Have to have auto turner with dry hatch? *Need info ASAP*

[KDailey]

from what I've been reading everybody has said great things about the Hova bator genesis 1588 so that's what I went with. I really just wasn't sure if I needed the auto turner or not. I figured if I got the auto turner then at least I'll have it if I decide to use it or just leave it out if I don't.

I went to GFQ or whatever those letters are and saw the same one I was looking at for a lot cheaper so that helped make up my mind about going ahead and getting the auto turner. Of course then I wasn't sure about still air or circulated but I went with circulated.

I'll ask more in-depth questions once my incubator gets here and I get some eggs. I'm bidding on some now so I hope I keep the high bid at only $18 for 18 eggs

 

[quintinp]

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Sounds to me like you are complete! I like the incubator, the egg turner is nice to have, and it being forced air will make a huge difference. I think that a forced air hovabator with a turner, is a very reliable incubator.

 

[nurseshelly]

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I have the same hovabator, and it's been great for me. Now we also have a home made incubator from a wine cooler. If you ever want to go up in size, it's really easy to convert a wine cooler to an incubator. All you do is take out the air compressor, add a heat source and a thermostat, and also some fans if it doesn't have ones that work already. Then of course a humidity / temp gauge too! Oh, and a little tupperware with some water to get your humidity where you want it.

 

[KDailey]

Thanks guys! I'm hoping it gets here quick. lol

 

[Gypsy07]

I've just read through the thread and see you've now ordered all your incubating kit, so I won't advise you any on that side of things. You can do dry incubation with or without an auto turner, and in a still air or a fan assisted bator, none of that really makes much difference. What really makes a difference is the general atmospheric humidity where you live, if your house or the place you're going to be putting your bator is air conditioned and WHY you have chosen to do dry incubation.

Most people who run dry incubations do it because they have found that running incubations the more usual way and adding water to the bator has caused their eggs to retain too much moisture and their chicks to drown. This seems to happen most often in areas with very high atmospheric humidity, and in still air bators, probably because with less air exchange happening, there is less of a chance for evaporation to occur.

So... if you live in, say, Death Valley and you have a fan assisted bator, dry incubation is unlikely to be successful. Your eggs need to lose moisture, yes, but if they lose too much the embryos will dehydrate and die in the shells. If you live somewhere that's very humid (not sure where to use as an example, my knowledge of US weather conditions isn't very good!) and you have a still air bator, dry incubation is much more likely to be successful.

I tried dry incubation once, and I killed a dozen healthy embryos. So while a lot of people have great results with it, it's not a guarantee of success.

This isn't intended to put you off it, just to give you something to think about...

 

[KDailey]

I live in deep east texas near lousianna. It's very humid outside. I do have an air conditioner on in our trailer.

Would you suggest dry incubation?

 

[quintinp]

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Definitely!

 

[quintinp]

I live in Oklahoma, where it is very dry as compared to the border of east texas. I use the dry-incubation method. It works very good for me.

 

[quintinp]

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How did you do your dry incubation, What was the humidity the first 18 days and the humidity the last 3 days.

 

[Gypsy07]

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I used a Lincu Top Hatch fan assisted bator with auto turning rollers. Humidity was 28-30% the first 15-16 days, after which I ended the incubation. The air cells were huge, it was obvious that far too much moisture had been lost, and the embryos were extremely dead.

Since then, I weigh eggs to determine correct humidity for every single incubation I run, and for chickens, variously 35%, 40%, 45% and in one odd case, 55% humidity has produced the correct weight loss and successful hatches.

I have done one successful dry incubation, which was of duck eggs, which everyone says need more humidity than chickens, not less. Go figure...