Got my new 1588 in the mail, should i test it?

[k2chickens]

Well i got my new Genesis in the mail today...EXCITED!!! I bough it specifically for some VERY expensive egg's i plan to get in the next few weeks. My question is, should i set everything up and test it? Over the past 6 weeks i have set aside a large clutch of white bearded silkie eggs from my pullet, also, a millie fleur d'uccle pullet that started laying recently. Now my rooster had access to both girls , but they were in confined spaces. The eggs i have now have sat outside in my garage the entire time since layed and it's been getting in the 30's here at night. Over my last 2 hatches, i noticed my rooster really likes to breed when he's free range'ing, and hardly breeds at all when i have him locked up with the girls. So that means there is still a big chance he could of not got to them like usual in lock-up, but the other thing is all the egg's i have sat aside range from 6 weeks old to about 1 week old at the best.

So, should i throw them in tomorrow after i run the bator for 24 hours? Or just run the bator to test the thermostat? I figured if i had vains in a week i could stagger my "hopefull" expensive eggs alongside my old "garage banty" eggs. I figured it would be better to find out my thermostat may need to be adjusted with my personal eggs rather than finding out with eggs i payed ALOT for. I am expecting a 5% chance of having just one fertile egg of the 30+ or so i have, but i figured "hey, let's give'em a shot..why the heck not?" What do you guy's think??

 

[popcornpuppy]

My understanding is that eggs start to lose fertility after 2 weeks.
If you have eggs coming that are very special, I would not risk doing anything, such as a staggered hatch that that would compromise those eggs.

My opinion is that you could put some of the older eggs in the bator to check the temp and humidy. Since those eggs have a low chance of hatching, and may need to be thrown out, you wouldn't be losing anything by using them as a test group. The only problem is if you get viable eggs from the group of older eggs, then you would have to do a staggared hatch. It's a tough call. But I think, (just my opinion), that it would be better to test the bator with eggs that you don't care so much about. That way the bator will be set for the eggs you do care about and have a greater chance of success with the special eggs.

 

[k2chickens]

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yes, the eggs mean nothing to me. But i don't think i could bring myself to throwing out eggs that started to grow, even if the chances of that happening are slim to nil.

 

[popcornpuppy]

I agree with you 100%. There in lies your delema.
What I did to avoid the problem of staggared hatches, was to buy a second bator. I know that solution does not help you with your situation.
You want to calibrate the temp and humidity on the new bator before you get your special eggs.

How soon will you be getting your special eggs? You said that you plan on getting them in a few weeks. If you get the special eggs in 3 weeks, that is enough time for the old eggs to hatch and you wouldn't have to do a staggared hatch. But if you get the special eggs sooner than 3 weeks, the problem is still not solved.

 

[Wildsky]

I don't think folks should test with eggs they don't really want to hatch, you can set up the bator and check them temps and play around with the humidity etc. without having eggs in it.

Even if "test" eggs do hatch, it doesn't really mean any others will - the hatchability depends on other things as well, just crank up the bator and see how well it keeps the temp and humidity etc. that should be plenty!

 

[k2chickens]

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but do you think i would get a "true" temp reading if i only had the turner inside the bator with no egg's? Last i was told, having eggs inside the bator DOES affect the actual temperature readout.

 

[Wildsky]

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but do you think i would get a "true" temp reading if i only had the turner inside the bator with no egg's? Last i was told, having eggs inside the bator DOES affect the actual temperature readout.

but how then do some folk have a full bator of eggs, and some just a few - and all hatch just fine.

I have the same bator, and hatched out 4 eggs, you can use a glass jar (pickle) filled with water, or a few to take up the empty space, the bator should be able to maintain the temp no matter whats in it. that is why you got a fancy bator

the genesis should be able to get up to temp and keep it there no matter what. if its empty then so be it, if its empty and the bator temp shoots up to 104 then the bator is broken.

if you fill the bator with glass jars filled with water, it should still keep the correct temp. (use warm water so it doens't have to struggle to get up to temp)

 

[Bettacreek]

The 1588 is basically a dream incubator. I plugged mine in as soon as I got it out of the box. It kept at 99.5. This was with the turner plugged in, no eggs. I put eggs in later, stayed the same temp, whether it had 120 quail eggs, 10 quail eggs, a dozen chicken eggs, three dozen chicken eggs and some quail eggs, etc. It even kept stable temps after unplugging the turner. Not once did I ever have to muck with the thermostat. So, run it without eggs. If you want, run it with and without the turner running.

 

[popcornpuppy]

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I have also heard this and learned it from experience. That is why I made the suggestion of using the older eggs as a test group. I guess you could at least get the bator up and running with out any eggs to check temp and humidty levels before doing anything else. See how stable the bator is with out any eggs before doing anything else.

 

[Wildsky]

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Using which bator? One where you have to adjust the temp, perhaps but you could still make do using jars of water or something else to test the temp - heck even store bought or unfertile eggs if needed.
The genesis doesn't need adjusting, it gets to the desired temp on its own, no fiddling around, so no matter whats in it, it will maintain the temp of 99.5