I hate winter in Tennessee-rain-snow-wind-cold-cloudy; day after day after day. Thank God for computers, the internet, and this group.
Years ago I gave up on incubators as a waste of time and a waste of eggs. Those still air foam jobs are just too affected by exterior factors to be reliable with serama eggs and I just couldn't afford an expensive, reliable model or so I thought.
Last fall I lost two hens to hawks and both hens had clutches of eggs that were also lost. While looking through the net I came upon an ad for a small seven egg incubator (perfect-the exact size of my average serama clutch) aaannnnddddd less than $20. I bought it figuring that twenty wasted dollars wouldn't break the bank.
The thing was delivered in four days, a MINI INTELLIGENT 7 EGG INCUBATOR. It looked pretty unimpressive, a plastic dome over a plastic base with a digital temperature read out, a tiny space for water, a simple egg tray, and a small fan in the base.
My Kimmi and I looked over the directions, laughed a bit at our foolishness, and plugged it in. Within minutes the digital display read 38C; its recommended temperature.
I set the thing on my bedside stand so as to not forget to turn the eggs (no automatic turner) and basically forgot it other than to turn the eggs.
Then the day came that the furnace stopped working and the house got colder and colder; INTELLIGENT stayed at 38C. We got the furnace replaced and the house became warm again. However, I forgot to set the bedroom vent and when the door was opened hot air blasted out; INTELLIGENT stayed at 38C.
Now the thing-incubator got my attention. I've been watching the digital readout and there has never been more than one tenth of a degree change. To me that is really impressive.
What with the cruddy weather that has lasted week after week after month, my serama lay every two or three days. Where it should take a week to ten days for the hen to lay a complete clutch now it's taking two to three weeks before they go broody. that means the first eggs have lost their viability.
The INTELLIGENT has another use. I usually have two or three hens laying eggs, so now as I replace eggs with dummies I wait for the magic number seven, place the eggs in the incubator, then when the hens finally go broody I give the eggs back to the hen to be hatched. No hen has complained, yet, about having a shorter brooding time so I guess all is well.
I am completely satisfied with my plastic dome incubator and thoroughly recommend it to those that are not looking for quantity. It's a great little machine to have around-with an assisted hatch-with abandoned eggs-even a tiny, premature puppy that can't keep itself warm.
Years ago I gave up on incubators as a waste of time and a waste of eggs. Those still air foam jobs are just too affected by exterior factors to be reliable with serama eggs and I just couldn't afford an expensive, reliable model or so I thought.
Last fall I lost two hens to hawks and both hens had clutches of eggs that were also lost. While looking through the net I came upon an ad for a small seven egg incubator (perfect-the exact size of my average serama clutch) aaannnnddddd less than $20. I bought it figuring that twenty wasted dollars wouldn't break the bank.
The thing was delivered in four days, a MINI INTELLIGENT 7 EGG INCUBATOR. It looked pretty unimpressive, a plastic dome over a plastic base with a digital temperature read out, a tiny space for water, a simple egg tray, and a small fan in the base.
My Kimmi and I looked over the directions, laughed a bit at our foolishness, and plugged it in. Within minutes the digital display read 38C; its recommended temperature.
I set the thing on my bedside stand so as to not forget to turn the eggs (no automatic turner) and basically forgot it other than to turn the eggs.
Then the day came that the furnace stopped working and the house got colder and colder; INTELLIGENT stayed at 38C. We got the furnace replaced and the house became warm again. However, I forgot to set the bedroom vent and when the door was opened hot air blasted out; INTELLIGENT stayed at 38C.
Now the thing-incubator got my attention. I've been watching the digital readout and there has never been more than one tenth of a degree change. To me that is really impressive.
What with the cruddy weather that has lasted week after week after month, my serama lay every two or three days. Where it should take a week to ten days for the hen to lay a complete clutch now it's taking two to three weeks before they go broody. that means the first eggs have lost their viability.
The INTELLIGENT has another use. I usually have two or three hens laying eggs, so now as I replace eggs with dummies I wait for the magic number seven, place the eggs in the incubator, then when the hens finally go broody I give the eggs back to the hen to be hatched. No hen has complained, yet, about having a shorter brooding time so I guess all is well.
I am completely satisfied with my plastic dome incubator and thoroughly recommend it to those that are not looking for quantity. It's a great little machine to have around-with an assisted hatch-with abandoned eggs-even a tiny, premature puppy that can't keep itself warm.
I know its cold out and with Phoe and Pip "sharing" I figured maybe a couple extra days, but jeez! I wanna see cute fluffies!!
; two of mine went broody today with just 11 eggs between them. Most likely there will be a number 12 by tomorrow giving each a clutch of six. The best of luck with yours. 
My next hatch is Tuesday-Good luck to me too.
