Janoel Incubation Experience

[jim2057]

I purchase a Janoel 8-48 incubator on Ebay. It has the clear bottom. Not sure if it is legit. Can not find a serial number, where is it located? Having trouble with the humidity. The reading on the incubator was 10 % lower that the humidity meter I was using. I now have a third meter that reads 10% higher than the meter I was using 20% higher that the incubator. How do I know what is correct. First hatch 10 eggs: 3 healthy and on time out of 6 viable eggs. Second hatch 10 eggs: 1 healthy and on time, 1 helped out afflicted out of 6 viable eggs. On the third hatch of 13 eggs" 2 hatched healthy and on time. I had 8 fully grown with yolk either adsorbed or close to it dead in the shell with a lot of slime around them. The weight loss at 18 days was about 12 % . The air sac was really weird shaped (like a jigsaw puzzle piece) and didn't appear to grow much from day 12 to day 18. My judgement was the humidity was too high. Humidity on my meter was kept around 35% Just started 7 bantam eggs. Will keep the humidity 10% on the incubator, 20% on the old meter, and 30% on the new meter and see what I get. Any suggestions???

 

[Lyss]

Sounds like your humidity was to high aiming lower is a good idea. Unfortunately I didn't get the clear bottom on my janoel . Is the egg turner working? I've heard that can cause them to stick and not hatch but also if you don't turn off the egg turner when theyre ready to hatch it can also cause them to not hatch. Out of my 40 duck eggs (all different hatches not together) I had to help 3 out, one was shrink wrapped, the other I made a small break in the shell as he had pipped internally and not moved for 2 and a half days and they other just sat with its beak out and nothing more for around 3 days but luckily all survived and importantly had absorbed the yolk and blood .

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

Hi Heron!
Great info, I am really enjoying keeping track of your incubation.

I am running 6 of these units. I am not sure what your humidity is like being winter in the US, here in Aust and summertime the air is very dry. I was running my incubators at an average of 45%-50% and then up to 70% for hatching. Was getting quite low hatchings (under 50%) and what chicks we met were all born very wet, it was taking them 24 hours to start to fluff up.

I too got sick of the alarms going off all night (with 6 of them I was not getting much sleep!) So I dropped the alarms one evening down to 25% and then...hmm...forgot to put them back up the next morning. It was over a week before I remembered - and in that time we had hatched one lot of chicks - 85% hatch rate and chicks dry and fluffy within half an hour of hatching.

I have now put through 3 lots of eggs at the lower humidity and we are still going at 85% hatch rate (and my eggs have been coming from the same place all the time).

Just thought I would mention it - depending on your out of incubator conditions you might want to let your humidity drop a few %.

Keep the story going! Can't wait to see what results you get.

Best wishes, Cate

This is GREAT info. Unfortunately I didn't see it until today and I go into lockdown tomorrow! I have to admit that I am terrified of things not going well. I have only hen hatched and chalked things up to nature. My humidity has been up and down. I follow the inside humidity reader I bought online that reads about 8% higher than the Janoel reading. I certainly hope that I have a great hatch. I have several children stopping by Sunday afternoon in hopes of seeing some hatching.

Today I checked all the eggs and they are all moving. Not sure about the sizes of the air sacs, but they have grown steadily.

Tomorrow is lockdown. I have created a partition for the Janoel that I can move for different sized partitions for different hatches I will photograph and share tomorrow.

I hope nobody drowns or is shrink wrapped!

Thanks to those of you kind enough to chime in with your experience.

I used 2 thermometers I found and split the difference since they were so close. I hope they have been accurate. The both have read about .5 in variation and I have used this and NOT the Janoel reading.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

My egg turner works. BUT proof will be at hatch!!!!!!!

 

[dorpersheep]

Good luck Heron! My fingers are crossed for a great hatch for you - do let us know how it goes on Sunday!

 

[n3kms]

I just had the little Janoel 12 and worried myself silly but 7 of 7 hatched beautifully. Good luck on y'all's.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

Going into Lockdown!

Here is the divider I created. I used plastic canvas as a recommendation from a BYC member (wish I could remember who so I could give you props!).






I constructed the outside fence for stability first. I secured the edges with zip ties.

I added the center dividers. They extend up about 1/2" from the ceiling grate. I needed three dividers this time, but you can make as many as would fit in your incubator to accommodate your separation needs.

Eggs in with hollow bottom crates for humidity.

Notice I made the sides shorter so I could (and all the little children I've invited over) can see what's happening!

In 2 hours I will fill the bottom trays and upon advice of place a cup of water that reaches the ceiling (so no chicks drown) inside for the higher humidity. Not so hard to keep humidity high here in Oregon!

LOCKDOWN!

 

[janoel8-48]

I too have a janoel but I don't know if the automatic egg turner is working. When it turns it tilts to the opposite side like it's supposed to but then it goes right back to where it was. Does anyone else have this happening??

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

I too have a janoel but I don't know if the automatic egg turner is working. When it turns it tilts to the opposite side like it's supposed to but then it goes right back to where it was. Does anyone else have this happening??

I was concerned about this too, so I contacted the company. They assured me that the turner rocks the eggs back and forth stopping just short of where it was.SO as the day progresses you will see the eggs tilting towards the other direction until they are all the way to the other side..

Run your janoel for a day and come back 6 hours later and you will see it's in the middle or close, Come back another six hours and it's beginning to tilt the other way. I am about to find out if this is sufficient or not. My eggs hatch Sunday. I believe the complete sort of swish it does with the eggs before resting should be sufficient.

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

After filling the channels to max capacity last night my humidity got up to 99%! I vented real quick and it seems to be stabilizing at 75%.

Let me be clear that I am leaning on the internal hygrometer I bought that is NOT the one on the Janoel. The Janoel reads lower than my internal one. I will be purchasing a better internal one with a probe so that the unit can remail outside the incubator so I don't struggle reading it!