A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[OneMountainAcres]

The reason the 1202 has 2 wafer thermostats is because the back wafer is the high temperature kill switch.  You should set the back wafer at 102°F to prevent overcooking the eggs in case the operating wafer fails.

You really don't want to remove the front wafer unless you are replacing it with either a digital PID controller or an electronic controller.  The front wafer is the one you set at the operating temperature of 99.5°F for the forced air incubator that you have.

Here is the manual for the 1202 incubator.

http://www.gqfmfg.com/PDF/1202 1250 Cabinet model instructions.pdf

Thanks, I printed that out last night. I only removed the front wafer to set the back one. It's now set to hold at 102 so I'm getting ready to add the front one back in. After I pick my kids up from the bus stop, I'm going to start cutting into some egg trays to get them in. I have 36 turkey eggs and 19 BCM eggs on the counter just itching to be incubated lol. Not to mention to other 35 eggs in the other incubator.I'll probably put them all in.

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks, I printed that out last night. I only removed the front wafer to set the back one. It's now set to hold at 102 so I'm getting ready to add the front one back in. After I pick my kids up from the bus stop, I'm going to start cutting into some egg trays to get them in. I have 36 turkey eggs and 19 BCM eggs on the counter just itching to be incubated lol. Not to mention to other 35 eggs in the other incubator.I'll probably put them all in.

One should not set BCM eggs on the counter!

One should send them to their internet friends asap!

 

[R2elk]

Thanks Again R2elk, I am printing that out.

Does the back "kill" wafer stay in even if I change controllers?


What does PID stand for? Is the herpstat a PID?

I have not looked in depth or studied mine, as my wife has me doing a ton of other worthless stuff around the house. I thought I should do some of them before moving the incubator to the dining room table. It might make things go better for me.


How tight will the herpstat hold the temps? It will use the same element that is in the cabinet now, correct?

I kept the back wafer as a safety item in mine. Anything can fail and while eggs can stand a fair amount of low temperatures due to a power failure, they cook very quickly when a failed controller allows the incubator to overheat. It only takes a couple of minutes at 105°F to kill the embryos.

PID

A proportional–integral–derivative controller (PID controller) is a control loop feedback mechanism (controller) commonly used in industrial control systems. A PID controller continuously calculates an error value as the difference between a measured process variable and a desired setpoint.

The Herpstat is a PID controller. When it is first turned the output is at 100% until it begins to near the desired set point. Once it reaches the set point there are seemingly wild swings in the output as it "learns" and they gradually narrow until it comes into control.

Mine easily keeps the temperature within +/- 0.1°F of the set point. It is connected to the original heating element in my incubator.

One of the reasons that mine holds such a good temperature is because I drilled a hole in a ceramic egg (that I had made), filled it with water, inserted the end of the probe and sealed it in. I set the fake egg right in the tray with the other eggs. This greatly reduces temperature swings and really simulates what is going on inside the eggs that are incubating.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

One should not set BCM eggs on the counter!

One should send them to their internet friends asap!

Lol They need improvement. I'm testing my roo's egg color gene by hatching some out and growing them out. Whoever lays a good egg color and has decent type will get to stay and continue on. I'm really excited for the ones in my bator that are due to hatch next week. No clue how many are actually developing since I can't even see into them lol. I did have 4 hatch last weekend already. 3 get to continue on, the fourth has very light legs so it moves to the sell group.

These are the shipped eggs due to hatch next week. They're not as dark as they look but they are very dark.

And just some baby pics i took yesterday

 

[duluthralphie]

OH,, That is killing me!!


I need chicks, I need BCMs!

Of course, I have lots of varieties now, I need more breeding pens to keep them pure. I also need Penguin and gang to be gone. Or locked up. I am going to build more breeding pens this year. I am thinking 8-10 ft wide pens 25 feet long with a 4x6 coop on each one. 10x50 ft game bird netting is reasonably priced to cover them with. and that should be large enough for 3-4 turkey or 4-5 chickens.

I need to get busy and build pens but I have "honey do" poop that is cutting into what I want to do!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I need to finish my breeding pens for my chickens. I started them but ran out of money and had to stop. I'm hoping my poults can fund the project. It's going to be 4 pens connected. Each pen will be 8 x 5 with a 4 x 5 coop attached, all roofed, like a pavilion. I wanted to have the coops raised up so they could get under them and have even more run space but that would be more expensive and tougher to do.

 

[duluthralphie]

I have a good amount of land so I make mine with posts and just cover runs. That way the birds get lots of space. The coops are the hard part for me, I have still to settle on a design I like. So they are all different. Most are made out of junk wood on pallets. I do like them on pallets though so I can move them with my bobcat.


I am thinking of making a 4x6 with a 6x12 run 3ft high for turkey breeding, but that seems small. But I can do it with the ground still frozen and make it a chicken run next year.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I don't have a lot of land unfortunately (1.3 acres) so I'm limited on how much I can do. Hopefully someday we'll be able to get more, then I'll be able to get more birds lol

 

[holm25]

Aurora!! They r so cute!! And those eggs!! Wow!!

 

[duluthralphie]

Aurora are some of them sex linked? BTW they are cute.