Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[cmom]

I have never hatched any thing than chicken eggs, but am curious too. I converted my still air incubators to circulated air.

 

[Guccibirds423]

Someone told me earlier it works just the same. to feel both trays up with water in the bottom and when you turn them to mist them. But I have heard you can stick a sponge in there as well so I am curious what everyone else does.

 

[Bluetick340]

Just got a lg for Christmas what's the best bit of advice you can give? I borrowed one last year for my animal science class at school and we had about a 60% hatch rate and were candling every week to twice a week. This one is for home use with my daughters. Not going to be having a class full of high school students.

 

[Arielle]

Someone told me earlier it works just the same. to feel both trays up with water in the bottom and when you turn them to mist them. But I have heard you can stick a sponge in there as well so I am curious what everyone else does.

Find YINEPU's page on hatching , she does a lot of non-chicken hatching. From emu's to ducks to everything. I put my duck eggs in with my chikcen eggs and didn't have time for misting so I didn't. I had a low hatch rate but was still excited to see 3 make it.

Just got a lg for Christmas what's the best bit of advice you can give? I borrowed one last year for my animal science class at school and we had about a 60% hatch rate and were candling every week to twice a week. This one is for home use with my daughters. Not going to be having a class full of high school students.

I suggest you back to the beginning of this thread and read all the posts. LOTS here. THere is an old LG thread also with much information.

Keep the LG in a room with a steady room temp70-75 degrees and pull the shade to the room-no sunlight shining on the LG, effects the temperature. DO NOT use the thermometer that comes with the LG as it needs calibrating. I bought a handful of fish tank thermometers that registered the same temp at Walmart. KNOW where to measure the temperature in relation to the egg. I prefer to measure temp at the height that is 1/2 the height of the egg. THat height is different if the egg is incubated on it's side compared to eggs incubated in an egg carton.

Turn the eggs more than 3 times a day whenever possible.
How the eggs are handled before setting has a big effect on development and hatching %.
Wash hands before turning, and know you will drop one, we all do. lol IT hurts.
When you go into lock down, set up the brooder in case any hatch early.

CMOM-- i'm sure you can add to this.

 

[cmom]

Just got a lg for Christmas what's the best bit of advice you can give? I borrowed one last year for my animal science class at school and we had about a 60% hatch rate and were candling every week to twice a week. This one is for home use with my daughters. Not going to be having a class full of high school students.

I would start at the beginning of this thread and read all of the post. There is a lot of good information from many LG owners.

 

[bradselig]

Wow! Great information! I have a LG still air from hatching reptile (gecko) eggs. It worked great for them, but reptile hatching seems quite different than chicken. So I am going to add a fan and turner to mine for trying to set eggs mid to late February. I have already plugged it in and dinked with the thermostat and got it set to correct temps. I noticed a night time drop in temps, so need to find a more temp steady room (spare bathroom is sounding pretty good). I will be giving my hand at local hatching eggs, rather than shipped.

Basically though, this thread has given me much more confidence in using my current LG than going out and buying a new one, so thank you all for your priceless information.

 

[Arielle]

GOOD LUCK. You'll do fine.

Just beware that some people use a closet to have a steady temp; I think this is a mistake as the air flow is not sufficient IMO. Perhaps you could turn on the heat in a room( 24/7) to improve the overnight temperatures in the LG. OTherwise I put in four 1 quart jars as heat sinks, when I set about half it's egg capcity. ( I don't use a turner). Even 1 or 2 of the heat sinks may solve your problem.

 

[cmom]

Some people also use some ceramic eggs in their incubators as heat sinks. The more eggs the better also as the eggs will somewhat act as heat sinks. I have a cabinet incubator but once in awhile use my styrofoam if I'm incubating a smaller number of eggs but I do put in as many eggs as I can and if I don't have enough I have a friend who hatches and usually get more eggs from them to fill the incubator.

 

[cmom]

I have used a space heater in the room I hatch in at night. That seems to help.

 

[bradselig]

Again you guys step up and offer more advice. I greatly appreciate it.

While I don't PLAN on hatching a bunch of eggs, I have been throwing around the idea of building a smaller cabinet style. Just reading up for the best way to do so. Thanks again for your time.