Styrofoam Incubators Club

What kind of Styrofoam Incubator do you have?

  • Hovabator

    Votes: 46 33.8%
  • Little Giant--manual controls

    Votes: 15 11.0%
  • Little Giant--digital controls

    Votes: 42 30.9%
  • Farm innovators

    Votes: 33 24.3%

  • Total voters
    136
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Bonus question A: Thank you for the specifics on temp control/readings.  Since guinea eggs are smaller, is it possible to still use the 60mL (2ouce) baby bottle as a thermometer "fake egg" but just put less water in it since the guinea eggs are smaller than chicken eggs?  or...?


You could fill it less, but personally I would just run with it as is... I have no issues hatching guinea eggs in my incubator using a 2oz bottle as reference, they generally hatch on day 26 though, but I don't believe that is a higher temp issue as many other members have said their guinea eggs also hatch in about the same 26 days, not the 28 advertised...

Bonus question B: Is there a price point at which I can be confident the "spike" type thermometer that I'll buy for the baby bottle will be accurate? Or some other criterion that will help me make a choice? I like having an external digital readout but also will use analog thermometer to double check, but I had 4 differnt thermometers (2 digital, 2 analog) and they were ALL different. <Maybe not, maybe the existence of calibration ability is really the key?>

I purchased a veterinary grade glass analog thermometer and used the at verify the calibration of my digital probes... But if you go this route you have to pay attention to the type of vet thermometer you get, you DON'T want a 'knock down' one, these have a little zig-zag pattern on the mercury/alcohol channel at the bottom and they are designed to read and hold the max temp achieved... These 'knock down' ones were the kind that were very common for taking body temps back in the day, when you would see a doctor shake the mercury back down with a few flicks of the wrist before taking the temp...

Or you can take some distilled water and boil it and confirm it reads your altitudes boiling temp keep it at a low boil when measuring, then take some more distilled water and fill a glass half full then fill it the rest of the way with ice (preferably ice made with distilled water) stir well and give it a bit so the ice starts to melt and verify it reads 32°F or 0°C I prefer to keep stirring while taking the readings... Distilled water is preferred for the most accurate readings but not absolutely necessary... Some may question why you use an ice/water mixture to measure freezing, it's because the measurement is the point where water freezes and ice melts, ice alone can actually be much colder...

Google your locations altitude then reference this chart for boiling points http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/boiling-points-water-altitude-d_1344.html

Don't skip the above, a few hundred feet of altitude changes the boiling temp and could toss off your calculations... Also calibrate all your thermometers at the same time in the same boiling and freezing water, while giving them a few minutes to get accurate readings...

Bonus question C: Advice on vent holes varies wildly. Can I get a definitive answer to the question of when to open? I just have the one single one on my model. fyi The model came with small air holes drilled into the styrofoam all the way around the base about every 3".

There is no right answer beyond the fact that you most certainly want it open once the chicks start to hatch to provide them with fresh air... If you can maintain temp and humidity with it open all the time go that way, if not you might need to plug it every so often...
 
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There is no right answer beyond the fact that you most certainly want it open once the chicks start to hatch to provide them with fresh air... If you can maintain temp and humidity with it open all the time go that way, if not you might need to plug it every so often...

Thank you for all the info you posted!
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I had read mentions of calibrating with boiling and ice waters but had no details to create confidence in the method. Am so happy to get these questions squared away. Will def use distilled and the chart, I know our exact altitude (450) due to working on a permaculture plan for our place. Glad to know about guineas and 26 days. I copied your post into my Word file for important chickens info. I'm sure I'll have some more questions and I sure am glad I know where to come.

Thanks everyone!
 
I have a little giant still air incubator and I am 2 days beyond my hatch and not a single pip and I haven't seen movement and being that I'm in lockdown I haven't touched the eggs. I just peeked in and it smells a little stinky. Does anyone know if I should open the bator and try to get the egg out? I don't know what one it is and I'm doing mostly dark shelled eggs. I have had issues with the bator all along and the first one I got wouldn't heat above 60 degrees so it had to be exchanged. I'm thinking I got another junk because none of my eggs looked quite right. Someone told me to just leave the questionable eggs alone and wait and see. Does any one have suggestions on what I can/ should do? Should I handle them and check for the smelly one, and should I do a float test yet??
 
I bought the digital LG when I discovered where my Royal Palm was nesting. I followed the directions and read some articles online. I candled the eggs on day 14. Eleven of the eggs have shadows, but they appear to be on one side of the egg only. Does that mean the chicks are dead? I am new at this and hope my inexperience has not made me lose them all.
 
I have a little giant still air incubator and I am 2 days beyond my hatch and not a single pip and I haven't seen movement and being that I'm in lockdown I haven't touched the eggs. I just peeked in and it smells a little stinky. Does anyone know if I should open the bator and try to get the egg out? I don't know what one it is and I'm doing mostly dark shelled eggs. I have had issues with the bator all along and the first one I got wouldn't heat above 60 degrees so it had to be exchanged. I'm thinking I got another junk because none of my eggs looked quite right. Someone told me to just leave the questionable eggs alone and wait and see. Does any one have suggestions on what I can/ should do? Should I handle them and check for the smelly one, and should I do a float test yet??


If you have a stinky egg find it and get it out as soon as possible.

You sure don't want it to pop.

I had one pop a week or so ago. It was horrible.

Just gently lift and sniff each egg.

You will find it quickly.
 
I bought the digital LG when I discovered where my Royal Palm was nesting. I followed the directions and read some articles online. I candled the eggs on day 14. Eleven of the eggs have shadows, but they appear to be on one side of the egg only. Does that mean the chicks are dead? I am new at this and hope my inexperience has not made me lose them all.


Candling explanation in words alone is a poop shot, much easier in person or with pictures... Sometimes the embryo will appear to be on one side only, rotate the egg while candling and watch it for a while and see if you can see jerking type movements, don't confuse jerking movement with flowing movements that could be a bacteria blob... You want to see baby kicking type movement...

Also don't be to hasty, put it back and candle again later, sometimes they can even fool an experienced candler that things one has quite only to have it hatch...
 
I have a used Farm Innovators 'bator that is currently on it's 5th hatch since I bought it. Generally I get hatches out 20+ chicks when I put 42 eggs in, I figured out how to make it work well but this hatch there was a small temp spike near the beginning then the turner got unplugged for who knows how long. It's currently day 13 and I've gotten 6 chicks out of it.
Right now I'm debating whether I should do another hatch or just put it away for the years.
 
Soooooo me and my LG .... love/hate? Right today I found out that my galaxy s4 is capable of temp and humidity readings.... who would have guessed so I down loaded the app started it and put my phone in the battor, and yep temp was set at 99.5 on the cold side I was running 92 and under the element it was 94 so I made some adjustments and now I'm getting steady 99.5 under the element....guess that's one way tomorrow I'm going to get thermometers so I don't have to keep my phone in there all day :-d
 

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