Just bought this incubator-- tell me I'm not crazy!

[revelu]

oh good, someone has one and loves it-- can't wait til mine gets here-- my 1588 got here yesterday and is already full and running with no problems, and steady temperature too, a nice change from the LG's

so do you leave yours in the r-20 for hatching or do you move them to a hatcher?

 

[fallenweeble]

hi revelu!
i leave mine in the bator to hatch but i turn the "turner" off during the last two days (i hatch serama usually).
for my last hatch i left the babies in the r-com for a full day after the hatch but i lowered the humidity by quite a bit during that time. during other hatches i have taken the chicks out of the bator soon after they hatch and placed them into a brooder. because the r-com is relatively small compared to styrofoam bators it will probably seem a bit more crowded with chicks/egg shell after the hatch so you might have the urge to move them to a larger/clearner space more quickly.
i would say experiment a bit and see what works best for you!

the only "bad" thing i can say about the r-com is that the "humidity sponge" can be a bit of a pain in the butt! it tends to wear out really quickly depending on what kind of water quality you have in your area i think. instead of paying ten dollars a shot to buy new ones i figured out how to make my own. what i do is take a NEW kitchen sponge - get it nice and damp and trim it down to fit into the space in the bator where the sponge goes (a simple slot). then i split the sponge to make it's thickness about half of it's original mass (the r-com sponges are skinny - you'll see when it arrives). then i take a regular old cheapo hole punch and i punch a grid of holes into the sponge just like the r-com ones (again, you'll see what i mean when yours arrives). this way i can use a brand new sponge for each hatch. in my experience the sponges loose their ability to correctly humidify after about two uses so having a way to make new sponges saves money and frustration!
if you want clearer instructions or even pics of how to do this let me know and i'd be happy to help!

happy hatchin'!