Crockpot (slow cooker) incubator - take 2

[yakitori]

Previous crockpot hatching thread


Okay, I didn’t realize how HUGE a 7qt crockpot would be!
(My hands are not small either!)



This giant thing was only $10 off Amazon Marketplace, and best of all... it has a WARM function!

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My Satin hen is becoming broody again, so the plan is to start the eggs in the pot and then give some to her when she’s fully into broody mode. She’s a great broody, and will be a good yardstick to compare results.

I’ll be picking up a dozen Bantam Welsummer hatching eggs on friday - can’t wait!

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There’s a lot of work to be done before then:

First I need to test the warm function and see what temperature it will hold a pot of water at. In the worse case scenario, it won’t come up to temp and the low function will have to be used instead

 

[Little Baby Bean]

Good luck! I hope a lot of eggs hatch! High and Low are so cute!!

 

[yakitori]

Turned the warm function on for 4 hours, it looks like I will gain 0.1C every 2.5 minutes.

And it just keeps climbing

Well...I used the opportunity to calibrate my milk thermometer, lol.

Guess I’ll plug in the thermostat controller and see how steady the temps will be....

Good luck! I hope a lot of eggs hatch! High and Low are so cute!!

Thanks!
Haha, they’re starting to get scrawny...

 

[yakitori]

The govee thermometer and inkbird thermostat read within 0.2C of each other. I can’t recommend these enough.

I also have those little black hygrometer/thermometers that I always see people use, but the temperature on those are hardly reliable. The govees are only around $10 each, you can use them for your homes after you are done with the incubation...it’s honestly a good deal!

...highly recommended!

 

[Little Baby Bean]

So cute!! Low looks like it could be a boy!(Or at least the one on the left.) I hope more people answer your post to help you with this.

 

[yakitori]

So cute!! Low looks like it could be a boy!(Or at least the one on the left.) I hope more people answer your post to help you with this.

Yep, the little frizzled stinker is definitely a roo. He’s been chest bumping and mock flogging since day 5

 

[Little Baby Bean]

 

[yakitori]

Thermostat testing

I set the thermostat up to 38C. Actual thermostat reading ranged from 37.8 to 38.3.

The Govee was partially non-submerged, which is probably why it read about 0.4C lower.



Although slower to heat up due to the thickness of the pot, the warm setting is noticeably more stable than the smaller crock pot on the low setting which threw larger fluctuations due to the fast heating.

I don’t think I’ll be removing the crock for this incubation. 7qts is simple too large of a size for me to be confident that something won’t leak

I thought the last crock pot incubator was running cool, due to only having the contact surface being up to incubation temperature. but since both chicks hatched right on time, I think it will be wise to not notch up the water temperature this time. If it aint broke, don’t fix it... right?

 

[HappyClucker7]

 

[Everose]

Totally watching

It's terrible but my brain immediately said "How cool! And if a mean rooster hatches he can just GO RIGHT BACK WHERE HE CAME FROM!" I have a terrible sense of humor and unfortunately I love irony...