Incubators Anonymous

[Wasson6Pack]

That is why it is so odd. I've changed nothing but put the thermometers inside the box and I took a chance once and opened the lid quick to move the gage out of the corner and put the outside probe close to the main controller and it still reads different. The other incubator reads a difference of 1 degree from inside and outside temp. They are the same thermometer. There is water in the bottom of the foam incubators and 1 sponge in each one. I news to get the humidity up more, but am not entirely sure what else to do. I may have to as another sponge, it says it is 53%

 

[newtwinmom]

I have an Acuuweather set up similar to yours and it seemed my thermometers suddenly became unreliable when I raised the humidity for hatching. Where I knew they were 0.5 degrees off before, during hatching I discovered (too late sadly) that they were reading inconsistently. Sometimes they would be four degrees off. LOTS of problems .

 

[newtwinmom]

Well, this year is a bit of a bust . Here's the final tally and a chick pic. I've set 115 eggs so far; all but 36 were shipped. Eight were my own. I have five chicks out with a mama and this group of 14, all different ages. So 19 out of 115 eggs which makes me nauseous. I'm calculating 86% on my eggs and average 16% on shipped eggs (range 6-22%).

I've thrown away almost two dozen eggs with fully formed, dead chicks in them. I've culled one, have one with boots, one trying to recover from pasty butt. I even had 36hrs with cold eggs thanks to an ice storm and four day power outage. All firsts for me. I'm done for now. I put the last batch of eggs, 11 cochin left from 18 USPS played football with, out with a broody. I'm not hopeful as they were clear on day six when I moved them. I just couldn't run the bators any more and know I was obviously screwing something up. Got a lot of re-reading, analyzing, and thinking to do! How do you guys get up the courage to hatch again after years like this?

 

[Sclark73]

Well, this year is a bit of a bust

. Here's the final tally and a chick pic. I've set 115 eggs so far; all but 36 were shipped. Eight were my own. I have five chicks out with a mama and this group of 14, all different ages. So 19 out of 115 eggs which makes me nauseous. I'm calculating 86% on my eggs and average 16% on shipped eggs (range 6-22%).

I've thrown away almost two dozen eggs with fully formed, dead chicks in them. I've culled one, have one with boots, one trying to recover from pasty butt. I even had 36hrs with cold eggs thanks to an ice storm and four day power outage. All firsts for me. I'm done for now. I put the last batch of eggs, 11 cochin left from 18 USPS played football with, out with a broody. I'm not hopeful as they were clear on day six when I moved them. I just couldn't run the bators any more and know I was obviously screwing something up. Got a lot of re-reading, analyzing, and thinking to do! How do you guys get up the courage to hatch again after years like this?

I had a similar thing happen to me last fall in which I lost well over 200 eggs. I had borrowed a few incubators from our Boyscout troop leader without properly researching them and asking others of tips and tricks to use them. I had 4 fills kill chicks and only 1 of all them hatched and had to be culled due to it's eyes were located in the cheek area and the beak under the nostrils wasn't completely developed. I am now trying the Hova-bator again from him but have much advice on how to work with it properly. I was so used to my Brinsea in that I just add eggs a bit of water and walk away with 100% hatch rate all last year. It's very heart wrenching, but you just pick yourself up. Research over and over, ask people their suggestions and keep trying and eventually you'll get it. I even went so far as I built my own incubator and I have near 100 with that also just monitoring it and tweaking it properly. Theirs so many good reads on this site about incubating and without it I would never made it this far. I have my first batch this year to hatch on the 2nd of April and another batch 5 days after. I'm collecting now to do another fill in the Hova. I will be hatching all year, partially to restock what i've lost of my reg egg layers and partially to sell chicks of my special breed ones to try and recoup a lil.

 

[Penny Hen]

I got some guineas last fall. They are gone already. They were so mean to my chickens and so noisy, just not for me!

But while they were here they always roosted in a tree at night. One night we had a MAJOR wind storm. We found 1 inside a fenced area the next morning down the hill. She started getting sick a few days later so I put her down. But after that night, they ALWAYS slept in the coop. They were the 1st ones in. It was amusing. Like they said, forget that crap!!! Lol

Guineas need to be bonded to a grazing animal. In the wilds of Africa this is he elephant. You don't have to be real smart if you best buddy is an elephant. I bonded mine to my sheep. For the guineas protection it would work better if the grazing animal is larger but the sheep are enough to keep foxes and other small predators off of them. Snakes might be the exception. My cats hunted all the snakes down so I didn't have to deal with them. At night they camped with the sheep either in a tree with the sheep below (in good weather) or in the shelter in bad. Winter mornings were especially amusing to see 3 guineas per sheep perching on their backs, the guineas' feet buried in the wool.

 

[sonderah]

Randomly this morning my daughter says to me, " mom, I bet the giant chicken from Dora the Explorer had a miserable life. Cause it was red, so all the other chickens probably pecked it to death!"
Only my child!!

 

[sonderah]

Guineas need to be bonded to a grazing animal. In the wilds of Africa this is he elephant. You don't have to be real smart if you best buddy is an elephant. I bonded mine to my sheep. For the guineas protection it would work better if the grazing animal is larger but the sheep are enough to keep foxes and other small predators off of them. Snakes might be the exception. My cats hunted all the snakes down so I didn't have to deal with them. At night they camped with the sheep either in a tree with the sheep below (in good weather) or in the shelter in bad. Winter mornings were especially amusing to see 3 guineas per sheep perching on their backs, the guineas' feet buried in the wool.

How cute would that be!! Lol

 

[sonderah]

Well. Guess I know y my last hatch SUCKED!! My LG that I am fixing to start using as a hatcher, was doing both in it, will not hold a steady temp for crap! I haven't ever had a digital thermo in it, just the mercury one that came with it. This one shows how it is bouncing all over the place!

Look like I will be purchasing a new Hovabator ASAP! Use 1 for the incy and 1 for the hatcher! In the mean time, CRAP!!! I have 2 more hatches at least, including my FIRST turkeys, b4 I will be able to afford the new one!

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I don't raise my guinea and chickens together. The guinea are just too strong and could kill the chickens. I don't have any grazing animals. My neighbor has donkeys cows and goats and her guinea are never anywhere near them.

 

[Sclark73]

Well. Guess I know y my last hatch SUCKED!! My LG that I am fixing to start using as a hatcher, was doing both in it, will not hold a steady temp for crap! I haven't ever had a digital thermo in it, just the mercury one that came with it. This one shows how it is bouncing all over the place!

Look like I will be purchasing a new Hovabator ASAP! Use 1 for the incy and 1 for the hatcher! In the mean time, CRAP!!! I have 2 more hatches at least, including my FIRST turkeys, b4 I will be able to afford the new one!

What type of incubator is your LG? I had the same thing happen with a Hova I was borrowing but after doing some fine tuning it's been running steady temp for 3 days now and no more spikes. I still may wire in a new fan direct as the current one only comes on when the heater engages and shuts off when it reaches temp. I want a constant circulation like my home made incubator.