Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 Incubator is AMAZING!

[Ruby Rogue]

I am letting the humidity decrease ‘naturally’ by only opening the B port for a period of time. When I put the plug back in the humidity increases again but not quite as high. It’s been several hours now and it’s down to 52% now with the plug in and the vent wide open (I’ve had it wide open this entire hatch cycle). So I’m back to where I should be for managing it.

I used to prop it open to manage humidity but am not doing that anymore. I think propping it open may have resulted in late stage quitters due to drafts. I guess I’ll see when this batch hatches in 2 weeks.
It’s curious to me that we’re all using the same incubator but having different results when managing humidity. More than I think can just be due to individual ambient room humidity. None of us live with ambient humidity over say 80%, probably way less actually. And on the low we’re all not less than 20%. Our home humidity is probably within a relatively narrow range as we’re humans and don’t feel good at the extremes for long periods of time. But one person here can fill both A & B up twice a day and have humid in the 35-55% range. I do just the A side and it’s 60% and takes hours and hours to go down. If I do both ports it’s over 80%. Then you have the person who has filled both ports and can’t get above 61%. It just seems there’s more going on than ambient room humidity. Machine variability maybe. Each incubator has its own quirks I guess

I agree, each has it's own quirks. I'm running 2 NR360's right now, one *full* of goose and duck eggs with the turner removed, and one full of OEGB and quail eggs in the turner. I find the humidity spikes higher quicker in the newer one with the quail and OEGB eggs and requires much less water than the other one.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I am letting the humidity decrease ‘naturally’ by only opening the B port for a period of time. When I put the plug back in the humidity increases again but not quite as high. It’s been several hours now and it’s down to 52% now with the plug in and the vent wide open (I’ve had it wide open this entire hatch cycle). So I’m back to where I should be for managing it.

I used to prop it open to manage humidity but am not doing that anymore. I think propping it open may have resulted in late stage quitters due to drafts. I guess I’ll see when this batch hatches in 2 weeks.
It’s curious to me that we’re all using the same incubator but having different results when managing humidity. More than I think can just be due to individual ambient room humidity. None of us live with ambient humidity over say 80%, probably way less actually. And on the low we’re all not less than 20%. Our home humidity is probably within a relatively narrow range as we’re humans and don’t feel good at the extremes for long periods of time. But one person here can fill both A & B up twice a day and have humid in the 35-55% range. I do just the A side and it’s 60% and takes hours and hours to go down. If I do both ports it’s over 80%. Then you have the person who has filled both ports and can’t get above 61%. It just seems there’s more going on than ambient room humidity. Machine variability maybe. Each incubator has its own quirks I guess

Having multiple incubators in the same room I can say without a doubt that each incubator is different. I've even had 3 NR360s lined up on a counter in there, same height, same ambient humidity, it's fairly stable at 45% in the room through the summer unless it's raining and 1 of the 3 NR360s would sit at 5% higher humidity than the other two (also checked against secondary hygrometers). The size and the number of eggs can also make a small difference. I just follow the same procedures, vent wide open throughout the entire incubation, B plug is always out. I aim for 45% humidity for the first 18 days and increase to about 65% for hatch. I only adjust this if I feel the air cell development is off but that's uncommon because that has been the sweet spot for all of my NR360s. That's not to say I don't occasionally let it drop too much or add too much water so for short periods it can be as low as 35% and as high as 55% (especially if it's raining).

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I have an incubator addiction, you guys. Look at the rotation over the years.

 

[jlwquilter]

Next batch of eggs - whenever that happens - I think I’ll try your way of having both water rings filled and ALL the air vents open - the one on top plus both A and B side vents open. See what that get me I can see where it might be the way to go. I’m already into this trial hatching so may as well stick with it for 2 more weeks.

I’m going to say it again - I’m really glad for this thread! It’s opened up new ideas to me on how to manage hatching using this incubator! Thank you to everyone that’s posted their ideas and experiences!!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Next batch of eggs - whenever that happens - I think I’ll try your way of having both water rings filled and ALL the air vents open - the one on top plus both A and B side vents open. See what that get me I can see where it might be the way to go. I’m already into this trial hatching so may as well stick with it for 2 more weeks.

I’m going to say it again - I’m really glad for this thread! It’s opened up new ideas to me on how to manage hatching using this incubator! Thank you to everyone that’s posted their ideas and experiences!!

I'm so glad you've found it helpful! It's great sharing experiences and ideas with others!

 

[RaineyTN]

yea they’re good in incubators you just have to play with them, but you figure it out after a while. I’ve ran 3 sets back to back to back this year and I had to run it different everytime to keep the same humidity

 

[TinaJ74]

My first little chicky hatched and so my humidity is 72 now haha. I'm actually kinda sad it hatched early because it'll have a long wait since nothing else is pipped. Hopefully they'll get busy pipping while I sleep!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

My first little chicky hatched and so my humidity is 72 now haha. I'm actually kinda sad it hatched early because it'll have a long wait since nothing else is pipped. Hopefully they'll get busy pipping while I sleep!

And it starts! I hope the rest of your hatch goes great too! There is always one or two early birds. lol

 

[Pullety]

I want to give an update. This is night 8 so I candled the eggs. The 2 extra that were on top of the ring developed just fine. I’ve been hand turning them a couple of times a day on addition to what turning they got by the incubator. Happened that 2 eggs in the slots didn’t develop at all so they’re gone and the extras are now in slots. Worked perfect!
Remember when I said the extra eggs have to straddle the ring in order to turn? Well I noticed that one of the extra eggs kept getting turned in a way that it usually, but not always, ended up horizontal on the ring. So I’d turn it and place it back crosswise. The other extra one rarely ended up horizontally. My guess is the size of the eggs differ and how they rest on the eggs below. Anyway, so far so good.
I’ve kept the humidity below 55% except for one time it went to 56%. There has been a few random times where it went below 35%, even a few times as low as 27%. I’m really curious to see how the lower humidity will effect the hatch date. All previous 4 times eggs have hatched a day early. And of course if I get a higher hatch rate overall. I do feel keeping the lower humidity is easier to achieve with less swings.

Thank you for the update.

I have a quandary about what to do.
This is my first hatch. I’m setting eggs tomorrow morning. I picked up the eggs I ordered today. I ordered enough to do your trick of filling the turner plus adding two. But the lady gave me four on top of that. I feel like it might be risky to perch six eggs on top of the eggs in the turner. I’m not sure if I can be relied upon to manually turn with sufficient frequency until I can candle and possibly free up six spaces. I’m on my own with my three year old this first week and it’s pretty busy. And I don’t want him to see me opening the incubator (don’t want to give him any ideas) and he sticks to me pretty closely. But maybe it would be worth it to try.

If I were to skip setting some, I’m wondering how I should choose. Those with no poop? The freshest? The shape/size/colour I like the best? Or is that not predictive of what the offspring will lay? I’m not super excited about a lot of their shapes actually. A lot are kind of pointy. I thought Orpington eggs were more round. And that jersey giant eggs were bigger. Anyway, I know these questions aren’t directly related to the NR360 soI’m grateful if anyone has the time to weigh in.

 

[wolfwalker]

Thank you for the update.

I have a quandary about what to do.
This is my first hatch. I’m setting eggs tomorrow morning. I picked up the eggs I ordered today. I ordered enough to do your trick of filling the turner plus adding two. But the lady gave me four on top of that. I feel like it might be risky to perch six eggs on top of the eggs in the turner. I’m not sure if I can be relied upon to manually turn with sufficient frequency until I can candle and possibly free up six spaces. I’m on my own with my three year old this first week and it’s pretty busy. And I don’t want him to see me opening the incubator (don’t want to give him any ideas) and he sticks to me pretty closely. But maybe it would be worth it to try.

If I were to skip setting some, I’m wondering how I should choose. Those with no poop? The freshest? The shape/size/colour I like the best? Or is that not predictive of what the offspring will lay? I’m not super excited about a lot of their shapes actually. A lot are kind of pointy. I thought Orpington eggs were more round. And that jersey giant eggs were bigger. Anyway, I know these questions aren’t directly related to the NR360 soI’m grateful if anyone has the time to weigh in.

Never put eggs with poop on them in the incubator. Disease spreading is the least of your worries if you do. If you absolutely have to use poop covered eggs hydrogen peroxide and a cloth should be used to clean them off, but it is better to just skip those eggs.