Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[Arielle]

Quote:

Love your strraw idea!!! THat is original.

two machines makes life easier.

And yes, as a solemn member of the IA, you must test these eggs from t he new boy.

I got the straw idea from this thread. I can't take the credit, but I don't know who to give the credit to.

The new boy is suppose to be for next year's incubating. Last year I hatched a few eggs from one roo and one hen only. I also bought 3 more EE chicks. The roo started being a problem so i ketp three of his sons and got rid of the father. So of the blue eggs, I have three boys, fertilizing their mother and 4 sisters plus 3 other hens that could be related. I've hatched out mostly blue-ish eggs so I'm starting to get IMO EEs that are too closely related. I want to bring in brown eggs from my Barred Rocks and red Sex links - one it will give me green eggs to mix in my egg basket, plus it will give me EE-mix pullets for my new boy that aren't as closely related so I can have diversity in my flock gene pool.

CG

Rather than mess up the genetics, I would look for a new line to add. IF you like hatching look at the BST auctions here on BYC.

Make the green crosses a separate cross. VERY hard to get the blue eggs back once they are mixed with brown.
I guess you are right but I also wanted to keep a piece of my first hens through their daughters (I can be sentimental sometimes). I wouldn't keep the males because they would make blue layers turn green (via the offspring) but keep only "pure" blue boys so I can keep blues in the future. My new boy is from a separate place then where my other EEs came from. He actually is a non-standard Arucana (sp); he has a rump but I guess there's the possibility of rumplessness showing up in the future.

I'm kind of scared to try hatching shipped eggs. That's a lot of money for a small return because I hear you are lucky to get 50% hatch rate on shipped eggs. I bought 16 local eggs and only got 4 of them hatch. I helped one hatch (after all I paid for the eggs and he was taking a long time to get out of the shell) and it wasn't totally ready (I guess something prevented him from absorbing the yolk because there wasn't any blood left to absorb). The yolk was smeared all over the other eggs and I think it killed the unhatched eggs (these plus my EE eggs) and of course, the yolky chick died too. I ended up with only three chicks, and right now I can only find 2 of them (they lost their identifying leg bands and I can only identify 2 by their feather pattern). Anyway, I'd be a Nervous Nelly during hatch time on shipped eggs. I must get better at hatching before I try something that has a built in failure rate.

CG
WHen other eggs get covered with yolk you can wash them inwarm water to remove as much as possible , as the yolk will clog the pores of the egg shell.

I understand the hatching of shipped eggs. I've spent about $100 and have one pullet to show for it. BUt they are rare and so to get that breed I can only get them via eggs.

Do what ever works for you. WHen you have better hatching rates on local eggs then go for shipped eggs.

 

[CGinJCMO]

WHen other eggs get covered with yolk you can wash them in warm water to remove as much as possible , as the yolk will clog the pores of the egg shell.

I understand the hatching of shipped eggs. I've spent about $100 and have one pullet to show for it. BUt they are rare and so to get that breed I can only get them via eggs.

Do what ever works for you. WHen you have better hatching rates on local eggs then go for shipped eggs.

Tried washing with the next batch of eggs that hatched and also had a slightly yolky chick crawling on the eggs. I didn't see the chick hatch so not sure how long the eggs had yolk on them before they were washed. Of the ones that still hatched, a lot of the chicks died after hatching. I was doing this at the school where I work and they started hatching earlier than I expected and had to rely on the classroom teacher to keep an eye on them (I do not have a building key and they were pipping on Friday of a three day weekend) so besides being early, I do not know what happened.

$100 for one pullet! Yikes. At least it was female (unless you needed a male).

CG

 

[TonysChickens]

I hate the thermostat on the LG incubator. The slightest turn of the knob will change it by several degrees. It also does not seem to hold temperature very well. It holds steady around 99 or 100 most of the time, but in the morning, i sometimes see 97, and this is with the cheap walmart thermometer that takes a LONG time before a change in temperature is registered. So it was 97 for quite a long time.

ANYHOW, i bought one of those thermostats from ebay, the cheap chinese ones. Someone here on BYC bought it and modded their incubator with it, so I also did.

Wasn't too sure how to wire it up since I wasn't sure if the voltages on the LG heating element was right. Anyhow, it was much simpler than I thought. I used the relay switch in the thermostat to wire up the black wire of the heating element to the ground wire of the plug, and kept the white wire directly connected to the hot wire of the plug.

Heres some photos.

The thermostat is holding temperature quite good. It has options for delta, heating/cooling, etc. It appears to be pre calibrated since I measured it with another themometer and it matches up with the others.
The wires on the left side are the 110V AC power from the plug. One of the plug's wires go to the relay switch on the thermostat, and the other wire goes directly to the heating element. The heating element's other wire goes to the relay switch as well. When the thermostat triggers, it just connects the wires in the switch.
The wires on the right side is the 12V DC power source. I also connect that same power to my 12V computer fan I have installed.

More from the other side. Notice I took out the original thermostat, and I inserted the new thermostat's probe into the hole where the knob used to be, and make it hang all the way to the level of the eggs.

So far this thermostat holds the temperature within 1/2 degrees. I have a min/max thermostat reading from it. I set the delta in this thermostat to .3 degrees C. yes, it goes by celcius only.

I did this same mod to my hovabator as well earlier before, so I know it works already.

So I just have this here for future reference for anyone using a similar mod.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Being 3 days early tell you the temps were running a bit high. When chicks hatch early or late, the further fromt he due date, the survival rate decreases from all that I have read, and have experienced. Live and learn. Much of incubating at school is out of your hands I'm sorry to say. HOpefully the kids got to see a few chicks!

She is a pullet and babies the other chicks. lol ANd yes, this time I would rather a girl as another boy is another headache.

 

[cmom]

Tried washing with the next batch of eggs that hatched and also had a slightly yolky chick crawling on the eggs. I didn't see the chick hatch so not sure how long the eggs had yolk on them before they were washed. Of the ones that still hatched, a lot of the chicks died after hatching. I was doing this at the school where I work and they started hatching earlier than I expected and had to rely on the classroom teacher to keep an eye on them (I do not have a building key and they were pipping on Friday of a three day weekend) so besides being early, I do not know what happened.

$100 for one pullet! Yikes. At least it was female (unless you needed a male).

CG

I usually set my eggs up in my incubator earlier in the week like on a Tuesday or Wednesday and 3 weeks later on a Tuesday or Wednesday they usually hatch. I have had them hatch a day early but most hatch out on their due date.

 

[CGinJCMO]

Quote: Being 3 days early tell you the temps were running a bit high. When chicks hatch early or late, the further fromt he due date, the survival rate decreases from all that I have read, and have experienced. Live and learn. Much of incubating at school is out of your hands I'm sorry to say. HOpefully the kids got to see a few chicks!

She is a pullet and babies the other chicks. lol ANd yes, this time I would rather a girl as another boy is another headache.

I figured the air conditioner is off nights/weekends (heat is off in winter then too because I get cold working the basketball games) and allowed the temperatures to be warmer thus speeding them up. As for the kids getting to see a few chicks, they didn't and it was hard to see them and tell them that there weren't any chicks to see in the classroom (only 3 survived but had over a dozen hatch). Teacher had me take them home Monday (back to school on Tuesday) because of so many chicks dying and the smell from the incubator was too strong for her (she ended up being ill from something else but it probably made her more sensitive to the odor). I had done an incubation for another teacher a few months earlier and I took a couple of chicks to her classroom to show off but not all the kids were in there and they didn't get to see hatching. I don't know if the teacher will want to try again but might try it during a cooler time period.

CG

 

[CGinJCMO]

I usually set my eggs up in my incubator earlier in the week like on a Tuesday or Wednesday and 3 weeks later on a Tuesday or Wednesday they usually hatch. I have had them hatch a day early but most hatch out on their due date.

The plan was to have them start pipping on Monday and we'd come back to school on Tuesday and see fluffy or wet babies and continue to see babies hatch Wed and hopefully be done on Thursday when our last day of school was so I could take back no partially pipped or zipped eggs. I came to take eggs out of the turner on Friday, and was surprised to hear peeping. You know what they say about best laid plans...

CG

 

[Arielle]

I figured the air conditioner is off nights/weekends (heat is off in winter then too because I get cold working the basketball games) and allowed the temperatures to be warmer thus speeding them up. As for the kids getting to see a few chicks, they didn't and it was hard to see them and tell them that there weren't any chicks to see in the classroom (only 3 survived but had over a dozen hatch). Teacher had me take them home Monday (back to school on Tuesday) because of so many chicks dying and the smell from the incubator was too strong for her (she ended up being ill from something else but it probably made her more sensitive to the odor). I had done an incubation for another teacher a few months earlier and I took a couple of chicks to her classroom to show off but not all the kids were in there and they didn't get to see hatching. I don't know if the teacher will want to try again but might try it during a cooler time period.

CG

Yup, trying to incubate at school is a trial.

I'l thrilled that you keep trying to help children see the chicks. Kids these days often neer get to see an animal, so many families don't have pets and so very very few have any farm anmals at all. Kudos to you.

 

[quailtrail]

Ok so candled 10 shipped silkie sizzles 7 with great development. ..one even still has a saddle air cell!!!

Our own 5 from our broody as she switched boxes ...one is an olive and we can't see thru then 2 with nothing and 2 with lively movement!

Have 12 that are day #5 today.

 

[Sylviaanne]

Ok so candled 10 shipped silkie sizzles 7 with great development. ..one even still has a saddle air cell!!!

Our own 5 from our broody as she switched boxes ...one is an olive and we can't see thru then 2 with nothing and 2 with lively movement!

Have 12 that are day #5 today.

What day are the 5 from your broody on?