Farm innovations 4250 incubator

[melzbirdz]

Where do you guys let the temperature sensor fall on and the humidity one?? It seems to be all over the place and I keep ajusting the temperature and ading/removing water. I monitor evry hour and log every 4. Should I tape it to the top so it hangs a short distance? First batch ever in this new 4250. I didn't fill it but when I do I'm worried about those cords being in the way. Thank you

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

Yesterday I turned on the incubator and the digital thermometer ​has been fluctuating between 99.0-100.0 That doesn't seem so bad so I was gonna try to add eggs, but I don't know if I should. You see, the thermometer that came with it says 94.5 and my brooder thermometer says 96. They are right next to each other in the center. THREE THERMOMETERS HAVE DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES AND I DONT KNOW WHICH TO TRUST!!! What should I do? I'm getting excited to get these eggs in! (I have kept the room temperature at about 70 and have not been opening the incubator.

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

I dec

Yesterday I turned on the incubator and the digital thermometer ​has been fluctuating between 99.0-100.0 That doesn't seem so bad so I was gonna try to add eggs, but I don't know if I should. You see, the thermometer that came with it says 94.5 and my brooder thermometer says 96. They are right next to each other in the center. THREE THERMOMETERS HAVE DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES AND I DONT KNOW WHICH TO TRUST!!! What should I do? I'm getting excited to get these eggs in! (I have kept the room temperature at about 70 and have not been opening the incubator.

I decided to trust a fourth simple thermometer bought from Walmart. On day 19 and I have four pips! The incubator really isn't that bad. Just took alot of learning for me to wait patiently for temperatures to adjust

 

[LovelyChicks130]

I am getting ready to start up my incubator with duck eggs and guinea eggs. Not sure if my guineas are even fertile, but we had to kill our male guinea because he attacked my roosters and I will not have that. So as a last ditch effort to see if he even fathered anything, I am putting in the guinea eggs. We have had about 50/50 or maybe a little less luck with the bator so far. I have hatched twice using it. The thermometer they sent with it never reads how the digital one does. I will also say I have a 50/50 hatch rate because some of my ladies hide from the roosters. There are many factors that can go into something. I have had a couple of dead in shell or ones that seemed to give up upon pipping. Last hatch I filled the incubator full, pulled out many non fertiles around day 10 (wanted to make sure) at the very end I had about 16 eggs left and we had one that pipped and died, one I had to help or it would have died (bad luck with our RIR/barred rock crosses) and had six chicks that actually hatched out of that bator full. First time through, I hatched 16 chicks out of a full bator. I did have issues with the humidity last time, it seemed to dry up quicker than normal. I took to marking where the water cells were since they were so hard to see and I kept wondering if I was leaking the water right back out (bator sits on an uphoulstered chair in the corner) the holes instead. Anyways, here is a first go at duck and guinea eggs....

 

[Chick babies]

Just wrapping up our first run with the Farm Innovators 4250. Set 36 eggs. Took 8 out on day 10 (not fertile). Lost one that pipped but didn't make it out. Hatched 22. Assisted final 3. All in all very happy with results, especially being the first time we have hatched eggs. Humidity was good but temp was set at 103 to get 99.5. Also temps were cooler at turner motor end. Next run gonna try rotateing lid every day or adding another fan to equal out temps through whole incubator.

 

[MikeTodd]

We just purchased one of these over the weekend. We will be filling it with barnyard mixes today as our first test. on day 18, should we take the eggs out of the egg turner and lay them on the wire mesh or let the chicks hatch in the turners?
We eventually want to hatch quail also. For these will they fit in the turners or do we just again fill up the mesh area? We are newbies to this.

Thanks!

 

[LovelyChicks130]

We just purchased one of these over the weekend. We will be filling it with barnyard mixes today as our first test. on day 18, should we take the eggs out of the egg turner and lay them on the wire mesh or let the chicks hatch in the turners?
We eventually want to hatch quail also. For these will they fit in the turners or do we just again fill up the mesh area? We are newbies to this.

Thanks!

Take them out of the egg turner. I put down that non skid shelf liner that has holes in it and put the eggs on that.

 

[MikeTodd]

Thanks! I read about people pointing the eggs "pointy end down" when going into lockdown. What is considered "down? To my knowledge they will be on their sides so does it really matter which end is pointed where?

 

[LovelyChicks130]

Thanks! I read about people pointing the eggs "pointy end down" when going into lockdown. What is considered "down? To my knowledge they will be on their sides so does it really matter which end is pointed where?

For awhile, I had a burnt up motor on my egg turner, so I quit using it. So I would attempt to turn eggs and try to make sure the pointy end was a bit lower that the round end. I pointed all the eggs in the same direction. I had a really good hatch rate that time around. BUT I don't think overall it is necessary to do so, because there are other bators where the eggs lay on their sides in lockdown and it doesn't seem to affect hatch rate. There are so many variables that come into play when hatching. I've had good and bad hatches and have tried different things with each one.

 

[Mamasavannah]

I have the 4250 model so far I lost 8 new to hatching temp said 99.5 but was 90 blah