AngeJD
Chirping
- Apr 3, 2021
- 127
- 101
- 81
I just wanted to say that even though I'm new to incubating, I did a ton of research, and got a lot of info from here.
My first time was a hatch of call ducks, and while I definitely made mistakes, the things I learned from here including how to assist gave me a 75% hatch rate, though only 2 made it (pic below at 4 days old!).
One of the biggest problems I had was my bator. I started with a magicfly/Janoel 12, which is a great little countertop bator, but I found it cumbersome opening it to put water in, and the lid was awkward. The temp was pretty consistent, but getting humidity stable was a constant headache. I used that little bator to incubate, and ordered a hovabator still air for lockdown and hatch. The hovabator didn't arrive in time, so I borrowed a friend's Farm Innovators 4250, which is a piece of utter crap. Put 5 calibrated thermometers in it, and I had to crank it 106F to get remotely close to 99F, and there were cold spots. The built in hygrometer was 15-18% off...(see pics in next comment)
I knew I wanted to continue incubating and hatching calls, so I started looking at a better bator. The brinsea was outside my budget (I'm in Canada, and the mini advance is $400 on Amazon!!), and the nurture right not available.
I picked up an IncuView second hand for $150, and my God, wish I found this first. I made a little sleeve for it from Styrofoam, and threw in my new batch of eggs without running it for a day. Bad, I know, but the oldest egg collected was 9 days old and I just crossed my fingers.
I swapped out the built in hygrometer for a calibrated temp/hygrometer combo, and put in 2 more that were already calibrated. I'm on day 4 now, and this is just beautiful to see. So freaking happy with this bator! And love that the auto turner rolls instead of rocks, since call duck eggs need to be on their side.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone here for the amazing info, and to give my 2 cents from a newbie!
My first time was a hatch of call ducks, and while I definitely made mistakes, the things I learned from here including how to assist gave me a 75% hatch rate, though only 2 made it (pic below at 4 days old!).
One of the biggest problems I had was my bator. I started with a magicfly/Janoel 12, which is a great little countertop bator, but I found it cumbersome opening it to put water in, and the lid was awkward. The temp was pretty consistent, but getting humidity stable was a constant headache. I used that little bator to incubate, and ordered a hovabator still air for lockdown and hatch. The hovabator didn't arrive in time, so I borrowed a friend's Farm Innovators 4250, which is a piece of utter crap. Put 5 calibrated thermometers in it, and I had to crank it 106F to get remotely close to 99F, and there were cold spots. The built in hygrometer was 15-18% off...(see pics in next comment)
I knew I wanted to continue incubating and hatching calls, so I started looking at a better bator. The brinsea was outside my budget (I'm in Canada, and the mini advance is $400 on Amazon!!), and the nurture right not available.
I picked up an IncuView second hand for $150, and my God, wish I found this first. I made a little sleeve for it from Styrofoam, and threw in my new batch of eggs without running it for a day. Bad, I know, but the oldest egg collected was 9 days old and I just crossed my fingers.
I swapped out the built in hygrometer for a calibrated temp/hygrometer combo, and put in 2 more that were already calibrated. I'm on day 4 now, and this is just beautiful to see. So freaking happy with this bator! And love that the auto turner rolls instead of rocks, since call duck eggs need to be on their side.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone here for the amazing info, and to give my 2 cents from a newbie!
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