Incubators Anonymous

[gladahmae]

Thats what is great about the Genesis. It adjusts the temp on its own. Mine hold temp just fine. I personally think a bator is the better way to go. Even with a Silkie they still have to go broody, you can't just give them eggs any day of the week though they do go broody more often than most breeds you'll still be on their schedule, not yours.

Agreed. I have a silkie (have had her since November) and the longest she's sat on eggs is 3 hours. My incubator is acting really weird today (handy! since I have chicks hatching and it suddenly wants to run at 93 degrees!) and a genesis is going to be my next purchase.

 

[Chick a dee1023]

Thats what is great about the Genesis. It adjusts the temp on its own. Mine hold temp just fine. I personally think a bator is the better way to go. Even with a Silkie they still have to go broody, you can't just give them eggs any day of the week though they do go broody more often than most breeds you'll still be on their schedule, not yours.

Thanks I will look into that one and see how much it is

 

[birdworld]

Hi, I just purchased a Hover bator with turner and fan kit for about 90 after shipping. Last year it was 130 for the same thing. I bought both at incubator warehouse both are working fine. One is full of duck eggs (holds 40 ) The other is on my third hatch of 40 chicks.

 

[Chick a dee1023]

Thanks everyone It's fun to see all of the different things that work for different people I guess "trial and error" to see what works best for you (of course using info that worked for other people and tweaking it by what seems to work best for you) is the best way to go.

 

[Chick a dee1023]

Hi, I just purchased a Hover bator with turner and fan kit for about 90 after shipping. Last year it was 130 for the same thing. I bought both at incubator warehouse both are working fine. One is full of duck eggs (holds 40 ) The other is on my third hatch of 40 chicks.

Thank you, I didn't see any reviews on incubator warehouse website, and I was wondering how well they held up. $90 isn't too bad, I was trying to go a bit cheaper cause we are a bit behind this month and next month so I don't have a lot of wiggle room with our money after everything I have to buy for the house and animals, and I'm trying to get my lady Amherst eggs so I can start incubation, plus I have to get a few more runner eggs so if only 1 out of the 2 I have left hatches, it wont be alone (ntm the kids are pretty upset that we are down to 2 eggs and I promised 4 but could only get 3 in the first place). Everyone on here is so friendly and helpful! thanks!

 

[ozexpat]

you could be brave and build one.

see the bordeaux bator in my signature

less than 40 bucks - its doing very well on its first hatch. The thermostat is digital and very reliable. You could use 2 x 30 watt lights instead of the heating element if you wanted to.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
From what I understand about silkies is they just have to see eggs. Same with game hens.

Or even golfballs... Just anything round in the nest..

My mother has game hens.. I would rather have a Silkie broody. I like my hands in one piece...

Quote: I am sorry you got a defective Silkie. Can you bring her back for a refund?

 

[DMRippy]

BTW I did one more tweak to the hatcher..... I unplugged that extra tiny fan I added at the bottom. I didn't remove it just unplugged it. Lets see if that help with shrink wrapping.

 

[SewChaos]

Question: Can I stack eggs in the egg turner and leave it on or do I need to hand turn them all?

 

[ChickNmamma]

BTW I did one more tweak to the hatcher..... I unplugged that extra tiny fan I added at the bottom. I didn't remove it just unplugged it. Lets see if that help with shrink wrapping.

I don't know if this will help - but when I hatched out my test batch in my bator I found the humidity didn't stay up really well (mostly because I didn't have the auto water filler setup). I hatched the chicks in the cardboard egg cartons standing upright. As I took them out every day (it took 5 days to hatch.. two to three a day) I would pour about two tablespoons of water in one of the empty egg cups. The cardboard would soak it right up, no standing water. That would bring the humidity right back up - and mostly around where the eggs were hatching. I didn't have any shrinkwrapped chicks and I was afraid I would because I kept having to open up the hatcher!