Incubators

[AMBene]

I am beginning to feel quite stupid about all of this.

With the Brinsea 20 Advance no humidity unit, I should incubate but then hatch in another unit? Why not the Brinsea? If I do hatch in the Brinsea, how quick to get the chicks out? If I don't hatch in the Brinsea, what unit is best for hatching?

 

[JJMR794]

You May Hatch In Your Brinsea, Its All Depending On Your Preference. There Is A Chance For The Fan To "shrink Wrap" Any Pokey Hatchers... This Chance Is Common With All Forced Air Incubators And Basically What Happens With The Warm Air Flowing In , Around, And Through The Bator A Slow Poke Pips And Starts To Zip Then Slacks Off And Rests... The Air Will Dry Out The Egg Membranes And In Effect "shrink Wrap" The Pokey Chick In Its Own Egg Membranes Leading To Death From A Few Different Problems All Depending On The Individual Circumstance. I Personally Do Not Hatch In Forced Air Units, But Thats Me. I Use A Seperate Still Air Unit As A Hatcher. This Affords Me A Few Helpful Things--- #1 Greatly Decreased #'s Of Shrink Wraps (yes It Can And Does Still Happen In Still Air Tho Much Lesser Degree)
#2 I Have An Incubating Environment In All My Incubators As Well As Autoturners And Whatnot, Then I Have A Hatching Environment In My Hatcher--- No Toying With Settings And Humidity--- 2 Different Environments That Stay Stable Continuously
#3 Faster Turn Around Time--- By Moving The Eggs From 1 To The Other It Opens Up New Areas To Set Another Batch Of Eggs For Incubation (i Incubate/ Hatch 24/7/365---- Thousands Of Eggs Each Year, So Space Is Always At A Premium With Me-no Matter How Many Incubators I Have They Are Always Full! So This Helps)

I Hatch All Eggs In The Upright Possition With A High Humidity (its My System And Works Very Well For Me) Eggs Get Moved From Bator To Hatcher At Lockdown (last 3 Days) And Set Upright In Cartons

If You Choose To Use The 1 Unit Thats Perfectly Fine, Simply Remember To Keep Or Have One Of The Family Members Keep An Eye On Them Once They Start To Pip, If It Looks Like They Arent Making Much Progress Or They Are Drying Out Around The Pip Hole Simply Cover All Eggs In The Unit With A Damp Abd Pad, Disposeable Diaper, Femine Pads, Etc To Keep Humidity Up And Block Direct Air Flow Over The Eggs Themselves.

If You Choose A Seperate Hatcher The Hovabator Still (thermal Air Flow) Models Work Well For Gamebird Eggs As They Are Capable Of Higher Humidities More Easily Than Lg.

 

[AMBene]

Got it. Just hate to screw things up for a living being out of ignorance. My personality! I am going to try hatchng in the Brinsea. Is there any way to increase the humidity in the brinsea at lock down? Would that help with the shrink wrap issue? (I love the way you describe thngs...I get a true visual of what you are talking about!)

 

[JJMR794]

The Humidity Wont Help Really, Its More Of A Breeze Thing...
If You Run Higher Humidities You Will Definately Need To Hatch Upright To Prevent Pip Drownings (actually Hatching Upright In Any Hunidity Helps This And Increases Your Hatch.

A Lil Egg Anatomy And Development 101 If You Will (you Being Nnp Will Grasp This Quite Easily)
Jr's Inside The Egg Cooking Nicely And Getting Bigger Everyday... Startin To Get A Lil Cramped In There...
Jr Is In An Embryonic Sac, Thats Membrane Number 2, Outside Of The Embryonic Sac Is Another Membrane On The Inside Of The Egg Wall, Thats Membrane Number 1. As The Fertile Egg Develops The Air Cell Actually Develops Into A Lung For Jr Since There's No Umbilical Cord To Mom He Has To Get O2 From Somehere Right?

So We Know He Has An "egg Lung Outside Of His Amniotic Sac.

When He Goes To Hatch He Must Pip Thru Both Membranes And The Egg Shell And Reach A Sustainable Air Source And Begin Breathing Air In Order To Live, Problem Is He's In A Sac Full Of Amniotic Fluids And A Hard Container Of Set Volume... Remember Your Laws Of Physics... Fluid Goes To The Lowest Point Of The Container--- Poor Milk In A Cereal Bowl And It Goes To The Bottom Right? It Doesnt Stay Up On The Side--- Simple Physics. Remeber Jr Is In A Bowl (the Egg Shell). If He Is Not In The Absolute Correct Possition When He Tries To Hatch His Pip Point May Or Maynot Be Up... If He Pips In The Wrong Space The Fluid Doesnt Drain Out Of The Egg Far Or Fast Enough And Since He Just Rupted His Egg Lung Pipping He Now H Is On The Clock To Breath Air Or Suffocate Thus Once Pipped In A Side Laying Possition He Has Now Started His Death Clock--- If Everything Is Perfect He Beats It, If Not Game Over!

Now Take The Same Egg And Place It Upright... Remember Fluid Goes To The Lowest Point In The Container... Once Jr Pips No Matter Where On The Egg Any Fluid Above That Line Will Drain Out Of The Egg Giving Jr A Clear Airway Until He Can Complete The Task Of Hatching--- Death Clock Paused!

Thus Upright Hatching Will Prevent Enutero Drowning... From Time To Time Just Like With Human Babies You'll Get A Breach Or Low Side Wall Pip--- This Saves 'em. Also Prevents Drowning Enutero Form Any Other Cause And Buys The Lil Guys Time To Work Out Many Hatching Malfunctions. Will It Save The Weak Ones--- Maybe, Maybe Not. Will It Save All Of Them- No. But It Does Increase The Basic Hatch By Upwards Of 20% It Also Allows For The Use Of High Humidity Hatching--- Without Upright Possitioning In A High Humidity Environment Your Hatch Rate Will Be Deplorable! No Matter What The Humidity Uporight Hatching Can And Will Increase Your Overall Hatch Rate. So Save Your Cartons When You Get Eggs And Start Thinking Creatively As To How You Can Use Them To Possition Your Eggs Upright For Hatch Or Set Them In Your Equipment So They Can Be Up Right For Hatch. You'll Be Glad You Did

 

[JJMR794]

Now If You Use Standard Humidity To Hatch Simply Keep A Close Eye On Them And If It Looks Like They May Be Getting Into Trouble Then Cover The Whole Set With Something Damp To Limit The Breeze And Stop Shrink Wrapping

 

[Madcap621]

Quote:
OK, JJ. I have a still air Hovabator that I added acomputer fan to, so, I should turn OFF the fan when I use it as a hatcher? And 'do what I have to do' to get/keep humidity up?

 

[Robo]

I use a still air as a hatcher, and it works really good. I would incubate in the brinsea and remove the fan from the hovabator. If you fill it up and the humidity is still low you can add a sponge or wet rag.

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
OK, JJ. I have a still air Hovabator that I added acomputer fan to, so, I should turn OFF the fan when I use it as a hatcher? And 'do what I have to do' to get/keep humidity up?

IF YOU CAN TURN THE FAN OFF EASILY THAT WOULD BE NICE IN MY OPINION. AS FAR AS HUMIDITY UP? MY HOVAS DONT SEEM TO HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH HUMIDITY, I FILL ALL WATER COMPARTMENTS AS NEEDED, NEVER USE PLUGS (DONT EVEN HAVE THEM... TOSSED THEM WHEN I GOT THE BATOR) AND AS ROBO STATED IF THATS NOT ENOUGH (I AM IN A NATURALLY HUMID PART OF THE WORLD SO I MAY NOT HAVE THE SAME PROBLEMS AS OTHERS..) YOU CAN ADD SOMETHING POROUS WET DOWN... LARGE TRAUMA DRESSINGS, DISPOSEABLE DIAPERS, FEMINE NAPKINS, CLEAN UNUSED DISH SPONGES, ETC... REMEMBER HUMIDITY IS WATER SURFACE AREA NO VOLUME! SO THE MORE POROUS ITEMS OFFER THE MOST SURFACE AREA... THEY WILL HOWEVER NEED FREQUENT RE-WETTING

 

[Madcap621]

Turning off the fan is as simple as un-plugging it, and I can add sponges and water them thru' tubing. Guess I will run out to the barn and un=earth the H-bator!! I like it for a hatcher for the classroom as it has the full-glass 'picture window' so the kids can see what is happening. I dis-like it because it is such a pain to clean! LOVE my Oxine fogger!

 

[AMBene]

JJ, Thanks for the awesome explanatin of the hatching...And yes, was quite easy for me to follow.

. Since I live in a very humid part of the world...In fact barely above sea level and close to New Orleans, (under sea level), humidity in a still air for hatching shouldn't be a major problem for me either. So...since I want to hatch eggs regulary for eggs to pickle, sell and campers for the freezer camp, My hatching plan is going to be Brinsea with auto turner, still air hova for hatching.

I just love a good plan!

Bought the hardware cloth for my cages today. 1/2 x 1/2 inch square for cage and 1/4 x1/4 for floor. I plan on making a sloped floor to roll out my eggs.