Farm Master Incubator

[mstricer]

How does that work? I don't think that would fit. I don't know what went really wrong. Humidity for sure couldn't get it higher then 59. I also read that improper turning can lead to death. In the Farm Master I have, is like the one above, except mine has 4 trays, You can see the handle you pull out to turn the eggs and push back in the next time, well the bars inside are metal, and the eggs hit them, somewhat and if the tray isn't full they really can hit it (but it is 75 years old and it's had many hatches just the way they are) So could that do it? I think I will lean more towards the humidity thing. Maybe I can add a pan under the last tray. Has anyone found that at the different tray levels the temp. changes?

 

[quintinp]

How does that work? I don't think that would fit. I don't know what went really wrong. Humidity for sure couldn't get it higher then 59. I also read that improper turning can lead to death. In the Farm Master I have, is like the one above, except mine has 4 trays, You can see the handle you pull out to turn the eggs and push back in the next time, well the bars inside are metal, and the eggs hit them, somewhat and if the tray isn't full they really can hit it (but it is 75 years old and it's had many hatches just the way they are) So could that do it? I think I will lean more towards the humidity thing. Maybe I can add a pan under the last tray. Has anyone found that at the different tray levels the temp. changes?

I am sure if the tray is moved, then it will block air flow to certain parts of the incubator causing temperature changes.

If you are talking about the water levels in the tray, it is probably because the large amount of water acts as a heat sink, and the small amount of water in the tray can't keep the temperature fluctuations to a minimum.

As for the turning, I think I know what you are talking about, but you don't need to use that turning mechanism that it has in it if you aren't incubating the maximum amount of eggs for the tray, you can just pull the tray out, and roll the eggs with the bottom of your hand.

All the hen does is scratch around to roll her eggs, it's isn't like she rotates each individual egg. You just want to roll the eggs with the bottom of your hand if the incubator manual turner doesn't work for you.

 

[Darkjeweler]

I have found that by filling the tray with hot water ( I nuke like 4 cups of water for 2 min), and reducing the rear inlet to about 1/8" and the front vents to just more than a crack, the humidity stays at about 65%-70%. Every morning I check the water level and add more as needed... If I want to add more water, I would add a pan next to the existing pan. It is the hot air flowing over the water surface that produces the humidity for you.

As for the turning, Each drawer is broken into 3 or 4 sections with wooden rods. I pack each section with a little room for the eggs to move and use the mechanism slow-ish to rotate the eggs. I have had them in the incubator for over a week now and the duck eggs are all growing embyos. The guinea eggs are a little harder to tell but I can see spidering in a bunch of those as well...

 

[mstricer]

I have found that by filling the tray with hot water ( I nuke like 4 cups of water for 2 min), and reducing the rear inlet to about 1/8" and the front vents to just more than a crack, the humidity stays at about 65%-70%. Every morning I check the water level and add more as needed... If I want to add more water, I would add a pan next to the existing pan. It is the hot air flowing over the water surface that produces the humidity for you.

As for the turning, Each drawer is broken into 3 or 4 sections with wooden rods. I pack each section with a little room for the eggs to move and use the mechanism slow-ish to rotate the eggs. I have had them in the incubator for over a week now and the duck eggs are all growing embyos. The guinea eggs are a little harder to tell but I can see spidering in a bunch of those as well...

How did your hatch turn out? I am in lock down on my second round in mine. I still am having an issue with the humidity. I have a large plastic tray with sponges standing upright. I have two jelly jars with water and sponges in front of the trays. I have a cookie pan under the the tray. After numerous times of adding water, I finally got it up to 70%. I hope that is good. When I candled, I removed 4 dozen eggs most clear some quiters and one that was with a full chick in it, but it appeared to be ready to exploded. I could find any others that were leaking just that one, man did it stink. My hatch day is Thursday.

 

[Darkjeweler]

Well, the first eggs I did in the redwood with the humidity high had a low hatch rate. Some of this might have come from the fact the eggs were stared in the Styrofoam incubator and were sitting around for more than 2 weeks before they got into the styrofoam to begin with. The 2nd batch of eggs were guinea eggs and a few duck eggs. For the 2nd batch, I did not add water to the hatch. The incubator stayed between 30% and 40% humidity without water. The little keets started hatching out 5 days early (grrrrr....).. When I found 10 Keets in there one morning, I transfered the remaining eggs from the redwood to the styrofoam incubator (now being used as a hatcher), boosted the humidity to over 60% and waited. The hatch turned out 65%. Way better than my previous attempts. I will continue with this method and see where it goes.

The only reason I did not use the redwood as a hatcher is that I had a bunch more eggs in there and I would have to open and close the redwood to turn the other eggs. It probably would have worked out of, but I wanted the eggs to have the extra humidity and time without fluctuation in the temperature.

Now that I have a bunch of new babies, I need to sell them. That is the next challenge. No responses to a CL post and this weekend I will be taking them to auction. The last couple of auctions, guinea keets were selling for $3.50 to $4.50 ea.

 

[chickenmama22]

Hi, i know this post is from earlier this year. Do you still like the incubator? Would you recommend it to others? Could you put auto turning trays inside the unit? I think they are 18" square. Would they fit? Thanks in advance!

 

[JCampbell]

I have a Farm Master 228.9 Incubator and was wondering if you had a manual or anything that would tell me what kind of heating coil I need. The coil in mine burnt in two and I need to replace it but don't know where to get another one.

Thank you,
James

 

[dbcooper02]

Here's the heating coil as used in the GQF sportsman cabinet incubators. I believe it would be readily adaptable to the FarmMaster. Great price too!
https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=114
PM me with your email addres and I'll send you a copy of the manual.
db

 

[WWonderland]

Hey, if you are still out there.

I am looking for the schematic for an incubator we have and the photos I have found look a lot like the Farm Master you have been talking about. The one we have does not have any labels remaining on it, but it should be wired the same. Pretty simple. Also question about replacement parts or where can we find something similar to the existing switches, etc...

Thanks for your help. Please email me directly, as I do not jump on these forums very often.

 

[dbcooper02]

Hey folks, I'm rarely here on the site any more, but I do still send out information when the site forwards a private message to me via email. So... If you need the instructions just pm me including your email address and type of incubator and I'll get them to you.
Always happy to help, db