OK, here are the details as promised now that I've been finally able to get some photographs.
It's really very simple so nothing fancy!
First, I used the supplied hatching mat as a template and made a piece the same size and shape out of some silicone shelf liner. The shelf liner provides traction so the eggs turn instead of slide. It's also soft so it stops them clattering around. And it's washable, so easy to clean between hatches.
This is what the surface of it looks like:
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Next, I made a disc out of cardboard to raise the eggs up so they are held at more of a tilt instead of flat on their sides. To make this, I laid out the egg turning trays over some cardboard and marked the centre point of the circle. Then I took two measurements:
1. the radius from the centre to about half way across the inner ring of holes.
2. the radius from the centre to about half way across the outer ring of holes
I cut the cardboard disc so that it sits between these two measurements. Then I just sellotaped the cardboard disc to the back of the shelf liner, making sure it was aligned correctly. I checked this using the turning discs to make sure I got the position right. I hope you can see what I mean in the photos below.
Here it is without the turning discs:
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And with the turning discs:
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The cardboard is stuck to the underside of the shelf liner.
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The whole thing just sits under the turning discs with the cardboard underneath and the grippy side of the shelf liner facing up. The cardboard raises the round end of the eggs up so the pointy end points down more and the eggs are at more of a tilt. The outer ring of eggs tilt outwards and the inner ring tilt inwards. My first attempt was actually to make two separate discs to make both rings of eggs tilt outwards but it didn't work as well for the inner eggs so I changed it to this way before setting eggs The cardboard needs to be thick enough to cause enough of a tilt on the eggs so that it actually makes a difference.
This is what it looks like with eggs in it. If you have this incubator, hopefully you can see what I mean about the extra tilt to the eggs.
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I tested it absolutely loads with plain eating eggs before setting good eggs in it. I moved it around both by hand and by pressing the turning buttons and both with and without eggs. I did need to fiddle and tweak the size of the cardboard disc until I was happy with it but once I got it right, it has been consistently perfect ever since.
One thing I encountered was that the change in slope under the turning disc segments made them keep coming away from each other when I turned them. My fix for this was to use a small piece of sellotape to stick the discs together at the corners. Obviously this isn't ideal if you want to take the segments in and out separately during an incubation but I haven't needed to and guess most people wouldn't need to. You can just about see the sellotape here in this photo in the corners where the segments meet.
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I've done two incubations before I made the modification and two incubations since having it in place. I had so many frustrating issues with the turner for those first two hatches. It was just constant fussing, manual turning, swapping positions of eggs etc every day, right through the hatches. That was annoying and not what I expected or wanted in an automatic incubator but the main reason I made the modification was because of the number of malpositioned chicks I had in those first two hatches. The second hatch was with eggs that I picked up from someone locally so they weren't even shipped eggs and they were almost all malpositioned. I did a lot of research and troubleshooting and concluded that the turner was likely the main problem.
These are some of the problems I repeatedly had that have been completely resolved using this modification:
- eggs sliding instead of turning - the grippy shelf liner stops that
- eggs getting stuck against each other and against the side - the increased angle and pointing the outer eggs outwards stops that (I find that the shape of the plastic sides really doesn't lend itself well to eggs pointing in anyway)
- eggs getting hairline cracks from clattering around on the hard plastic - the softness of shelf liner stops that
- malpositioned chicks from eggs not being in a natural, pointy end sloping down position - the increased tilt stops that
- having to check several times a day, manually turn eggs that didn't turn, move eggs that became stuck against the plastic side, swap eggs around to find better positions for each one and generally fuss over them - not a problem anymore
The two hatches I did since making this went really well. I didn't have to move or manually turn any egg, not once. I got absolutely zero malpositions and an almost 100% hatch rate (the only issues I had were clears and that was because I put infertile eggs in).
Hopefully this helps others. Obviously, if you are interested in copying the idea, please do so at your own risk, use your own discretion and, most importantly, please do your own extensive testing with your own eggs before setting any. And if you're trying it because you're having an issue with malpositions, be aware that there are other things that can cause it so do your own research to rule these other things out as well.
