Incubators Anonymous

[RideRed93]

Okay I'm at a stand still and I'm hoping someone can tell me the correct answer or possibly guide me to it..

I was told that I am not allowed to feed my baby pheasant chicks a medicated chick starter because the medication can kill them.. so I went to the feed store and bought me some pheasant feed starter and it turns out that the feed is medicated!! so now I am starting to stress that when my eggs hatch I will kill them by the feed that I am using.. could it be a different type of medication? any thoughts on medicated vs non medicated ??
Also , one of my babies have pipped and the egg is shaking a lot and the baby is chirping (yay! ) when should I expect it to hatch?..

 

[CluckNChatterRa]

People have told me that a hundred times as well, but I have fed ducks, Quail and Pheasants with medicated feeds of all brands, and I have never had a casualty. Just people being overly protective, imo.

 

[CluckNChatterRa]

Hey folks. I've been hatching using broody hens for a few years now and just recently bought a Brinsea eco-mini, which I like a lot for what it is. Ive had good hatch rates and its pretty no-nonsense.
Now that I've realized that I can hatch continuously without waiting for a Broody hen, I want a lightly larger incubator.. nothing huge or super expensive.
I just want a reliable, easy to use incubator that fits more than 10 eggs and that I can get for under $200.

I've looked at and read reviews for the Little Giant (not good) the Hovabator (not great) and the Farm Innovations 4200 (so-so reviews)

Any suggestions from the experts?

 

[CaCO3]

I have a Farm innovators still air that I added the fan. Every time I set eggs in it I chicken out (no pun intended) and move the eggs to my Brinsea Eco 20. The advantage of the Styrofoam unit is there is plenty if room to put multiple thermometer and hygrometer instruments and holes + channels to run the wires into the unit, to monitor conditions. The Brinsea is not as flexible that way. Just because I am a wuss doesn't mean it is a bad model. Also I am not an expert so I should prob keep quiet. A big broody hen would be a good incubator under $200.

 

[HalfMadMommy]

I'm using an egg turner for the first time on this hatch. Due to hatch on Friday. DO I take the eggs out of the turner and just put them on their sides upon "lockdown?"

Thanks!

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Day 19. So my eggs are now in the lock-down period

 

[Keggen]

Hey folks. I've been hatching using broody hens for a few years now and just recently bought a Brinsea eco-mini, which I like a lot for what it is. Ive had good hatch rates and its pretty no-nonsense.
Now that I've realized that I can hatch continuously without waiting for a Broody hen, I want a lightly larger incubator.. nothing huge or super expensive.
I just want a reliable, easy to use incubator that fits more than 10 eggs and that I can get for under $200.

I've looked at and read reviews for the Little Giant (not good) the Hovabator (not great) and the Farm Innovations 4200 (so-so reviews)

Any suggestions from the experts?

I'm no expert at all, but my first hatch with the Farm Innovator was about 75%. I have the model that comes with the fan and egg turner. I really liked it for the cost. I'm on my second hatching and so far so good. The heat is very easy to regulate, the humidity was a little more touchy but not difficult. Last time there was an overnight heat spike that did in some of my eggs but that could have been my fault.

I'm not thinking this will be great for long term use because I've read that eventually it becomes difficult to clean the styrofoam but I plan to lay down temporary covering for easy clean up to help prevent that problem.

The heat and humidity gauge it comes with seem to be junk but there is room inside to put a small one of your own. The metal mesh in mine flips up when I take the egg turner out but it's workable.

Overall I'm happy with it especially for the price.

 

[ki4got]

Thanks. I do date the eggs and put check marks or "x" or ? when I candle. The one I am still agonizing over a tad had a clear space almost as big as the air cell below the chick. I could see sort of an outline if its head when I moved the light to a certain angle. Almost like the banded appearance midway through incubation. absolutely no detectable movement despite there still being some room in that shell. usually I hear peeps at least a day before pipping but was silent. One other thing I noticed was that the egg seemed to cool particularly faster than usually while candling. I was holding it the whole time so it should have been warmer. Not sure if embryos produce heat but if so that would be another indicator that it had died. I know on obsessing a bit on this. It just is never a good feeling that I might be wrong. I am a advanced beginner at incubating.

chicks, even unhatched ones, do produce some heat, just not enough initially to keep themselves warm enough. that's momma's job until they feather in a bit more and get some size to themselves. so yes, even an egg that's left alone for a while will be slightly warmer than ambient as long as the chick is still alive.

 

[ki4got]

People have told me that a hundred times as well, but I have fed ducks, Quail and Pheasants with medicated feeds of all brands, and I have never had a casualty. Just people being overly protective, imo.

personally, I refuse to feed any medicated feeds... in the long run I believe it causes more problems than it solves.

amprollium (the medication in the feed) inhibits the absorption of thiamine (vitamin B1). the amounts of amprollium in the feed is not enough to kill coccidia but may result in a resistance to the drug. also, IMO, long term usage can cause vitamin deficiencies in growing chicks, even at low levels, resulting in a number of other problems in the birds as they mature.

 

[ki4got]

Hey folks. I've been hatching using broody hens for a few years now and just recently bought a Brinsea eco-mini, which I like a lot for what it is. Ive had good hatch rates and its pretty no-nonsense.
Now that I've realized that I can hatch continuously without waiting for a Broody hen, I want a lightly larger incubator.. nothing huge or super expensive.
I just want a reliable, easy to use incubator that fits more than 10 eggs and that I can get for under $200.

I've looked at and read reviews for the Little Giant (not good) the Hovabator (not great) and the Farm Innovations 4200 (so-so reviews)

Any suggestions from the experts?

I have 4 hovabators that I've used with great success over the last few years. 3 for incubating and 1 for hatching only... the hovabators genesis is a great one. when combined with an egg turner it's almost foolproof. it's got an electronic thermostat and fan to circulate the air, the only thing you have to pay attention to is the humidity (I dry incubate and only add humidity during hatching).

the lg and farm innovations IMO are twitchy as far as their temperature regulation is concerned... if you can get it set and lock that in, you might be ok, but if any adjustments are needed it takes forever to get it stabilized again. my hovabators (not the genesis) use the same wafer-style thermostat as the others, but have a better control mechanism that allows more adjustment per degree than the others. once I had the temp stable, I used the lock nut to lock it in, and again waited a couple days to make sure it didn't vary any. if it did, I did small adjustments at a time, waiting 12+ hours between changes. if you do frequent adjustments, IMO it'll take you forever to get the temperature stabilized.

every incubator is going to have it's plusses and minuses, as well as supporters and detractors. the key to successful incubation is learning the quirks of whatever incubator you choose, and working around them as best you can. I have 4 of the exact same brand/model of hovabators that I use for incubating/hatching. each one is set at the exact same temperature (using the same thermometer). but 1 hatches eggs about a half day sooner than the others. one of the others holds humidity better than it's friends. I use that one for hatching specifically. so even within the same brand/make/model, you're going to see some variations.