I personally don't follow this practice Jeff. I have a separate Sportsman hatcher to avoid this problem. But I also know that these units even used are a bit expensive for the hobbyist. So I've several friends that do in fact do what you describe and have good success.
I cannot speak for others that use the Sportsman in this manner but here's a procedure that I am familiar with:
1. Since the Sportsman is relatively self contained you don't have to open the unit daily as it has external vents to aid in air exchange. So during the three day hatch you don't generally add another tray in the incubator section. Generally when you put a tray in for incubation you lower a tray to hatch. When the hatch is done usually you add a new tray to incubate and lower an existing one into the hatch area.
2. One friend holds his unit at a constant 60% relative humidity and partially to fully closes the lower vent openings during the hatch to reduce air flow thereby raising humidity in the lower area. Another friend does it differently and actually uses a wick (cotton twine works too) serpentined under the hatch tray and then leads it out through a vent whole into a bowl of warm water during the hatch. He manages to raise humidity in the lower area while maintaining about 50% in the upper incubating area.
Best advice on this is too run the unit empty for a couple of weeks with two hygrometers and thermometers - on set on the bottom hatching area and one set set on one of the empty incubating trays on the second rack of the turner. Run it and experiment and read the two units three to four times daily recording the results in a journal. I also recommend a third set be kept in the room where the incubator is and record them (properly noting that it's the room unit, the upper unit and the lower unit) for at least two weeks adjusting as needed (recording these adjustments too) as well as using various ideas along the way (recording these in the journal as well) to see what works best for you.
Too often as poultry enthusiasts we rush to get our eggs into the incubator without properly preparing for the hatch.
I've been a poultry-man for a long time and I still have to put the brakes on sometimes myself. I spend a good part of my winter even now running empty incubators and hatchers just to see what I can do different to get optimal results. After-all, if you even change the result of a hatch by .1% to the positive this can be a lot of chicks produced.
And besides playing with the incubator empty is a lot of fun too; especially knowing that you are setting up the best possible conditions for that future hatch you are looking forward to!
I cannot speak for others that use the Sportsman in this manner but here's a procedure that I am familiar with:
1. Since the Sportsman is relatively self contained you don't have to open the unit daily as it has external vents to aid in air exchange. So during the three day hatch you don't generally add another tray in the incubator section. Generally when you put a tray in for incubation you lower a tray to hatch. When the hatch is done usually you add a new tray to incubate and lower an existing one into the hatch area.
2. One friend holds his unit at a constant 60% relative humidity and partially to fully closes the lower vent openings during the hatch to reduce air flow thereby raising humidity in the lower area. Another friend does it differently and actually uses a wick (cotton twine works too) serpentined under the hatch tray and then leads it out through a vent whole into a bowl of warm water during the hatch. He manages to raise humidity in the lower area while maintaining about 50% in the upper incubating area.
Best advice on this is too run the unit empty for a couple of weeks with two hygrometers and thermometers - on set on the bottom hatching area and one set set on one of the empty incubating trays on the second rack of the turner. Run it and experiment and read the two units three to four times daily recording the results in a journal. I also recommend a third set be kept in the room where the incubator is and record them (properly noting that it's the room unit, the upper unit and the lower unit) for at least two weeks adjusting as needed (recording these adjustments too) as well as using various ideas along the way (recording these in the journal as well) to see what works best for you.
Too often as poultry enthusiasts we rush to get our eggs into the incubator without properly preparing for the hatch.
I've been a poultry-man for a long time and I still have to put the brakes on sometimes myself. I spend a good part of my winter even now running empty incubators and hatchers just to see what I can do different to get optimal results. After-all, if you even change the result of a hatch by .1% to the positive this can be a lot of chicks produced.
And besides playing with the incubator empty is a lot of fun too; especially knowing that you are setting up the best possible conditions for that future hatch you are looking forward to!
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