Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[SunnySkies]

No, no tracking. From now on, I will offer to pay extra for tracking. We are hanging out waiting for the mail.

 

[Avonshire]

Any babies SunnySkies?

 

[SunnySkies]

Poor eggies got quite a ride. They showed up...but got delivered elsewhere! A neighbor down the road, around the corner, not really near us got the box. But she saw it was marked fragile, handle carefully, etc., and got worried. She tracked down our phone number and left a message, but we were out. She came by and was going to leave it, just as we drove up. So nice of her!

They were packed perfectly, box was perfect, and every egg was intact. Candled them, and only one seems to have a loose air cell. The rest seemed A-Ok. Fingers crossed..

Chicken math at work....scored 12+ SFH eggs for $30! Bator is almost full, and we have no coop! LOL

Must get something going. I do have a large dog crate the chicks can live in as a brooder, but I only ordered the 20 chick Brinsea EcoGlo. Oops. If all these eggs hatch, that immediately puts me into the neighborhood of 31 chicks within 7-14 days of each other.

Bator has been holding perfectly at 99 degrees (going to 100 didn't quite work, as it got too hot) and 27% RH with no water added. I need to buy a second bator since I'm jumping into staggered hatches already I hope TSC or Southern States has one in stock; I'll be going by SS tomorrow and TSC Thursday. We will either move the bator to the new house well before lockdown, or we will live here through hatch day or plan to return to this house for hatch day. Moving is kind of flexible. It all depends on when we get our horse fence up.

 

[cmom]

I think the incubators TSC sell is an LG still air for around $40.

 

[SunnySkies]

That's what I thought too. Do you need a fan during lockdown? My thought was to set bator #2 to the same temp but get the humidity up and move eggs over after candling at day 18 to leave those ones for hatching while leaving the rest to turn in a dry bator.

I just got a message from a local place with chicks of a color I like that I forgot I had messages about. Chicken math could get really bad here...

 

[Arielle]

Poor eggies got quite a ride. They showed up...but got delivered elsewhere! A neighbor down the road, around the corner, not really near us got the box. But she saw it was marked fragile, handle carefully, etc., and got worried. She tracked down our phone number and left a message, but we were out. She came by and was going to leave it, just as we drove up. So nice of her!

They were packed perfectly, box was perfect, and every egg was intact. Candled them, and only one seems to have a loose air cell. The rest seemed A-Ok. Fingers crossed..

Chicken math at work....scored 12+ SFH eggs for $30! Bator is almost full, and we have no coop! LOL

Must get something going. I do have a large dog crate the chicks can live in as a brooder, but I only ordered the 20 chick Brinsea EcoGlo. Oops. If all these eggs hatch, that immediately puts me into the neighborhood of 31 chicks within 7-14 days of each other.

Bator has been holding perfectly at 99 degrees (going to 100 didn't quite work, as it got too hot) and 27% RH with no water added. I need to buy a second bator since I'm jumping into staggered hatches already I hope TSC or Southern States has one in stock; I'll be going by SS tomorrow and TSC Thursday. We will either move the bator to the new house well before lockdown, or we will live here through hatch day or plan to return to this house for hatch day. Moving is kind of flexible. It all depends on when we get our horse fence up.

Delivered to the wrong house? What a nice neighbor!!

Might I suggest keep the eggs at the curentl location thru hatch. Better hatch rate if they stay put.

Have you considered making a larger incubator? I made a cooler incubator and can put oodles of eggs in (hand turn) and use LG for a hatcher. Just a thought. Making an incubator is much more fun than fencing!

 

[SunnySkies]

Time I don't have a lot of spare time to fool with parts to make one right this week. Or even next week. Hubby is going out of town for business. I have my hands full when he's gone between kids and critters and now two houses. But it would be fun. I saw a cooler on the side of the highway today that must have fallen from a truck and instantly thought, "incubator!"

 

[Arielle]

 

[cmom]

That's what I thought too. Do you need a fan during lockdown? My thought was to set bator #2 to the same temp but get the humidity up and move eggs over after candling at day 18 to leave those ones for hatching while leaving the rest to turn in a dry bator.
I just got a message from a local place with chicks of a color I like that I forgot I had messages about. Chicken math could get really bad here...

You don't necessarily need a fan. I just like a fan because it helps to eliminate cool and hot spots I had with my still airs. I put fans in mine to circulate the air. Since you are setting your eggs for incubation you have nearly 3 weeks to work on a homemade incubator/hatcher. Many people use light bulbs with hot water heater thermostats. With a hot water heater thermostat you have to put it close to the bulb for it to cycle on and off quicker and give you around a +/- 1 degree swing. If placed to far from the bulb the temp swing can be as much as +/- 5 or 6 degrees.

from other threads

Most people use water heater thermostats with the metal side out close to the bulb (usually no further then 2 inches, the closer the better and less temp fluctuation).

I think this is a good idea.

Move your thermostat to about 1/2 inch from the light bulb & it will not vary like that, metel side faceing the bulb.

 

[Citygrl1766]

May I please get an opinion? I purchased a used LG still air a week ago and my husband picked it up for me. When I got home it had eggs in it! I didn't know whether to be thrilled or a nervous wreck! They are gamefowls and were at day 13 and some at day 16 (the owner had written on the eggs). The temps were fluctuating and my husband lifted the lid several times. We had one pip, but then nothing. I read on this thread and realized we needed to raise humidity ( no water in the trays). I put in a shallow cat food container/ sponge but ON top of the mesh (unfortunately you know where I'm going). I also removed the turner and laid the eggs on the screen.

We had another pip and hatch on Sunday night. Yesterday morning I found him drowned in less than a 1/4 inch of water. It broke my heart, i was so angry with myself. Another newbie mistake!.

I have two questions: The remaining eggs all read 6/19 . How long should I leave them in there to hatch?

Lastly, I've ordered an lg fan, its on its way but after reading these threads, and finding a genesis 1588 ( with the built in thermostat, humidity) I am thinking of getting one of those and am wondering if it makes sense to incubate in one and then lockdown/ hatch with the other? May I please get your thoughts?

Thank you for any advice!