Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[cmom]

Okay have a question had a older man tell me he used to stack eggs in his little giant forced are incubator claimed he could fit 80 eggs in it if he stacked is this possible and has anyone else done it cause I have a dozen extra eggs and don't want to eat them if I can hatch them with the others I put in incubator yesterday

I agree, I guess you could but personally I wouldn't. If you are hand turning it would be difficult. Maybe check out someplace like Craigslist and invest in a second incubator. That is what I did in the beginning. Now I have a cabinet. I only incubate in my cabinet incubator and use my styrofoam incubators as hatchers.

 

[CrookdBeak13]

I have a LG and instead of opening my lid to turn the eggs, I have the eggs placed in a styrofoam carton and I tilt the incubator side to side a few times a day! Helps hold steady temps!

 

[rayray983]

The whole incubator??? And how many inches do you raise each side

 

[CrookdBeak13]

I use a book and yes the whole incubator....If I had my camera handy I would post a picture. I just rotate the book side to side so the incubator gets even lift each time. It is working well..eggs are developing on target! I turn at least 3 times per day as well.

 

[rayray983]

Okay sounds awesome to me

 

[CrookdBeak13]

It works.... this is my first ever hatch, as I am new to chicken keeping! So I couldn't justify spending the extra $50 on the egg turner that my local TSC charges and after reading on BYC, determined that I would leave them in the egg carton ( I cut holes in the bottom of the egg carton as recommended by another member, I have read so much I can't remember who, and turn the whole incubator and that helps to keep the temp and humidity stable.

I built a coolerbator last week with an egg turner in it last week, and after some more tweaking to the thermostat and test run I will start incubating in there and hatching in the LG for now.

 

[cmom]

It works.... this is my first ever hatch, as I am new to chicken keeping! So I couldn't justify spending the extra $50 on the egg turner that my local TSC charges and after reading on BYC, determined that I would leave them in the egg carton ( I cut holes in the bottom of the egg carton as recommended by another member, I have read so much I can't remember who, and turn the whole incubator and that helps to keep the temp and humidity stable.

I built a coolerbator last week with an egg turner in it last week, and after some more tweaking to the thermostat and test run I will start incubating in there and hatching in the LG for now.

What are you using as a thermostat?

 

[rayray983]

Did your temp stay normal and how whats your hatch rate?

 

[CrookdBeak13]

When reading the details on the coolerbator I was following, I didn't remember them saying what thermostat they used, but I remembered about what it looked like. So, when I went to lowes to get one, this is what I got, Utilitech Upper Water Heater Thermostat. Come to find out I needed a different one, as I can get this one to cut on, but I cant get a cut off. I would prefer a digital one so that I could set the temps manually versus having a dial like the one shown. The one used in the coolerbator build that I followed was this one, Utilitech Lower Water Heater Thermostat.

Any suggestions on a better, more controllable one?

 

[cmom]

When reading the details on the coolerbator I was following, I didn't remember them saying what thermostat they used, but I remembered about what it looked like. So, when I went to lowes to get one, this is what I got, Utilitech Upper Water Heater Thermostat. Come to find out I needed a different one, as I can get this one to cut on, but I cant get a cut off. I would prefer a digital one so that I could set the temps manually versus having a dial like the one shown. The one used in the coolerbator build that I followed was this one, Utilitech Lower Water Heater Thermostat.

Any suggestions on a better, more controllable one?

What is your heat source an how close is the thermostat to it? Do you have any pictures you can post?