tips for farm innovators model 4200

[AmyLynn2374]

Um, Amy? Um, you're not helping here..... <gulp>

LOL Sorry. The fan kit that was installed in the LG (that I stole from my sister) isn't covered. I had never had a problem with it, as a matter of fact I had just a week or two before addressed a lady on here that had asked about it because she had hit her hand on it while it was going and was concerned about it. I told her I never had a problem with chicks getting hurt on it. That very hatch I had not one, but two get hurt. Both were standing under it and stretched their necks up. The first one caught it's beak. A little blood, but he was ok. The second one it literally scalped her. Cut the "eyebrow" and pulled the skin back. I put some antibiotic ointment on it. I thought she'd loose her sight, but she didn't. She healed nicely. She still, almost a year later, has a slice in her brow, but she's as fiesty as the rest. It turned out being one of my barred rocks. That's when I started pulling them as soon as they were active to put in the brooder. I have contemplated making some sort of guard for the fan, but I keep saying I'm going to get lucky and have the money to get the Hovabator I want......lol

How do I know what happened? I was staring in the bator both times when it happened. Happened so quick there was no reaction time. Threw the poor little ones too!

 

[Blooie]

I'm gonna go look at the one on my Farm Innovator right now!!

 

[newwestchick]

It seems to have a pretty solid metal guard on it, but there are other kind of dangling wires etc. I plan to remove any hatchlings as soon as they're mostly fluffed. I have the brooder nearby.
Hopefully some hatch!!! The suspense is killing me lol

 

[AmyLynn2374]

It seems to have a pretty solid metal guard on it, but there are other kind of dangling wires etc. I plan to remove any hatchlings as soon as they're mostly fluffed. I have the brooder nearby.
Hopefully some hatch!!! The suspense is killing me lol

You'll probably do great!!

 

[newwestchick]

Ok! Day 22 over here any I have some further advice. Please bear in mind it's turned out I'm a big time meddler so that'll affect what you do in your own FI incubation lol

Once chicks started to hatch I got major high humidity spikes. This resulted in them being unable to fluff, so I moved chicks out of the incubator into the brooder as soon as I had two or three and they were able to hold up their heads and move around without a major stagger. This did not result in any kind of "shrink wrap" of any pippers but just to be safe anytime the humidity went below 65% I popped a clean wet paper towel in there and it came right back up.

The only chicks with issues hatching seemed to be ones who pipped a HUGE hole, then were not yet ready so stayed that way for several hours, they got a little glued up and needed moistening or hatching help ONLY if they were near the fan. What I would suggest is when you arrange the eggs at lockdown put them away from the fan end of the incubator. Regular sized pips hatched out just fine even when near the fan.

21 of 23 have hatched out, 3 needed help. The other two haven't yet pipped so I'm not sure if they will or not. You do need to monitor this model incubator, it's definitely not a set and forget kind of incubation, but I would call this an overwhelming success.

Out of the hatched chicks, only one has any deformity, she is spraddled pretty good. This one was super glued and needed a lot of extra attention (if you want more info see the hands on hatching thread) so she may have been mal positioned. I'm too new to say exactly but my feeling is that it wasn't anything to do with the incubator or temperature issues.

Happy hatching fellow FI owners!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Ok! Day 22 over here any I have some further advice. Please bear in mind it's turned out I'm a big time meddler so that'll affect what you do in your own FI incubation lol

Once chicks started to hatch I got major high humidity spikes. This resulted in them being unable to fluff, so I moved chicks out of the incubator into the brooder as soon as I had two or three and they were able to hold up their heads and move around without a major stagger. This did not result in any kind of "shrink wrap" of any pippers but just to be safe anytime the humidity went below 65% I popped a clean wet paper towel in there and it came right back up.

The only chicks with issues hatching seemed to be ones who pipped a HUGE hole, then were not yet ready so stayed that way for several hours, they got a little glued up and needed moistening or hatching help ONLY if they were near the fan. What I would suggest is when you arrange the eggs at lockdown put them away from the fan end of the incubator. Regular sized pips hatched out just fine even when near the fan.

21 of 23 have hatched out, 3 needed help. The other two haven't yet pipped so I'm not sure if they will or not. You do need to monitor this model incubator, it's definitely not a set and forget kind of incubation, but I would call this an overwhelming success.

Out of the hatched chicks, only one has any deformity, she is spraddled pretty good. This one was super glued and needed a lot of extra attention (if you want more info see the hands on hatching thread) so she may have been mal positioned. I'm too new to say exactly but my feeling is that it wasn't anything to do with the incubator or temperature issues.

Happy hatching fellow FI owners!

Awesome!

Even not being under a fan, if you have a good amount of membrane showing, you have a good chance of them drying out if they are like that for an extended amount of time. Even if you have high humidity and are hands off. You pretty do what I do. Never have I lost a pipper/zipper.

Did you get a brace around the spraddle legged chick?

 

[newwestchick]

Did you get a brace around the spraddle legged chick?

Yes! She's braced and in a little elevated nest so the others can't bully her. They're savages I tell ya! She's starting to lift her body up now, fingers crossed she will recover in the next few days. I'm calling it a "she" for good luck LOL

 

[newwestchick]

Spraddled chick is mended now and running around with her friends, amazing how fast they recover!
All in all I'm extremely satisfied with my FI

 

[tabinal]

I can't upload my pic of my spraddle legged one from last month, but I fixed it with a variation of a bandaid holding the legs the right width apart. I used a small strip of compression bandage wrapped around the legs and squeezed together in the middle. The chick wore that a week solid walking around with her sisters and when I took it off she was fine. The bandage was a dollar at Big Lots and I kept it on hand for emergencies.

 

[Blooie]

I must admit that with the eggs in there now, and leaving it the heck alone, the 4200 has done a doggone good job of maintaining temp and humidity. If it just wasn't so awkwardly big and cumbersome to work with......

The Brinsea Oct 20 is doing great too. Could I have just lucked out here?