Do you have a Little Giant? Do you love or hate it?

[mothersin2ition]

Ive heard alot of bad things lately, and Im hoping I didnt make a mistake in buying one. Please tell me your experiences, good or bad.

 

[justbugged]

I bought one off of craigslist. It looks like it was used once. It has never worked. I can't get the temp above 86 degrees. I will at some point buy a new wafer for it. I only paid 15.00 for but it would have been nice if it had worked more the once. I am a little leery about spending more to make it work, but then it would be nice if I could use it a least once. I had also bought a Hovabator with egg turners that was well used. (paid 45 for it) We finally replaced the wafer and fan in it and my SiL has now done a couple of hatches, without any problems.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

We have two, one with the turner and one without. We have had good hatches with both. They are tough to get the temps just right and the humidity is never exact, but we hatch around 9 out of 10 eggs that make it to lockdown. We are currently using the one with a turner for incubating and using the one without the turner as a hatcher, seems to be working ok. I want to get another Sportsman next year if money isn't so tight.

 

[Cold Canadian]

Got one and can't complain about it other then the humidity was a bit of a learning curve. Started out as a still air ,now I have a fan in it and that seemed to help keep the humidity more in balance .I do keep it in a room that has a consistent temperature which once I set the temp it stays there for the whole incubation period .I also have the turner , which I remove for the last three days before the expected hatch .For the money that they cost , you can't go wrong .

 

[aShMaNv]

I bought one brand new from my local feed store. Ran a test to make sure the temp would stay stable and it did. Put a dozen eggs in and 8 hatched. Even had a power outage due to spring storms. Power was out about 3 hours. Pretty good if ya ask me. Temp help steady for the full incubation period and also humidity stayed fairly stable. I am very satisfied with mine so far.

 

[Irajoe]

Very satisfied with ours. We've used it three times for chickens and one time for ducks...excellent hatches each time.

 

[defenestra]

I have one and it has some difficulty with maintaining temperatures with it. There were a couple of times I woke up and the temp was up to 103.7... not sure if my eggs will hatch. I have to adjust the knob, wait 20 minutes, adjust again, etc, until I could stabilize it. If I spend the time to make sure the temp is stabilized, then it usually holds.

I am going to replace mine with a new incubator- probably a genesis hovabator, maybe a top hatch.

 

[mothersin2ition]

well these are pretty good reviews so far. I have to say, with mine, I am constantly having to adjust the temp. I am not sure why, since I have a turner and dont open the lid very often at all. Just a minute ago, I went in and the temp was down to 98.4

- no idea why. I have also come in and checked to see it spike up to 102-103. Ugh!
Hmmm come to think of it, I wonder if the air conditioning vent is causing the fluctuations. I have it closed, but air still comes through it...

 

[sequoiacyclist]

Ouch....I am not a big fan of my LG. The first time I used it I had a great hatch, but this time I am having serious trouble with keeping the temp and humidity constant. When I bought it I was thinking that I was getting a great deal because it can hold quite a few eggs. This hatch I have spent so much time stressing over my LG that I finally broke down and bought the King Suro 20 anyways. If you can afford it I would highly recommend a Brinsea or King Suro 20 instead (especially if you live in an area with low humidity or big temp swings). You'll be happier in the long run.

 

[ChooksChick]

I have 6

I also have an rcom and a hovabator.

The rule is: get the temp right with it empty, and make sure it's stable for 48 hours without the plugs, without you touching it. Use 3 (yes, 3!) of the sealed in glass aquarium thermometers from Wally World ($1.70 each, I always have at least a dozen on hand). They need to be on the turner, wedged between eggs so you can read what the center of the egg is, internally. This is the only reliable way, as the thermometers on cardboard change with humidity changes, and they tell you the top temperature or the temp on the floor! Took forever to figure out it wasn't really spiking as badly as the thermometer said, but was due to the cardboard shrinking and swelling from humidity!

When you put eggs in, it will take hours to get stable again- ignore it!!! Don't adjust it at all. After a day with eggs, you can put a plug in to go up a degree or two. You can add another plug if you need to. If you're too hot the day after you add eggs, you can turn the thing down A HAIR. That's all. Don't adjust again for a day- be patient. Don't dismiss this recommendation. You can go up a degree or two per plug you add at this point, too. Try not to use the knob to adjust.

If the temp isn't too hot- like 102* consistently, I don't turn it down. If it's not below 98* consistently, I don't turn it up. I add a plug and wait 24 hours. I haven't adjusted my thermostat in 6 months. You can get it stable. My incubators are always full. So are my brooders.

Ignore humidity until day 18. For lockdown, roll up paper towels and stuff them in the water channels, then fill the channels. Lay another paper towel across the wire. Put the eggs on the now wet paper towel and make sure the whole lot stay wet for 3 days while in lockdown.

I've hatched hundreds or thousands of eggs this way- YOU HAVE TO GET IT STABLE BEFORE YOU ADD EGGS.