Dickey's Hatcher

[littlelady]

I just got a used Dickey's hatcher. I have 2 GQF cabinet incubators and am very excited to get this hatcher. It seems to be in good working order. I just cranked it up last night. The only problem I can see is that the trays did not have the covers for them. I know the chicks can't fall out through the sides but I think they could possibly fall from the back or the front. Does anyone know where I can get 5 covers for the 5 trays?

 

[dbcooper02]

I use a sportsman hatcher and while the tray covers work great for quail I think they have way too little headroom for chicks. I built hardware cloth fences that sit at the front and rear of my hatching trays.There's a couple of pix in my uploads file below my profile.

 

[littlelady]

Hey, THANKS...What a great idea. I even have the hardware cloth so this will save me some $. I am really excited now.

 

[cashdl]

You can always order the tray covers from the Dickeys website. The website is www.dickeysincubators.com and go to the pricing page at the very bottom is a link for parts. They are $12.50 ea.

I have a Dickeys Incubator and Hatcher and love them both. My hatch rates have never been so good.



Lanae

 

[dbcooper02]

This is what caused me to devise the "fences". With a hatcher full of various different breeds carefully marked and segregated to individual trays I came home from work to find this.

 

[cashdl]

They are all looking like " What, we were just ya know, visiting". LOL!

Lanae

 

[littlelady]

Thanks Lanae. Now do these covers fit high enough for the chicks to have head room? I cranked up the hatcher Saturday morning and so far it is keeping perfect temp and humidity. I will move my eggs from my incubators to the hatcher on Thursday, March 1. Can't wait.

 

[littlelady]

Oh my...I sure don't want that to happen. I also have been very careful to mark the eggs and trays with breed. I will make fences before I move the eggs on Thursday.
Thanks. Those are sure some cute chicks.

 

[cashdl]

I would say head room depends on the size of your breed. I have Araucana and they can run around in there but they do bump there little heads on the cover. I am thinking about calling Mr. Dickey and seeing if I can get hatching trays that are maybe an inch bigger. I think they will still fit in the tray slot but then there will be more room for some of my bigger chicks.

Now I don't think dbcooper02s chicks will fit with the tray lid on, either that or the GQF has especially small hatching trays.


Lanae