Diary & Notes ~ Air Cell Detatched SHIPPED Chicken Eggs for incubation and hatching

[Sally Sunshine]

SOMEONE remind me to put my March 23rd eggs into lockdown on Wed please, my cell phone alarms are full.
Is there another android ap for alarms other than what comes with my HTC?

 

[cochins1088]

Has anyone here ever successfully hatched a chick with an air cell like the one i posted above???

Yes. In fact I just hatched 5 of them a couple of days ago. They sometimes need assistance though.

 

[pogmobum]

SOMEONE remind me to put my March 23rd eggs into lockdown on Wed please, my cell phone alarms are full.
Is there another android ap for alarms other than what comes with my HTC?

Will try

Yes. In fact I just hatched 5 of them a couple of days ago.  They sometimes need assistance though.

Thanks, where did they generally pip?

 

[ozexpat]

I was just lamenting the untrustworthiness of styro incubators on another thread. This is my first experience with one, and I honestly can't believe the manufacturers get away with charging as much as they do for these persnickety piles of junk. It's a wonder you guys get any eggs to hatch at all! I bought a 1588 with auto turner, total was just under $200. After all the glowing reviews on this thing, I must admit I was expecting to be blown away. I'm actually really disappointed in its performance. I guess if people don't know there's better out there ... I've got less money than that in my coolerbator, and it's way more trustworthy. Potentially holds a lot more eggs, too. (shh, don't tell hubby!)

After I'm done hatching with it (the 1588) this year, I'll be giving this thing away on CL. Turner too, clunky, jarring mess that it is. I can build better.

Okay, I'm done ranting now. Imma shut up and go back to singing "Black Betty" to the eggs.

Those are adorable chicks, Sally!

Sometimes I am just in the mood to argue. I am arguing in defense of the poor, mis-understood styro-bator.

Most of the issues are related to people not recognizing the limitations - and most of the limitations are clearly spelled out in the manafacturer instruction - something many people don't read properly. One of the things that they discuss is the ambient temperature ranges for the incubator both with and without a fan.

I am a relative noob to hatching. I started with a 1602N hovabator with fan and auto turner. I set it up, ran it for 4 hours, gradually increasing the temperature and then ran it at temp for 30 minutes before setting some local but very fresh mutt eggs. I got a 97% or 17/18 hatch rate. Was this a fluke? I say not. Why - because I understand how a thermostat works, the limitations of the foam insulation and how to calibrate thermometers.

Lets start with the basics - the foam in a styrobator is thin. It could be thicker for sure. Now, how many of you have tried to keep beer cool or meat frozen in a styro cooler from a drug store? There you go.. So the foam on a styrobator will only slow down the effects of temperature changes. the more radical the changes in ambient temperature, the more effect on the inside temps, and the need for the thermostat to kick in. Sudden changes in ambient temp cause spikes and dips. The circulating air volume is also small, so changes in temp are rapid. Now if we compare this with my home made bator or a cooler bator - the insulation is way more significant so the effects of ambient temp are not as pronounced. In a larger incubator, there is more mass that is heated so they are more stable. The plastic walls of the cooler bator heat up and retain heat better than the foam of a styro.

These effects can be counter balanced by keeping a room draft free and at a constant temp. My living room heats up during the day and then cools when I open the door. It would not be a good room to incubate in. My bedroom in SoCal is much more stable in temp - so when I incubate - I have to learn to sleep over chirps. The temps in the Philippines are 78-88 degrees daily. Not much of a swing. The styros work great there. The second way to combat it is to add mass to the incubator. I get the best results with 41 eggs on my turner. If I have less eggs I add some old expired saline IV bags from a hospital I worked at once. Ziplock containers of water work well too. They will give you mass that will absorb heat spikes and radiate heat when the temp cools too much.

Remember - its not the air temperature inside the bator that you are concerned with, its the temp inside the egg. little fluctuations

Next - calibrate your thermometer. The one that comes on top of the farm innovators is a joke and needs to be competely ignored - same goes with the cheap ones that come with any of the styrobators. I have a medical thermometer. when I set the temp and I am happy its stable, I place a pill jar three quarters filled with water directly below the vent hole. I then drop a good old fashion medical thermometer into the water through the vent hole. I wait five minute, open the bator and read the thermometer. I compare this against the digital thermometer I am using for the hatch. I now have a calibrated-at-99.5-thermometer.

Now I have to admit - I am a much bigger fan of the hovabator thermostat than that in the LG and FI versions. The Hova thermostat is extremely easy to adjust because it allows such small adjustments. The LG/FI thermostat will jump 4 degrees with the smallest movement. After killing an incubator of eggs with my farm innovators, i bought an STC-1000 digital thermostat from ebay or amazon and bypassed the one built in. It was a great "set and forget" upgrade. When I was in the Philippines this trip and building a bator, the cheaper version of the STC-1000 I ordered was just for cooling - did not have a heat cycle - so I ended up cannibalizing one of my 1602N hovabators to use the thermostat. It worked great in my display case bator.

When I first adjust the 1602N thermostat I start low - at about 90 degrees and work my way up. I use about 2 quarts of water in containers in the bator. I slowly increase the temp. I wait for the pilot light to go out. Then i increase some more. It takes me at least 20 minutes to get from 90 to 99.5F. I have only ever had to decrease the temp by 1/4 turn. I have never gone over 100.5. I have yet to have a temp spike or drop.

I also use a HB 1588. Now I know most people have great things to say about the yellow plastic incubators but I feel that the 1588 is the best incubator and hatcher for a normal user around. It has a huge window, a set and forget thermostat and is big enough to put a few baskets in to seperate breeds in a multi breed hatch-fest.

As far as turners go - the store bought ones wont fit in most cooler bators - with my schedule, I cannot turn by hand. I have 7 turners. I am working on a linear actuator to turn a three level mega bator turner - but as for now, I have not seen a home made one worth its salt.

Cabinet bators and home made cooler bators are great but many people do not have the skill set to play with 110V electricity. The ramifications can include electrocution and fire.

So there is my rant.

Here is a cheer to all those styro bator users out there!!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

this summer i wont be bored !! moving and helping sis with baby number 6 ... the kids love to set up and help with hatching though so next sumer will be fun !!!

I wish I would have had help with all my kids! OMG with lucas I hemorrhaged and they cut me open top to bottom and did all sorta stuff in there, even had to patch my bladder as they found out the interns stuck that monitor thing into my bladder not my uterus or wherever it was to go. I was in so much pain AFTER I came home from the hospital. I was fine in the hospital and then take the meds away and OMG I wanted to die seriously die. DH worked 3rd shift then and I had to roll out of bed onto my knees to get up to get the baby all night, I cried so so bad but I never told anyone, I have been through some pain already, but that was HORRIBLE and I was very lonely too.

 

[ozexpat]

SOMEONE remind me to put my March 23rd eggs into lockdown on Wed please, my cell phone alarms are full.
Is there another android ap for alarms other than what comes with my HTC?

use the calender - make it an appointment rather than an alarm

 

[blzzrdqueen]

I know I said no more eggs in the bator but ummmm well you see, ummmm yea I have been adding just a few

That is quite the assortment...what do you have in there?

 

[blzzrdqueen]

How much do you sell chicks for? I'm thinking mine are pretty generic? black Austrolorps and D'Uccles?

 

[silver1313]

Quote: sis is scheduled for her second c section so i worry and know she will really need the help .. i did it alone after my second one and did the crawl on my knees and kept his bed right by mine ... it was pretty awful ... and i didnt have near as much done but was an emergency csection with him and they lost us both more than once... so i can imagine how awful that must have been

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:

"I am arguing in defense of the poor, mis-understood styro-bator."

You are so right! Stick shifts do have some advantages, so do heated seats, power windows and locks.

I would love if you could design a cool turner that would be used in a coolerbator, I am getting sick of turning to be honest. trouble is most you still have to actually turn something, and then the space issue comes into play.