Cleaning Your Incubators

[Asha_Gail]

My first thread! Woo! (If we exclude my New Member post lol)

I've been hatching for a couple years now and my first incubator held 12 eggs (chicken eggs specifically, duck if I was Very Particular with my placement.) It had a base tray for water, sectioned off for each weeks watering. A tray to roll the eggs on, the divider holder, plus dividers. And the lid with all the tech in it to control the temperature. To clean that incubator I would fill the water tray to soak (water, unscented soap) after removing everything but leave the base tray in to soak as well. It was a small incubator, easy to clean. The tech is not exposed so I give the lid a dry wipe down and call it good.

Since then my addiction has grown and now I have two 56 egg (chicken, duck too!) incubators. My process hasn't really changed. Soak the base and the tray, dry wipe the lid, air dry, hatch, repeat. However these two have exposed wiring. Absolutely covered in baby fuzz! I spent today cleaning mine out (I got lazy and left it be since my last hatch a month or so ago, oops!) As I cleaned, I became curious about what everyone else does for incubator cleaning. So, what do yall do?

 

[MysteryChicken]

My first thread! Woo! (If we exclude my New Member post lol)

I've been hatching for a couple years now and my first incubator held 12 eggs (chicken eggs specifically, duck if I was Very Particular with my placement.) It had a base tray for water, sectioned off for each weeks watering. A tray to roll the eggs on, the divider holder, plus dividers. And the lid with all the tech in it to control the temperature. To clean that incubator I would fill the water tray to soak (water, unscented soap) after removing everything but leave the base tray in to soak as well. It was a small incubator, easy to clean. The tech is not exposed so I give the lid a dry wipe down and call it good.

Since then my addiction has grown and now I have two 56 egg (chicken, duck too!) incubators. My process hasn't really changed. Soak the base and the tray, dry wipe the lid, air dry, hatch, repeat. However these two have exposed wiring. Absolutely covered in baby fuzz! I spent today cleaning mine out (I got lazy and left it be since my last hatch a month or so ago, oops!) As I cleaned, I became curious about what everyone else does for incubator cleaning. So, what do yall do?

I use rubbing alcohol with paper towel for cleaning the lid, & wiring. The incuview incubator is similar in design.

 

[Tex452]

I use dish washing soap, then I rinse them very thoroughly.
I clean mine as soon as I’m done incubating a batch of eggs.
After they are clean I spray them with HP or listerine

 

[tviss711]

I have an NR360, and I really don’t love cleaning it!! The water chambers are kind of pain once full of fluff and egg shell, and the top part with the fan and all the wiring is near impossible to clean all the fluff out! The more I hatch though, the better I think I get at cleaning the darn thing. I do an initial clean of the tray, egg turner and water chambers to get the large debris out as much as possible. On the tray the eggs sit on, I use hot water and dish soap and rinse. Then I wipe the tray with a 1:10 ratio of bleach to water, let it air dry, and then wash again with hot soapy water and dry. For the water chambers, I use the same 1:10 ratio of bleach water and fill them to about half way to sanitize the bottom portion. While it’s soaking for about 10 minutes or so, I use several q-tips to get into the crevices and clean with the bleach water that is soaking in the chambers. That seems to work the best for all the little hard to reach spots. After about ten minutes I rinse the chambers really good to get rid of all the bleach water.

For the lid I get a paper towel damp with the bleach water and wipe out the surface of the lid as much as I can, too, then go back with just a wet paper towel with water. I probably don’t need to do that but bleach can degrade plastic so I’d rather get it off the surface after it’s done it’s sanitizing work.

This last time, I got a can of compressed air to try and “defluff” the fan and electric compartments. I’m not sure how effective it really was, but, it made me feel better to at least try, lol. I also stuck a q tip up there and cleaned the little blades of the fan. That got quite a bit of it, but it will never be “out of the box” clean up there again, lol! The lid is not supposed to be turned upside down, so I do my best to keep it upright, but that also makes it a lot harder to clean up there.

I’ve been known to hold the vacuum hose to the fan compartment as well to suck out the fluff. That also wasn’t super effective

 

[ABQ chicken keeper]

My first thread! Woo! (If we exclude my New Member post lol)

I've been hatching for a couple years now and my first incubator held 12 eggs (chicken eggs specifically, duck if I was Very Particular with my placement.) It had a base tray for water, sectioned off for each weeks watering. A tray to roll the eggs on, the divider holder, plus dividers. And the lid with all the tech in it to control the temperature. To clean that incubator I would fill the water tray to soak (water, unscented soap) after removing everything but leave the base tray in to soak as well. It was a small incubator, easy to clean. The tech is not exposed so I give the lid a dry wipe down and call it good.

Since then my addiction has grown and now I have two 56 egg (chicken, duck too!) incubators. My process hasn't really changed. Soak the base and the tray, dry wipe the lid, air dry, hatch, repeat. However these two have exposed wiring. Absolutely covered in baby fuzz! I spent today cleaning mine out (I got lazy and left it be since my last hatch a month or so ago, oops!) As I cleaned, I became curious about what everyone else does for incubator cleaning. So, what do yall do?

A_G,
Thanks for starting the thread great subject.

 

[Asha_Gail]

I use rubbing alcohol with paper towel for cleaning the lid, & wiring. The incuview incubator is similar in design.

I haven't tried using rubbing alcohol as a disinfectant before, I think I might incorporate that into my routine. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Asha_Gail]

I use dish washing soap, then I rinse them very thoroughly.
I clean mine as soon as I’m done incubating a batch of eggs.
After they are clean I spray them with HP or listerine

HP being Hydrogen Peroxide?

I'm usually so good about cleaning after the hatch but this last time I took my time waiting to clean it...

 

[ABQ chicken keeper]

HP being Hydrogen Peroxide?

I'm usually so good about cleaning after the hatch but this last time I took my time waiting to clean it...

I wonder if @The Moonshiner has any suggestions on the Easiest incubator to clean after hatching eggs, since he has tried quite a few brands of incubators?

 

[Asha_Gail]

I have an NR360, and I really don’t love cleaning it!! The water chambers are kind of pain once full of fluff and egg shell, and the top part with the fan and all the wiring is near impossible to clean all the fluff out! The more I hatch though, the better I think I get at cleaning the darn thing. I do an initial clean of the tray, egg turner and water chambers to get the large debris out as much as possible. On the tray the eggs sit on, I use hot water and dish soap and rinse. Then I wipe the tray with a 1:10 ratio of bleach to water, let it air dry, and then wash again with hot soapy water and dry. For the water chambers, I use the same 1:10 ratio of bleach water and fill them to about half way to sanitize the bottom portion. While it’s soaking for about 10 minutes or so, I use several q-tips to get into the crevices and clean with the bleach water that is soaking in the chambers. That seems to work the best for all the little hard to reach spots. After about ten minutes I rinse the chambers really good to get rid of all the bleach water.

For the lid I get a paper towel damp with the bleach water and wipe out the surface of the lid as much as I can, too, then go back with just a wet paper towel with water. I probably don’t need to do that but bleach can degrade plastic so I’d rather get it off the surface after it’s done it’s sanitizing work.

This last time, I got a can of compressed air to try and “defluff” the fan and electric compartments. I’m not sure how effective it really was, but, it made me feel better to at least try, lol. I also stuck a q tip up there and cleaned the little blades of the fan. That got quite a bit of it, but it will never be “out of the box” clean up there again, lol! The lid is not supposed to be turned upside down, so I do my best to keep it upright, but that also makes it a lot harder to clean up there.

I’ve been known to hold the vacuum hose to the fan compartment as well to suck out the fluff. That also wasn’t super effective

I didn't even think to use q-tips to get the crevices! My water tray is shaped in such a way that its got lots of hard to clean spots which I'd argue is my incubator's greatest flaw (why can't they make self cleaning incubators?) Currently my best crevice cleaning tool is an old toothbrush! Not perfect but I like being able to scrub a little! XD

On the note of the canned compressed air, I actually did something similar today! I have access to an air compressor (we use it to blow off equipment often) and so I carefully blew out the lid of mine as it had probably an inch worth of fuzz. It worked so good I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner and will now be a permanent part of my process! (Maybe ever other hatch? TBD) I think using a can of air like you did would be a great substitute for a full on air compressor, I know they make some specifically for blowing out keyboards..

Thank you for such a detailed answer!

 

[Asha_Gail]

A_G,
Thanks for starting the thread great subject.

Thank you! I had been surprised to not find one on the topic already, BYC has so many great threads, articles, etc.