Holy crap! My Hova-Bator Genesis 1588 just came in today! Please help!

[Keenonf]

So after A few weeks of going through countless articles, threads, even youtube videos, I finally decided on buying the 1588. I thought to myself, I could waste 50 bucks getting a cheap one and then get fraustrated or I could just go ahead and put up a few more bucks and get the right one. So i met myself halfway. I bought a used hovabator off ebay. The Genesis to be exact. It came with an egg turner which is great so that I don't have the time to turn them constantly. But I had a few questions..

1. Fooling with the humidity is seriously intimidating me. I know which tray to fill up but how do I know if i'm using too much or too little water?

2. It came with two thermometers and the digital one is reading 100.9 and the old mercury looking one (with the glass around it) is at 100. So should I mess with the settings and make it lower or is it possible my thermometers are wrong?

3. Back to the thermometers. I don't mind spending a few extras bucks for the right one. I've already spent the money on an incubator, might as well not cheap out now. Should I buy another one? If so, what would you recommend?

Thank you so much for helping me begin my incubation journey.

EDIT: Ok so since i bought it used he gave me an extra thermometer/hygrometer. Nice guy right? Its one of those springfield percise temps. Its white and rectangular. So i'm going to fill the trough up and see what my humidity is. What would be the perferred percentage?

 

[Akane]

For as accurate as those thermometers are that's a perfect temp. There's at least a 1 degree error margin on most thermometers. For humidity you need a hygrometer. Personally after trying lots of thermometers and hygrometers including some very commonly used on this site I think I found something much better. They were next to the weather stations in the hardware store and the top says Springfield PreciseTemp. It's a base station that can read up to 4 wireless probes plus the temp around the unit. All the probes read humidity and temp. It has alarms for high or lo temp so you can hear when your incubator has spiked or dropped. As well as the usual min/max functions. This is my second hatch with it and so far it's worked perfectly.

 

[Julie08]

The humidity should be between 50 and 55% relative. Make sure to get the temp right first, usually the humidity will follow and stablize after the temp.

The depth of the water in the trough has no inpact on the humidity just the surface area. Having water in the proper trough should work out to be right.

I use the eggact? thermometer........ or something corney like that. I will see if I can find a link to it. It is obviously designed for hatching and works well. I did try a weather station it didnt work so well for me the one I had took a very long time to catch up to changes in temps. If it ready 65 and you held it in your hand it would take a very long time to adjust to the new temp of your hand rather then the temp in the room or where ever you had it.

edited to add link
http://www.strombergschickens.com/images/incubation/DIT_L.jpg

 

[Keenonf]

Thank you so much everyone. My temp has been around 100.9-100.8. I noticed that the setting isn't on the factory setting. If any of you guys have the genesis then you know what i'm talking. Its on the 4th setting instead of the third which i believe is the factory setting. So should i change it back to three?

 

[Julie08]

I would just leave it alone for now your temp is correct is good, is it a still air or forced air? are you taking the temp at the top of the eggs? what is your humidity?

 

[FrenchToast]

Quote:
If you don't already have eggs in the bator go ahead and turn it back to the Number 3 which I think is the original setting. I have three brand new (within the last 3 months) and I already had to go up to #4 setting.
The genesis recommends humidity of 50% for incubating and 60% at lockdown.
The center tray is for incubating and the center and and one next to it on the left (if looking at it from the narrow trough end facing you)
It is the surface area of the water that gives off the humidity not the depth. I just take a large 60cc syringe and fill the troughs with warm water. The deeper you fill it means you won't have to add water as often, thus reducing the time you have the bator open.
I think you can go to the GQF website and they should have instructions for your bator.
If not I can scan mine and email to you if you'd like.
Good luck, you will like it.
T

 

[Intheswamp]

Be aware that there are specific steps/order that you should move the dip switchs in order to reset to factory defaults. Study the instructions well (they're on the GQF website if you didn't receive them with the incubator. Simply flipping switches so that they "look like" they're set right doesn't work. They need to be flipped in specific sequences.

Best wishes,
Ed

ETA: I just wanted to say that the reason I mentioned resetting to factory default is that being as the incubator is used you really don't know how the switches have been adjusted by the previous owner. The only way you will know that you are at the factory settings is to reset them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know why they do it. The example shows the dip switch on 3, but the factory setting is actually on 4. Check the bottom of the second link.

I'd suggest trying your first hatch with the factory settings exactly as the instructions suggest. Just fill the middle tray for incubation and fill the two middle ones for hatching after lockdown. Make your adjustments after your first attempt based on your results. Since so many people get so many different results with so many different humidities, I'd suggest just following the instructions to see what works for you and analyze it after the first hatch. I ran around 40% to 45% during incubation with the middle tray filled and kicked it up to 65% during lockdown with both trays filled. As soon as the hatch started my humidity jumped up to about 85% and stayed there without me addding any more water.

Mine ran a little hot, so my hatch was about 1-1/2 days early. I exchanged e-mails with GQF and they suggested reducing the temperature 1/2 degree for my next hatch. I did get 17 out of 27 eggs to hatch, with 23 eggs that started to develop, so 4 clears. I think most of the ones that developed but did not hatch drowned because of the very high humidity after the hatch started. At least that's what it looked like to me when I opened the eggs after the hatch. I plan on drilling a second vent hole in the top so I can reduce the humidity better with the next hatch if it looks like I need to.

https://www.gqfmfg.com/pdf/1588 Genesis TUV.pdf

https://www.gqfmfg.com/pdf/1588 WIDE RANGE ADJUSTMENT.pdf

 

[Keenonf]

Well I went out and found a lady through craigslist and bought some eggs from her. There all just a barnyard mix. Se mentioned some Arucanas but I'm sure their just easter eggers. Most of them are white but i got 2 browns and one blue-ish green. I don't plan on keeping any of them though. I'll just resale them to someone else over CL. So right now my temp is a 100.0 and my humdity is 62. But i just opened it about 15 minutes ago so both of the numbers could be slightly lower then whats normal. I know the humidity is high but I filled up the right trough. It came with the instruction booklet so I did what it said and filled up trough "C". So i'm wondering if my hygrometer could be off.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

 

[Intheswamp]

Calibrate your hygrometer... Wet Salt Method

Ed