California - Northern

[gander007]

Incubator/hatcher questions ... and a small rant.

Does anyone have a Dickey? How do you adjust the humidity?

Are there any hatchers, under $1000. that have automatic humidity adjustment?

I just had to set a large number of eggs. Too many for my RCom. The bad thing about the RCom 20 is that it's small. Not much room for pedigree baskets. So, I want a hatcher. The Dickey hatcher has multiple divided trays with covers. Perfect.

Back to my too many eggs for the RCom. I put eggs under two broodies. And I had to use my Genesis for the first time. Unlike BCollie, I HATE the Genesis. My first and only incubation experience was just with the RCom. For humidity, you fill the little hole that's right in front of the machine with water until the ball floats up to the top. Turn on the machine, everything is preset. Digital reading of temp & humidity, stays where it should be. Check the little floating ball every few days, easy to fill.

Setting up the Genesis for the first time ... fill up the channel in the tray, can't see very well how much water I put in. And then you put the screen & turner on top of it and can't even see it?! How am I supposed to know if the water's getting low and how do I fill it? I have to pour water in from the back - that's on a shelf against the wall. Grrrr. Who designed this ridiculous thing?!
I put a hygrometer in the Genesis and I've been checking the humidity on both machines every few hours. The RCom stays stable at 45%, sometimes goes to 46 for a moment then right back to 45. The Genesis is all over the place, ranging in the 50s & 60s. No little button to adjust it, like the RCom. I'm not pulling all the eggs out to mess with covering the water in the little channel that I can't see. All you hatchaholics think this is fun???

I HATE the Genesis. It is for sale as soon as I have something to hatch in!

So, back to my question about the Dickey. After dealing with this Genesis, I looked up how to adjust humidity in the Dickey. It looks like it may have the same type of thing, with a tray of water to regulate humidity. OH NO. I want something with a little button to adjust humidity. Is there such a thing?

Have you looked on e-bay for an incubator lately they have a long list of new incubators to choose from ......

 

[sewandgrow]

You gotta watch out for that food dye. It will spread

At least we know it does if you use the gel.............. Now let me see I do believe SOMEBODY on here tried that recently..................Green comes to mind.....LOL

 

[juststruttin]

Here is my sweet hen:

Cute. She looks nice and healthy.

 

[chrissyr]

Fun fact: one hen often lays an egg that will have poop on it.
Those, as I recall, devolope but never even pip.
So 2 weeks into incubation I decide to wash it. Probably not the best time, but I've had problems with those eggs it seems. So why not ?
I think I used the manna pro egg wash.
Well there's a nice big pip in this one tonight.

 

[sewandgrow]

Incubator/hatcher questions ... and a small rant.

Does anyone have a Dickey? How do you adjust the humidity?

Are there any hatchers, under $1000. that have automatic humidity adjustment?

I just had to set a large number of eggs. Too many for my RCom. The bad thing about the RCom 20 is that it's small. Not much room for pedigree baskets. So, I want a hatcher. The Dickey hatcher has multiple divided trays with covers. Perfect.

Back to my too many eggs for the RCom. I put eggs under two broodies. And I had to use my Genesis for the first time. Unlike BCollie, I HATE the Genesis. My first and only incubation experience was just with the RCom. For humidity, you fill the little hole that's right in front of the machine with water until the ball floats up to the top. Turn on the machine, everything is preset. Digital reading of temp & humidity, stays where it should be. Check the little floating ball every few days, easy to fill.

Setting up the Genesis for the first time ... fill up the channel in the tray, can't see very well how much water I put in. And then you put the screen & turner on top of it and can't even see it?! How am I supposed to know if the water's getting low and how do I fill it? I have to pour water in from the back - that's on a shelf against the wall. Grrrr. Who designed this ridiculous thing?!
I put a hygrometer in the Genesis and I've been checking the humidity on both machines every few hours. The RCom stays stable at 45%, sometimes goes to 46 for a moment then right back to 45. The Genesis is all over the place, ranging in the 50s & 60s. No little button to adjust it, like the RCom. I'm not pulling all the eggs out to mess with covering the water in the little channel that I can't see. All you hatchaholics think this is fun???

I HATE the Genesis. It is for sale as soon as I have something to hatch in!

So, back to my question about the Dickey. After dealing with this Genesis, I looked up how to adjust humidity in the Dickey. It looks like it may have the same type of thing, with a tray of water to regulate humidity. OH NO. I want something with a little button to adjust humidity. Is there such a thing?

Kim, I wish I had shown you our Genesis set up while you were here. We drilled little holes above the tray & below the turner to fit the little black irrigation hoses & rigged them up to the outer tray & another for the inner tray. We just used the little black elbows & tees to go wherever needed. My husband says the humidity works with the water surface area not actually how deep it is & the outer tray keeps it at 45 & both trays together will raise it to I think he said 60 or 65. I just keep water handy & fill from the outside through those hoses with a turkey injector without the needle. It has worked well for me. I have one of the older genesis & I use an external hygrometer with an interior probe sitting on the eggs. I think I paid about $15 to $20 on Ebay from Incubator Warehouse. The other Genesis is newer & has its own hygrometer & I just go by it. You can make the hoses as long as you need them to make it convenient to fill them. I did mark mine with inner tray & outer tray. We duct taped then in an upright position onto the incubator so I could just fill the plunger & hold the tip of the hose to squirt it in. It may be too late for this hatch but maybe next time. They have been good little incubators for me but I plan to get my Brinsea cabinet back for next season.

 

[PetRock]

Incubator/hatcher questions ... and a small rant.

Does anyone have a Dickey? How do you adjust the humidity?

Are there any hatchers, under $1000. that have automatic humidity adjustment?

I just had to set a large number of eggs. Too many for my RCom. The bad thing about the RCom 20 is that it's small. Not much room for pedigree baskets. So, I want a hatcher. The Dickey hatcher has multiple divided trays with covers. Perfect.

Back to my too many eggs for the RCom. I put eggs under two broodies. And I had to use my Genesis for the first time. Unlike BCollie, I HATE the Genesis. My first and only incubation experience was just with the RCom. For humidity, you fill the little hole that's right in front of the machine with water until the ball floats up to the top. Turn on the machine, everything is preset. Digital reading of temp & humidity, stays where it should be. Check the little floating ball every few days, easy to fill.

Setting up the Genesis for the first time ... fill up the channel in the tray, can't see very well how much water I put in. And then you put the screen & turner on top of it and can't even see it?! How am I supposed to know if the water's getting low and how do I fill it? I have to pour water in from the back - that's on a shelf against the wall. Grrrr. Who designed this ridiculous thing?!
I put a hygrometer in the Genesis and I've been checking the humidity on both machines every few hours. The RCom stays stable at 45%, sometimes goes to 46 for a moment then right back to 45. The Genesis is all over the place, ranging in the 50s & 60s. No little button to adjust it, like the RCom. I'm not pulling all the eggs out to mess with covering the water in the little channel that I can't see. All you hatchaholics think this is fun???

I HATE the Genesis. It is for sale as soon as I have something to hatch in!

So, back to my question about the Dickey. After dealing with this Genesis, I looked up how to adjust humidity in the Dickey. It looks like it may have the same type of thing, with a tray of water to regulate humidity. OH NO. I want something with a little button to adjust humidity. Is there such a thing?

My GQF cabinet hatcher has digital readouts but no automatic humidity control. I just fill the tray at the beginning and check the humidity read out twice a day. When the humidity starts to drop down into the 30's, I fill up the water tray. As long as the tray has water, the humidity stays pretty constant. I guess that I could just add water every morning when I rotate the eggs and I wouldn't have any problems with the humidity dropping. I will probably eventually buy the bucket that sits on top and keeps the water at a constant level.

With my Genesis, I used to be obsessive about the percentage of humidity and fiddled around trying to get it perfect by covering part of the tray with foil, etc. It sure takes some of the joy out of incubating when you are worried all the time about having perfect conditions. I finally decided to just fill channel/track 1 on day 1 and add water when the humidity starts to drop then fill channel 2 & top off channel 1 on day 18 when the turner is removed & the eggs set for hatch. I figure that GQF has done lots of research and many, many chicks have been hatched by people who just follow their directions. Things have been so much better for me and my hatch rate has been averaging 85%. I was using a length of aquarium tubing to add water during days 18+ so I wouldn't have to lift the lid. I would stick it down through a hole in the screen and into the square for channel 2. I have a big syringe with a removable needle that we bought to inject butter under the skin of chicken and turkey for roasting. I use it to "inject" water with oxine into the tubing and fill the channel. It worked well but does block some of the air flow through the hole in the top where it is inserted. So the last few hatches, I have been using a tall, rigid straw that is meant to fit into a sports cup. Days 1-18, I lift a corner of the incubator top, turn it sideways to expose a corner of the tray, put the end of the straw above channel 1, and use my syringe to fill it with water. Even with the turner in, channel 1 is visible on the side. I don't worry about filling it in the square but just put the water in the channel on the side. I use a flashlight to check the water level while I am filling it. I am pleased with how well it is working and my hatches are so much more relaxed.

Sorry about the rambling response! I hope that I made some kind of sense!

 

[PetRock]

Will do! (probably around June 5 when I'm back from the coast)

BUT!!!! I just saw that Papa Brooder has a CL ad selling some of his birds and at the very bottom he mentions that he will be selling "local pickup" eggs at $1 each, just didn't mention which breeds...

These are now on the MUST Have list...
and another reason... I mean I already have 2 CLB pullets!

Cute!

Found your ads on CL as well when I was browsing; how easy are the Bresse to hatch?

My Bresse have been really strong hatchers! They usually hatch a day before my other breeds. I have sold most of my Bresse but have about 8 young ones that I'm thinking about keeping. I love the chicks and the girls! I'm sure that I could eventually hatch a boy who is a gentleman!

 

[chrissyr]

Incubator/hatcher questions ... and a small rant.

Does anyone have a Dickey? How do you adjust the humidity?

Are there any hatchers, under $1000. that have automatic humidity adjustment?

I just had to set a large number of eggs. Too many for my RCom. The bad thing about the RCom 20 is that it's small. Not much room for pedigree baskets. So, I want a hatcher. The Dickey hatcher has multiple divided trays with covers. Perfect.

Back to my too many eggs for the RCom. I put eggs under two broodies. And I had to use my Genesis for the first time. Unlike BCollie, I HATE the Genesis. My first and only incubation experience was just with the RCom. For humidity, you fill the little hole that's right in front of the machine with water until the ball floats up to the top. Turn on the machine, everything is preset. Digital reading of temp & humidity, stays where it should be. Check the little floating ball every few days, easy to fill.

Setting up the Genesis for the first time ... fill up the channel in the tray, can't see very well how much water I put in. And then you put the screen & turner on top of it and can't even see it?! How am I supposed to know if the water's getting low and how do I fill it? I have to pour water in from the back - that's on a shelf against the wall. Grrrr. Who designed this ridiculous thing?!
I put a hygrometer in the Genesis and I've been checking the humidity on both machines every few hours. The RCom stays stable at 45%, sometimes goes to 46 for a moment then right back to 45. The Genesis is all over the place, ranging in the 50s & 60s. No little button to adjust it, like the RCom.  I'm not pulling all the eggs out to mess with covering the water in the little channel that I can't see. All you hatchaholics think this is fun???

I HATE the Genesis. It is for sale as soon as I have something to hatch in! 

So, back to my question about the Dickey. After dealing with this Genesis, I looked up how to adjust humidity in the Dickey. It looks like it may have the same type of thing, with a tray of water to regulate humidity. OH NO. I want something with a little button to adjust humidity. Is there such a thing?

I felt the same way. I use a different hygrometer for my genesis , one that has been calibrated because the genesis is wrong.
I also use the fish tank tubing and put a wooden skewer in the end. Then I can poke that through the top hole into a tray. Attached to that at the top is a turkey baster top. (If that makes sense) then I can accurately add water without opening the top.thank you@chickee for that idea.
I use it to hatch but it would be nice to push a button.
I'm wondering how well the incubator warehouse set up works

 

[BCollie]

This would be really nice to have:
http://incubatorwarehouse.com/humidikit.html
I wonder how well it works. There's no reviews anywhere.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Give some away and then charge when they come back for more.

That's how I got all of my egg customers. Once they taste them, they are hooked. (insert evil laugh)