A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[Bantambird]

You guys got two inches of snow a few days ago. Yesterday I got ten inches. Then today it rained, but it was 15°F out so it froze on top of the snow.....


Yeah.

 

[Bantambird]

Folks,

I need some bator advice...  A friend and fellow BYCer has suggested due to temperature swings in my house I need a cabinet bator.  I use a heat pump as long as temps don't fall below 20 or so degrees, house is at a comfortable 63 degrees through the winter.  When temps fall below, I use a wood stove to adjust for what the heat pump can't handle.  Which means once I get the fire going, the temp could rise to 75 degrees and when the fire burns out over night temps can drop into the 50s.  To solve this problem, my logic is to just not set eggs until late in winter or early spring.

That said, I also want to hatch chickens, ducks (sorry ralph) and turkeys.  Some argue I need at least two if not three bators while others say one will do.  I'd love to hear your expert or otherwise opinions...  My friend in VA has a Brinsea 380 with the humidifier and hatches chickens and turkeys.  and yes he only has one.  after looking at it closely there's only a $200 difference between the 190 and 380, so I'm pretty certain that's why he went with the 380.

For what its worth, the more I read the more confused I become... Help!  

I set turkey and chicken together. I set turkey eggs a week before I set the chicken eggs so they hatch at the same time. I'm not sure about duck incubation times.

 

[rjohns39]

It got up to 70 here today, was 90 yesterday will be 20 in the am+ white stuff. ARG! When do we get off the roller coaster? And the winds and T-storms that seem to come with this fight between warm gulf and arctic stream are just crazy.

 

[rjohns39]

Ducks and Turkeys same time, temp, and humidity.

 

[rjohns39]

@Bantambird I moved south to get away from the snow... Now they are forecasting snow for tomorrow. ARG!

 

[R2elk]

Folks,

I need some bator advice... A friend and fellow BYCer has suggested due to temperature swings in my house I need a cabinet bator. I use a heat pump as long as temps don't fall below 20 or so degrees, house is at a comfortable 63 degrees through the winter. When temps fall below, I use a wood stove to adjust for what the heat pump can't handle. Which means once I get the fire going, the temp could rise to 75 degrees and when the fire burns out over night temps can drop into the 50s. To solve this problem, my logic is to just not set eggs until late in winter or early spring.

That said, I also want to hatch chickens, ducks (sorry ralph) and turkeys. Some argue I need at least two if not three bators while others say one will do. I'd love to hear your expert or otherwise opinions... My friend in VA has a Brinsea 380 with the humidifier and hatches chickens and turkeys. and yes he only has one. after looking at it closely there's only a $200 difference between the 190 and 380, so I'm pretty certain that's why he went with the 380.

For what its worth, the more I read the more confused I become... Help!

I have an old GQF 1202 cabinet incubator and was constantly having to adjust the temperature setting because of the 20°F temperature swings in my house. I solved my problem by getting a proportional differential temperature controller. It maintains a constant temperature even with the temperature swings.

You can get relatively cheap proportional controllers from eBay sellers. You have to be careful and make sure you get the ones that are good to 0.1° and not the ones that only go down to 1°. Using a proportional controller to replace the controllers in the older incubators or the cheapos can get them to maintain great temperature control as long as the incubator has sufficient heating power during the cold temperature times. Of course no controller can work if the room temperature gets too high.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Speaking of snow, we got about 4 inches today and are apparently expecting a massive snow storm on Tuesday :/ I'M DONE WITH WINTER!

 

[duluthralphie]

Rjohns I was going to say the same thing R2elk did, and add with those kind of temp swings humidity is going to be a problem too. Do you have a small closet/pantry/bathroom you can set up a small heater with a thermostat on and keep the ambient temp somewhere near 65-70?


Dux eggs should be incubated in the fashion way used in the middle ages, Find a manure pile dig a hole, place them in the hole cover them packing the manure tightly on them and wait for the dux to dig their way out.

 

[rjohns39]

Rjohns I was going to say the same thing R2elk did, and add with those kind of temp swings humidity is going to be a problem too. Do you have a small closet/pantry/bathroom you can set up a small heater with a thermostat on and keep the ambient temp somewhere near 65-70?


Dux eggs should be incubated in the fashion way used in the middle ages, Find a manure pile dig a hole, place them in the hole cover them packing the manure tightly on them and wait for the dux to dig their way out.

Short answer is no. In the not too distant future I want to build a cheese cave/aka chacuterie [sp] cave and a walk in freezer. As for your assessment on ducks, I find it funny--but I like duck meat and eggs.

r/Bob

 

[R2elk]

Rjohns I was going to say the same thing R2elk did, and add with those kind of temp swings humidity is going to be a problem too. Do you have a small closet/pantry/bathroom you can set up a small heater with a thermostat on and keep the ambient temp somewhere near 65-70?


Dux eggs should be incubated in the fashion way used in the middle ages, Find a manure pile dig a hole, place them in the hole cover them packing the manure tightly on them and wait for the dux to dig their way out.

The humidity issue can depend on your local conditions. It is so dry here (<10% in the house in the winter) that there isn't enough moisture in the air to cause any humidity swings. I have to add water to the incubator just to get it up to the levels that "dry" hatch people want to use.