EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

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venymae said:
Another question, well ducktape egg lost a bit more water weight and now the probable pip area is EXACTLY under a nice chunk of tape, I couldn't take it off without the eggshell pulling off too. HEEEEEEEELP! What would you do in this situation? Chick is still alive (saw a small movement)

@Sally Sunshine @mlm Mike @rjohns39 @kwhites634 @BantyChooks @Wickedchicken6
Click to expand...
Afraid I don't have a lot to offer on this one. Maybe you'll get lucky & she'll break through to one side or the other of the tape
 
Choosing an Incubator
41LarDFzlsL.jpg


Many different styles of incubators are available. The most common are Styrofoam types found at most feed stores. These incubators hold more eggs and are usually less expensive, but they require more involvement in the hatching process. Egg turners are optional on most models but can be added for convenience. There are also some great “hands free” incubators, that while more expensive, work well for those unable to babysit. If you have a bit of extra time on your hands, you can make an incubator yourself for very little money. We make “Coolerbators” and they work 100% better than our store bought incubator because it has less than .5 degree variance. We have very successful hatches in it!

Link to Instructions on Building a Coolerbator:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/homemade-easy-cooler-incubator.64353/

Instructions on Building a Cabinet Coolerbator:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...t-cooler-incubator-w-semi-auto-turning.68133/
400.jpg

LL (2).jpg

LL (3).jpg

Photo credits @Sally Sunshine

Below are some links and questions to help you decide on an incubator.

How many eggs? Do you want to incubate half a dozen hatching eggs as part of a school hatching project for example or do you want to incubate a couple of dozen eggs to perhaps replace stock?

It is worth taking into consideration the fact that generally fertile hatching eggs for chickens and ducks are sold by the half-dozen. When you hatch out some chicks, you will get on average 50% cockerels and unless you are very lucky, not all of your eggs will hatch. Most of the hobby incubators hold 20 to 25 standard size chicken eggs.

Still air or forced air incubator? There are 2 main types of incubator, still air and forced air. The difference is simply a fan. In forced air incubators, a fan circulates the air around the incubator which keeps the temperature constant in all parts of the incubator. The temperature can be measured anywhere within the airflow. In a still air incubator, there is no fan, the heat stratifies (forms layers) inside the incubator so the temperature is different between the top and bottom of the incubator. Care has to be taken when setting the incubator up, because the temperature at the centre of the egg should be correct for the species being incubated (37.5ºC or 99.5ºF for chickens eggs for example). The temperature at the height of the top of the hatching egg is what is usually measured with your thermometer.

Manual, semi or fully automatic control? There are various levels of control available. In general, the less you want to pay, the more you will have to do yourself. Hatching eggs need to be kept at the right temperature and humidity, as well as need to be turned at regular intervals to stop the developing embryos from sticking to the inside of the shell. Temperature is set and regulated pretty well on most incubators but humidity can be hard to get right and keep at the right level. Manually turning eggs is impossible if you work full-time as eggs should be turned at least 3 times a day (always an odd number so they don’t sit on the same side every night). If you do use a manual incubator, set an alarm for the next turn immediately after turning your hatching eggs as it is very easy to forget them over the few weeks you’ll need to turn them.

The Brinsea Octagon 20 incubator turns eggs automatically by slowly rocking the whole incubator backwards and forwards continuously. Other incubators can have moving floors underneath egg trays or metal bars that slide back and forth, rolling the eggs that sit in between. There are many different designs of incubator on the market.

Ease of cleaning? You may not be thinking about this now but believe me, when you come to clean your incubator after the hatch and see the mess that is made you’ll be pleased you considered the cleaning when you bought your incubator. Hatching eggs is great fun but cleaning up afterwards is not.

Apart from the mess that is made during the hatch, you will find that as the chicks dry out, there is a lot of fine fluff that gets into every little corner, behind every little bit of mesh that stops you from putting your fingers in the fan (in forced air incubators) and everywhere else that is inaccessible. You need to clean and sterilise your incubator between hatches since bacteria multiply incredibly quickly at incubation temperatures and it is doesn’t take much for your eggs to go bad and even explode leaving a mess and even more bacteria over your remaining good eggs.

To Conclude
All of these factors will influence the cost of the incubator and it’s all very well specifying an all singing, all dancing “Super Hatching Egg GT Turbo” but we all have a budget to consider and it’s usually this that dictates what you can actually get. Whatever you decide upon, bear in mind that mother nature does a far better job and unless you’re in a hurry to hatch, maybe it’s better to get yourself a good broody hen who can take care of all of these things AND bring the youngsters up? The decision is yours but I certainly would not be without my incubators or broody hens. They both have their uses at different times. Good luck choosing an incubator!
Text taken from https://poultrykeeper.com/incubatin...g-the-right-incubator-for-your-hatching-eggs/

More DIY Incubators
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/homemade-chicken-egg-incubator-designs-pictures.47737/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/building-the-binbator.72074/

Incubator Warehouse's Buying Guide
http://incubatorwarehouse.com/egg-incubator-buyers-guide

Stromberg's Incubators
Lyon Incubators
R-Com Incubators
Brinsea Incubators
GQF Incubators
Chicken Incubator Kits
Cabinet Incubators
Basic Incubators

There are many other places to purchase incubators, from your local feed store to Amazon to brand websites. Do some poking around for the best deals.

Brinsea Mini Advanced w/ autoturner hatcher reviews: begin #24922 #25324
Changing Temperature Measurements to Fahrenheit in a Brinsea Incubator: #25799
GQF Cabinet Incubator Manual, Diagrams, and parts: http://www.gqfmfg.com/PDF/Cabinet Model Instructions.pdf
Hatching Eggs in a Food Dehydrator: #34611
 
Last edited:
BantyChooks said:
Choosing an Incubator
View attachment 1173600​
Brinsea incubator

Many different styles of incubators are available. The most common are Styrofoam types found at most feed stores. These incubators hold more eggs and are usually less expensive, but they require more involvement in the hatching process. Egg turners are optional on most models but can be added for convenience. There are also some great “hands free” incubators, that while more expensive, work well for those unable to babysit. If you have a bit of extra time on your hands, you can make an incubator yourself for very little money. We make “Coolerbators” and they work 100% better than our store bought incubator because it has less than .5 degree variance. We have very successful hatches in it!

Link to Instructions on Building a Coolerbator:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/homemade-easy-cooler-incubator.64353/

Instructions on Building a Cabinet Coolerbator:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...t-cooler-incubator-w-semi-auto-turning.68133/
View attachment 1173605
View attachment 1173606
View attachment 1173607
Below are some links and questions to help you decide on an incubator.

How many eggs? Do you want to incubate half a dozen hatching eggs as part of a school hatching project for example or do you want to incubate a couple of dozen eggs to perhaps replace stock?

It is worth taking into consideration the fact that generally fertile hatching eggs for chickens and ducks are sold by the half-dozen. When you hatch out some chicks, you will get on average 50% cockerels and unless you are very lucky, not all of your eggs will hatch. Most of the hobby incubators hold 20 to 25 standard size chicken eggs.

Still air or forced air incubator? There are 2 main types of incubator, still air and forced air. The difference is simply a fan. In forced air incubators, a fan circulates the air around the incubator which keeps the temperature constant in all parts of the incubator. The temperature can be measured anywhere within the airflow. In a still air incubator, there is no fan, the heat stratifies (forms layers) inside the incubator so the temperature is different between the top and bottom of the incubator. Care has to be taken when setting the incubator up, because the temperature at the centre of the egg should be correct for the species being incubated (37.5ºC or 99.5ºF for chickens eggs for example). The temperature at the height of the top of the hatching egg is what is usually measured with your thermometer.

Manual, semi or fully automatic control? There are various levels of control available. In general, the less you want to pay, the more you will have to do yourself. Hatching eggs need to be kept at the right temperature and humidity, as well as need to be turned at regular intervals to stop the developing embryos from sticking to the inside of the shell. Temperature is set and regulated pretty well on most incubators but humidity can be hard to get right and keep at the right level. Manually turning eggs is impossible if you work full-time as eggs should be turned at least 3 times a day (always an odd number so they don’t sit on the same side every night). If you do use a manual incubator, set an alarm for the next turn immediately after turning your hatching eggs as it is very easy to forget them over the few weeks you’ll need to turn them.

The Brinsea Octagon 20 incubator turns eggs automatically by slowly rocking the whole incubator backwards and forwards continuously. Other incubators can have moving floors underneath egg trays or metal bars that slide back and forth, rolling the eggs that sit in between. There are many different designs of incubator on the market.

Ease of cleaning? You may not be thinking about this now but believe me, when you come to clean your incubator after the hatch and see the mess that is made you’ll be pleased you considered the cleaning when you bought your incubator. Hatching eggs is great fun but cleaning up afterwards is not.

Apart from the mess that is made during the hatch, you will find that as the chicks dry out, there is a lot of fine fluff that gets into every little corner, behind every little bit of mesh that stops you from putting your fingers in the fan (in forced air incubators) and everywhere else that is inaccessible. You need to clean and sterilise your incubator between hatches since bacteria multiply incredibly quickly at incubation temperatures and it is doesn’t take much for your eggs to go bad and even explode leaving a mess and even more bacteria over your remaining good eggs.

To Conclude
All of these factors will influence the cost of the incubator and it’s all very well specifying an all singing, all dancing “Super Hatching Egg GT Turbo” but we all have a budget to consider and it’s usually this that dictates what you can actually get. Whatever you decide upon, bear in mind that mother nature does a far better job and unless you’re in a hurry to hatch, maybe it’s better to get yourself a good broody hen who can take care of all of these things AND bring the youngsters up? The decision is yours but I certainly would not be without my incubators or broody hens. They both have their uses at different times. Good luck choosing an incubator!
Text taken from https://poultrykeeper.com/incubatin...g-the-right-incubator-for-your-hatching-eggs/

More DIY Incubators
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/homemade-chicken-egg-incubator-designs-pictures.47737/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/building-the-binbator.72074/

Incubator Warehouse's Buying Guide
http://incubatorwarehouse.com/egg-incubator-buyers-guide

Stromberg's Incubators
Lyon Incubators
R-Com Incubators
Brinsea Incubators
GQF Incubators
Chicken Incubator Kits
Cabinet Incubators
Basic Incubators

There are many other places to purchase incubators, from your local feed store to Amazon to brand websites. Do some poking around for the best deals.

Brinsea Mini Advanced w/ autoturner hatcher reviews: begin #24922 #25324
Changing Temperature Measurements to Fahrenheit in a Brinsea Incubator: #25799
GQF Cabinet Incubator Manual, Diagrams, and parts: http://www.gqfmfg.com/PDF/Cabinet Model Instructions.pdf
Hatching Eggs in a Food Dehydrator: #34611
Click to expand...
The Octagon incubator is no longer manufactured or sold by Brinsea. Maybe us a picture of the new ovation?
 
BantyChooks said:
Choosing an Incubator
View attachment 1173652​
Brinsea incubator

Many different styles of incubators are available. The most common are Styrofoam types found at most feed stores. These incubators hold more eggs and are usually less expensive, but they require more involvement in the hatching process. Egg turners are optional on most models but can be added for convenience. There are also some great “hands free” incubators, that while more expensive, work well for those unable to babysit. If you have a bit of extra time on your hands, you can make an incubator yourself for very little money. We make “Coolerbators” and they work 100% better than our store bought incubator because it has less than .5 degree variance. We have very successful hatches in it!

Link to Instructions on Building a Coolerbator:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/homemade-easy-cooler-incubator.64353/

Instructions on Building a Cabinet Coolerbator:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...t-cooler-incubator-w-semi-auto-turning.68133/
View attachment 1173605
View attachment 1173606
View attachment 1173607
Below are some links and questions to help you decide on an incubator.

How many eggs? Do you want to incubate half a dozen hatching eggs as part of a school hatching project for example or do you want to incubate a couple of dozen eggs to perhaps replace stock?

It is worth taking into consideration the fact that generally fertile hatching eggs for chickens and ducks are sold by the half-dozen. When you hatch out some chicks, you will get on average 50% cockerels and unless you are very lucky, not all of your eggs will hatch. Most of the hobby incubators hold 20 to 25 standard size chicken eggs.

Still air or forced air incubator? There are 2 main types of incubator, still air and forced air. The difference is simply a fan. In forced air incubators, a fan circulates the air around the incubator which keeps the temperature constant in all parts of the incubator. The temperature can be measured anywhere within the airflow. In a still air incubator, there is no fan, the heat stratifies (forms layers) inside the incubator so the temperature is different between the top and bottom of the incubator. Care has to be taken when setting the incubator up, because the temperature at the centre of the egg should be correct for the species being incubated (37.5ºC or 99.5ºF for chickens eggs for example). The temperature at the height of the top of the hatching egg is what is usually measured with your thermometer.

Manual, semi or fully automatic control? There are various levels of control available. In general, the less you want to pay, the more you will have to do yourself. Hatching eggs need to be kept at the right temperature and humidity, as well as need to be turned at regular intervals to stop the developing embryos from sticking to the inside of the shell. Temperature is set and regulated pretty well on most incubators but humidity can be hard to get right and keep at the right level. Manually turning eggs is impossible if you work full-time as eggs should be turned at least 3 times a day (always an odd number so they don’t sit on the same side every night). If you do use a manual incubator, set an alarm for the next turn immediately after turning your hatching eggs as it is very easy to forget them over the few weeks you’ll need to turn them.

The Brinsea Octagon 20 incubator turns eggs automatically by slowly rocking the whole incubator backwards and forwards continuously. Other incubators can have moving floors underneath egg trays or metal bars that slide back and forth, rolling the eggs that sit in between. There are many different designs of incubator on the market.

Ease of cleaning? You may not be thinking about this now but believe me, when you come to clean your incubator after the hatch and see the mess that is made you’ll be pleased you considered the cleaning when you bought your incubator. Hatching eggs is great fun but cleaning up afterwards is not.

Apart from the mess that is made during the hatch, you will find that as the chicks dry out, there is a lot of fine fluff that gets into every little corner, behind every little bit of mesh that stops you from putting your fingers in the fan (in forced air incubators) and everywhere else that is inaccessible. You need to clean and sterilise your incubator between hatches since bacteria multiply incredibly quickly at incubation temperatures and it is doesn’t take much for your eggs to go bad and even explode leaving a mess and even more bacteria over your remaining good eggs.

To Conclude
All of these factors will influence the cost of the incubator and it’s all very well specifying an all singing, all dancing “Super Hatching Egg GT Turbo” but we all have a budget to consider and it’s usually this that dictates what you can actually get. Whatever you decide upon, bear in mind that mother nature does a far better job and unless you’re in a hurry to hatch, maybe it’s better to get yourself a good broody hen who can take care of all of these things AND bring the youngsters up? The decision is yours but I certainly would not be without my incubators or broody hens. They both have their uses at different times. Good luck choosing an incubator!
Text taken from https://poultrykeeper.com/incubatin...g-the-right-incubator-for-your-hatching-eggs/

More DIY Incubators
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/homemade-chicken-egg-incubator-designs-pictures.47737/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/building-the-binbator.72074/

Incubator Warehouse's Buying Guide
http://incubatorwarehouse.com/egg-incubator-buyers-guide

Stromberg's Incubators
Lyon Incubators
R-Com Incubators
Brinsea Incubators
GQF Incubators
Chicken Incubator Kits
Cabinet Incubators
Basic Incubators

There are many other places to purchase incubators, from your local feed store to Amazon to brand websites. Do some poking around for the best deals.

Brinsea Mini Advanced w/ autoturner hatcher reviews: begin #24922 #25324
Changing Temperature Measurements to Fahrenheit in a Brinsea Incubator: #25799
GQF Cabinet Incubator Manual, Diagrams, and parts: http://www.gqfmfg.com/PDF/Cabinet Model Instructions.pdf
Hatching Eggs in a Food Dehydrator: #34611
Click to expand...


OMG I HATE that incubator its a piece of junk, get a dif image @BantyChooks I wouldnt suggest them EVER!!
 
ronott1 said:
The Octagon incubator is no longer manufactured or sold by Brinsea. Maybe us a picture of the new ovation?
Click to expand...
Yuk you missed my posts about my expensive new one!!

First off, after two incubations not even hatches the fan went, now I finally hatched in it, and ughhh, it doesnt hold humidity AT ALL, the LCD screen is old school and so small my kid has trouble reading it, and look at this crap below!! all that duckling dander went BETWEEN the plastic double lid!!! so I had to take out all those screws to attempt to clean it, sanitizing that sucker is not happening, all the fan and parts in the middle covered with dander.

junk 2.jpg
junk.jpg
 

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