Doing it wrong (so you don't have to)

[imthegrt1]

You going rotate this batch or leave alone

 

[chiques chicks]

Since this incubator rolls the eggs, rather than just tilts them and it has a rather large fan for its size, I will probably not rearrange on a regular basis.

If I see significant temperature differences from end to end, I may rearrange them, also if they don't seem to be rolling properly.

 

[ForrestGump]

Great thread!

Do bird in your flock carry the albino gene? Maybe it is recessive and you didn't know it was there.

 

[chiques chicks]

From what a we of us have determined, my original rooster carried the mutation. A short discussion I had with someone at a university that has a great agricultural department suggests that it is related to the cuckoo gene.

By back crossing to the father brought it out.

I'm currently in breeding them.

There is a thread called "Allie and Bino the albino Orpington" that was started by the girl who first noticed it from some of my eggs with more information and pictures.

 

[chiques chicks]

It's day 2 of test two. Here is the setup

Temperature on the one thermometer shows 97/100 as low/high, the other 93/97. Humidity seems to be hovering in the 16-20℅ range, but they were never calibrated.

Looks like I'll have to rotate the eggs every couple days.

The one albino from hatch one has died. It was weak from the start.

 

[chiques chicks]

I decided before getting to excited about the different temperature readings in the end of the incubator, it might be prudent to swap the thermometers to make sure the difference isn't the thermometers!

 

[chiques chicks]

Moving the thermometers has convinced me even with the large fan, there are cool shots, so I rotated the eggs on the diagonal.

The thermostat built in to this thing is definitely off by 2°C and the temperature is not extremely stable, occasionally dropping by a couple degrees (F) then recovering. It has not appeared to spike high, however.

The humidity is reading around 16% on both gauges.

 

[chiques chicks]

Day 5. Humidity and temperature are holding steady.

There is definitely a hot side and cold side, so I rotated end to center this time. Not sure why this design has such a wide hot/ cold variance.

 

[ForrestGump]

Both incubators I have used had cooler spots. The one with the fan was cooler under the fan and warmer in the corners. Normally I rotate my eggs around the incubator every couple of days so they all hatch at the same time.

The still air incubator was much hotter in the middle than it was on the sides. I think cool air from the room was able to seep in through the cracks along the sides. My hatch didn't go well due to temp inconsistencies. I lost some chicks and won't be using that one again.

 

[chiques chicks]

I've never had luck with still air.

My primary incubator is homemade with the heat at the bottom and a high volume fan art the top pointing up to force circular air flow. It is a cabinet type, so taller then it is wide. I only have 120 spaces in it now, but there is room for more.

I also use a couple gallons of water bottles in it as heat sinks.