I need a better incubator than the Little Giant Foam style

[jlbpa]

It's always an ordeal and my percentages is probably less than 50%. The humidity doesn't stay high enough. They poke a hole in the shell and without help hardly any of them would make it out of the shell and sack. I realize part of my problem is I keep my house too cold ...around 60 degrees. I need an incubator that can hold it's own environment without regard to my house temperature. The little giant can hold the 99.5 temp. but seems obvious the humidity doesn't stay high enough because they have trouble breaking the sack and shell.

The little giant has the egg turner and heating element. I could use those to build something better out of wood. Is still air OK or would it be better to design something using some sort of fan to move the air?

What do I need to consider in order to build something that manages the humidity level?

Thanks
Jim

 

[Akane]

Actually a cold house isn't that much of a problem. Our furnace stopped working and both my still air LG and still air hova held temp. The house was only 50-60F but the temp was not fluctuating much so the incubators had no trouble. I had a heck of a time when the furnace came back on since both were on the floor while I was rearranging the livingroom. I had to not only close but cover the vent in the livingroom so that the hot air would not blow and cause problems for the incubators. So long as the room temp is stable and there aren't drafts or sunlight hitting the incubators they should still hold temp well enough. If they shift a degree or 2 occasionally it's not actually a problem unless they reach 103F.

If you want something better but not too expensive there are 2 basic options. A hovabator 1588 genesis. The hovas hold temp and allow for more water and therefore more humidity than the LG but the cheap version of the hova uses a wafer instead of an electronic thermostat while the 1588 uses a preset electronic thermostat. Shouldn't require any adjusting. Plug it in, add water, and so long as it's in a room with stable temps it should work fine. If you still want something other than foam then there are brinsea incubators. http://www.brinsea.com/products/incs.html They aren't as common and slightly more expensive but the people who do have them seem to all love them. They are still a small incubator and still will not be able to hold temp in more extreme conditions.

Your only option if you can't keep the temp in the room stable is a cabinet incubator and that will cost you but you can put many of them outside and they'll still keep a constant temperature.