastic automatic incubator for my hatcher to hopefully avoid the humidity issues. Any advice you guys can give me for a better hatch this time around?

 

[kimalulu]

So my clutch is at about 13 days, and candling at day 11 showed three eggs had quit. I'm so bummed! I really didn't expect to be so sad about it... But after the see them moving and growing and then - dead, it's just UGH! Where is the early quitter egg support group?

I know what you mean. I'm in the middle of a hatch right now. Day 22 and day 20. 14 have hatched so far with 1 DIS, it zipped about 1/2 to 3/4 the way around and then there was a crack running down the shell. When I investigated the chick had moved towards the small end and suffocated.

 

[snowy Mtns]

Hello, we are on our first hatch. Tonight marks the start of day 18, so I am getting ready to lockdown and stop turning. We have a Farm Innovator 4250. Comparing my eggs to photos of the ideal air cell ours seem small. Next time I will mark as they grow so I can track air cell growth. The humidity has been between 45-55. After more research I am thinking next time, I will go with less. What humidity should I go for these last few days?

 

[MeepBeep]

What humidity should I go for these last few days?

I generally don't tinker with humidity unless necessary, I have a small pan in the incubator that when filled generally creates about 50%-60%, I let it go dry some days... I watch the hatch and if the birds appear to be drying out and having issues getting out of the egg I bump the humidity at that time... For me I have a small mister in the incubator so I can bump the humidity up to 100% is about a minute if need be, but I generally aim for 70%-80% if I see they are having a hard time hatching, if not I leave it at whatever it is and that is generally in the 50% range... But, on the cheap you can use a spray bottle filed with warm water, a few sprays/mistings inside and the humidity should easily jump to the 60%+ range in short...

 

[SpinningJenny]

I know what you mean. I'm in the middle of a hatch right now. Day 22 and day 20. 14 have hatched so far with 1 DIS, it zipped about 1/2 to 3/4 the way around and then there was a crack running down the shell. When I investigated the chick had moved towards the small end and suffocated.

Ugh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I think when these guys start hatching I'm going to watch them obsessively! I've researched a bunch of hatching issues and malpositions and found out how and when to assist a hatching chick just in case. I'm going to keep an eye on heat and humidity very closely during hatch, but I will open it up if my mother's intuition tells me something's up.

I think I might eggtopsy the the ones that stopped developing too, just to find out why if I can. I hope there's something obviously wrong with them, or I'll just continue to think it was my own human error! Sorry, chickies.

Hope to see pics of the rest of your hatch soon!

 

[Courthamilton]

Okay. I have a still air 9300. I have literally had HELL with humidity. When i went into lockdown I had 14 LIVE eggs. I ended with only 6 and ALL six were SHRINK WRAPPED. I done eggtopsies on all the 'goners' every single one had internally peeped but was so shrink wrapped it couldn't externally pip. PLEASE tell me with hydrometers you suggest and what thermometers! All of mine read differently.

Sincerely,
Struggling in Arkansas

P.S.- I don't know if it makes any difference but I got the eggs from a friend of the family. I didnt know when any of them were laid and I dont have any idea how much or what she feeds her ducks. I read that if you want a healthy reproduction/hatch you need to feed your layers right. Would this play a factor in my epic failure?!

 

[raisingdaisies]

Okay. I have a still air 9300. I have literally had HELL with humidity. When i went into lockdown I had 14 LIVE eggs. I ended with only 6 and ALL six were SHRINK WRAPPED. I done eggtopsies on all the 'goners' every single one had internally peeped but was so shrink wrapped it couldn't externally pip. PLEASE tell me with hydrometers you suggest and what thermometers! All of mine read differently.

Sincerely,
Struggling in Arkansas

P.S.- I don't know if it makes any difference but I got the eggs from a friend of the family. I didnt know when any of them were laid and I dont have any idea how much or what she feeds her ducks. I read that if you want a healthy reproduction/hatch you need to feed your layers right. Would this play a factor in my epic failure?!

Oh no Are you using any humidity measuring tools at all, or just the one on the unit? We picked up digital temp/hygrometers at Walmart(like this http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-00325...00415&sr=8-15&keywords=thermometer+hygrometer) . We do not even pay any attention to the numbers on the top as we have found them to be incredibly inaccurate. Sometimes the humidity was off 50 points! I put one on each side and make sure the thermostat is not too low in there.

 

[Courthamilton]

Oh no   Are you using any humidity measuring tools at all, or just the one on the unit?  We picked up digital temp/hygrometers at Walmart(like this http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-00325-Comfort-Monitor-Black/dp/B004K8RF10/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1461200415&sr=8-15&keywords=thermometer+hygrometer) .  We do not even pay any attention to the numbers on the top as we have found them to be incredibly inaccurate.  Sometimes the humidity was off 50 points!  I put one on each side and make sure the thermostat is not too low in there.  

I bought that EXACT one today. Of course my hatch is over now. But I have a dial read thermometer/humidity reader, the digital one on the incubator AND the one you suggested and everyone reads a different humidity/temp! Luckily, I went with my gut and all 6 ducks that lived I saved! One of the 6 had a severely limp neck and straggle legs. I taped it's legs, offered water with vitamin supplement that included niacin and vitamin b, tried the best I could to support his neck and woke up this morning and he was gone.