Chickens In Ya Window

[BantamFan4Life]

 

[WalnutHill]

Where you gonna get all those at one time ? I'm trying to figure out to fill up one .

I have 130 laying hens, and will have 6 laying turkeys, so figure that's a week's worth of eggs if I set them all.

 

[WalnutHill]

Did a quick safety check and plugged it in. Turner motor turns but it's the wrong motor, it's one for a tabletop incubator turner. The turner is an extremely poor design compared to the GQF, the motor is undersized and the rack rod is attached only by a brass coupler with a set screw. If the screw loosens, the racks will drop to full tilt very abruptly.

The plastic body panels make it very light and easy to clean. The cheap lightweight stamped steel edges are trash. All sharp screw points are exposed on the inside, making cleaning very painful. The four computer style fans rub on the fan cage and make an incredible amount of noise. The door frame is bent (repairable). Most of the screws are missing as the previous owners tried repeatedly to fix the turner. It's never been fully cleaned.

It's at 34C after about 7 minutes of running. Once it reaches whatever temp it is set to, I will shut it down and pull the fan cage. There is no quick release to remove and clean the fans.

Quality of the old GQF is much, much better. This relies on a lot more electronics. I intend to use this one as a hatcher since it has a full view door.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

I have 130 laying hens, and will have 6 laying turkeys, so figure that's a week's worth of eggs if I set them all.

That's a lot of chickens!

 

[chicapee]

I will fire up the incubator the week after Christmas, and won't shut it down until June or July.

Do you add light during this time to keep them laying?

 

[BYC910]

Did a quick safety check and plugged it in. Turner motor turns but it's the wrong motor, it's one for a tabletop incubator turner. The turner is an extremely poor design compared to the GQF, the motor is undersized and the rack rod is attached only by a brass coupler with a set screw. If the screw loosens, the racks will drop to full tilt very abruptly.

The plastic body panels make it very light and easy to clean. The cheap lightweight stamped steel edges are trash. All sharp screw points are exposed on the inside, making cleaning very painful. The four computer style fans rub on the fan cage and make an incredible amount of noise. The door frame is bent (repairable). Most of the screws are missing as the previous owners tried repeatedly to fix the turner. It's never been fully cleaned.

It's at 34C after about 7 minutes of running. Once it reaches whatever temp it is set to, I will shut it down and pull the fan cage. There is no quick release to remove and clean the fans.

Quality of the old GQF is much, much better. This relies on a lot more electronics. I intend to use this one as a hatcher since it has a full view door.

fell better now about the ones I bought . I thought they were the best of the best . sounds like a still hatcher might be best for it .sure looks pretty though . don't know about the new GQFs . there made of plastic also most people don't want to show you there hatching set up . so I had no clue what the GQF looked like inside . I clean the old bower after every hatch. some people just don't take the time . mice wouldn't have been in these incubators if the guy had just closed the vents . I'm going to cover the vents with screen wire on the inside.

 

[WalnutHill]

The fans are not in a cage, they are individually crammed into the whole heater/fan chassis. I just took a soft paintbrush and knocked off the dust. The screws that attach the fans to the chassis are too long...they hit the fan blades if screwed in. I'll have to find shorter screws. If I press on one side or the other, the plastic chassis flexes, and the fans rub on the guard.

Even though I plan to use it as a hatcher I will hunt down the correct turner motor and replace it.

 

[BYC910]

The fans are not in a cage, they are individually crammed into the whole heater/fan chassis. I just took a soft paintbrush and knocked off the dust. The screws that attach the fans to the chassis are too long...they hit the fan blades if screwed in. I'll have to find shorter screws. If I press on one side or the other, the plastic chassis flexes, and the fans rub on the guard.

Even though I plan to use it as a hatcher I will hunt down the correct turner motor and replace it.

I went to Fastenal to get the SS zip screws today 100 ss there was about the same price as regular ones at home depot .don't know if you have one there. when I was taking things apart I noticed the screws were rusted in the wood. I figured change them all.

 

[WalnutHill]

On the GQF, I removed all the screws, cleaned and treated them with phosphoric acid, then did a black oxide coating on those that were good. I had to replace about a dozen that had rusted to the point where I didn't want to refinish them. I used the new zinc screws under the fan shelf.

Fans are now "quiet". I can't keep the incubators in my office, too much white noise.

I have water and a humidifier pad in the pan, I'm going to run it overnight to see where the humidity ends up. Spot Check confirms that the on-board digital thermostat is accurate and stable. Noise level of the fans is 58db. Not silent, but not loud. It's background noise.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Since advice was asked for, here it is... if you don't want to hear it, just skip over, but it's here for any who do... please keep in mind this is opinion only but it is based on experiences, research, failures, successes, and advice from reputable sources... and I explained acronyms just in case anyone didn't catch what the meant yet...

For whichever breed/breeds you want to work with, learn everything you can about them first... if you want to breed to SOP (Standard of Perfection), get the book... don't get the ones on eBay, many of those are photocopies of the old standards and while those are still good it will be missing new breeds accepted after those were printed... go to the APA (American Poultry Association) website and they have either the cheaper black & white copy ($13) or the full color book ($59)... then look into reputable books specific to the breed, even some of the old books have great info too... learn how to tell good birds from not so good birds and what is something you can work with and what is not...

PQ (pet quality) is fine if you just want chickens of a particular type... when looking for quality stock to base off of, the best option is not to chase around SQ (show quality) exclusively... SQ is fine from known reputable breeders (but watch the prices) but in a lot of cases it gives a false sense of what you might get... SQ just means a particular bird won in a show... if it's at a State or higher level against a good representation of the breed (good number of entries) then it means something... but someone can take a bird to a county fair with no other competition and win by default as well... not saying all people do this, but it has happened... and just because they are SQ doesn't mean they will produce SQ offspring... and ethically you can't sell the offspring as SQ unless it has proven itself in a show...

Best ones to look for is BQ (breeder quality) stock and work from there... BQ is good foundation but still needs work... or could even be at SQ level, just hasn't been shown... also a person who states BQ rather than just spouting SQ is one I would feel is more honest than someone who swears all their birds and offspring are SQ... that's just not realistic... and there are no perfect birds... keeping good quality is not just pairing up a couple nice birds, it's a continuous line of breeding, selecting, culling and breeding some more...

If you can, always keep at least 2 roosters... hens are important, but the rooster supplies 50% of the DNA for all the offspring... and always keep your best and only sell off what you don't need...

For buying right now, if you can afford it and can quarantine properly and can plan them into your wintering over, I suggest doing it... Spring is the sellers market, Fall is the buyers market... now is when many breeders are making final cuts on some of the 'too good to be culls, but not quite good enough to keep over winter' stock... if you have good contacts that will give you a good deal for nice stock in Spring then wait it out... you'll have to weigh those pros and cons yourself... but come Spring, most breeders will be keeping the good ones and selling the lesser quality...

Oh, and learn the market for your area and get a working plan for an outlet of any and all excess from your breeding... whether it be processing yourself, an auction, selling on CL or giving them away for free...

Hope this helps...