Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[Arielle]

Quote:
Yup most ducks are 28. ( Muscovy are about 36).

You are so right about reducing the warm and cool spots via the fan. Which is why I got brave and pulled apart an old pc and did the first wiring of my life. I still remember being nervous and shaky during installation. lol

I move my eggs around even with a fan because IMO there are still slightly warmer and cooler areas in the LG with a fan.

 

[Loc20chick]

This thread has a lot of great information with tricks and tips for incubating in an LG. I guess you may have read this on this thread already but if and when you candle any eggs it is a good idea to move them around because with a still air incubator you will get warm spots and cooler spots. I had still air but have long since put fans in my still air incubators to better circulate the air so I don't have the hot and cool spots. You will still have a good hatch. From my experience the eggs hatch closer together after I converted it to circulate the air. With my still air I could have some eggs hatch a day or two early and some a day or two late but I didn't move them around in the beginning, I just turned them. I have never hatched duck eggs only chicken eggs. Originally I had no turner but very quickly bought a turner too so I didn't have to worry about turning the eggs. I have hatch eggs from a broody that abandoned her nest. Good luck and have fun.

Just a reminder I believe duck eggs take 28 days to incubate. On day 26 the turner should be taken out of the incubator and the eggs laid on the wire for hatching. Several years ago I did raise Pheasants and they also take 28 days to incubate.

Yup most ducks are 28. ( Muscovy are about 36).

You are so right about  reducing the warm and cool spots via the fan. Which is why I got brave and pulled apart an old pc and  did the first wiring of my life. I still remember being nervous and shaky during installation. lol 

I move my eggs around even with a fan because IMO there are still slightly warmer and cooler areas in the LG with a fan.

Thanks again, that's why I like this site, getting tips from others with experience. I need to start moving the eggs I had not done that.

 

[Arielle]

Another method is to rotate the top of the LG as well. Depends on if you have wires exiting due to a turner of course. BUt I did start to get lazy agout moving the eggs around, and started rotating the lid 180 degrees.I do move the eggs as well.

 

[Sylviaanne]

Peep-Show (or anyone), I am having a problem with my LG. For some reason I have forgotten, I put 2 temp/humidity meters in my incubator in opposing corners. At the beginning of last year when I was incubating eggs, I was doing real well with my hatches but as the summer was passing and easing on out, my hatches got worse and worse. I put my incubators up for a couple of months but during that time I was given some geese. When they started to lay last month, I put 5 of the eggs in an incubator, they should be hatching or hatched right now. What I have noticed was that the 2 corners of my incubator are several degrees apart. For instance, this morning the back corner away from me read 106 while the corner to my right and closest to me read 97. I think I know now why my hatches got worse and worse but last night I wrapped a towel around the corner that I though would get the coolest and as you can see by 97 degrees, it didn't help.

What I have been doing is rotating my incubator back and forth and it is NOT always the front right corner that is the coolest. I found some light olive colored eggs out in my henhouse and put them in the incubator 13 days ago and they were developing but now, I wonder what is going to happen. My LG has not been reading 106 as it's high, it has been reading 102 for it's high. I just don't know what to do with the crazy thing.

One other note is that this particular incubator came with an egg turner and I bought it about the time my hatch rate started down hill but the goose eggs were so big that they wouldn't have fit into the egg turner and if I laid them on top and let it roll them, they would have been too close to the heating elements. I put 5 large goose eggs and 2 smaller goose eggs in at the same time and it doesn't look like any of them are going to make it. On the other hand, most of the green eggs and some tan that I found, seem to be doing well since I put them in. I am wondering if the spot where the wire for the egg turner could cause such a draft in my incubator?

 

[cmom]

Another method is to rotate the top of the LG as well. Depends on if you have wires exiting due to a turner of course. BUt I did start to get lazy agout moving the eggs around, and started rotating the lid 180 degrees.I do move the eggs as well.

Good idea, I have turned the lid but not with this thought. I have moved the eggs around and without the turner also turning them over so the heat is move evenly distributed on both sides of the eggs as well as moving them from the center towards the outer edge side and vise versa.

 

[Arielle]

Deep breathe.

I use several thermomters and track the data. THe LG is not a set it and forget it incubator; it is for those that like hands on interaction and monitoring.

I don't know the accuracy of your thermometers. In the end it is the hatching phase that tells me if I have regulated the LG correctly. I don't use a turner but I have heard others talk about the amount of heat it puts out so that would effect the temperature setting.

I follow CHooksCHicks info on using the LG and was successful my first time hatching with a 50% hatch rate which included both turkeys and chicken eggs. Managing humidity and temp is critical to a successful hatch.

Having said all that . . .


if the odd temps have been only in the corners,, and the eggs have been elsewhere, there is no way to know for certain the average temps around the eggs. Generally thinking you would average the two readings you have been getting, but again that only applies if you think the eggs have experienced that same temp.

How they hatch and when they hatch will tell much about how the temps ran: high or low. Sorry this is not much.. Be patient. Monitor the temp in more locations at half the height of the eggs, and average.

 

[cmom]

Peep-Show (or anyone), I am having a problem with my LG. For some reason I have forgotten, I put 2 temp/humidity meters in my incubator in opposing corners. At the beginning of last year when I was incubating eggs, I was doing real well with my hatches but as the summer was passing and easing on out, my hatches got worse and worse. I put my incubators up for a couple of months but during that time I was given some geese. When they started to lay last month, I put 5 of the eggs in an incubator, they should be hatching or hatched right now. What I have noticed was that the 2 corners of my incubator are several degrees apart. For instance, this morning the back corner away from me read 106 while the corner to my right and closest to me read 97. I think I know now why my hatches got worse and worse but last night I wrapped a towel around the corner that I though would get the coolest and as you can see by 97 degrees, it didn't help.

What I have been doing is rotating my incubator back and forth and it is NOT always the front right corner that is the coolest. I found some light olive colored eggs out in my henhouse and put them in the incubator 13 days ago and they were developing but now, I wonder what is going to happen. My LG has not been reading 106 as it's high, it has been reading 102 for it's high. I just don't know what to do with the crazy thing.

One other note is that this particular incubator came with an egg turner and I bought it about the time my hatch rate started down hill but the goose eggs were so big that they wouldn't have fit into the egg turner and if I laid them on top and let it roll them, they would have been too close to the heating elements. I put 5 large goose eggs and 2 smaller goose eggs in at the same time and it doesn't look like any of them are going to make it. On the other hand, most of the green eggs and some tan that I found, seem to be doing well since I put them in. I am wondering if the spot where the wire for the egg turner could cause such a draft in my incubator?

Is your incubator a still air or circulated air? You may want to put a fan in to better circulate the air if it is a still air to help alleviate the hot and cool spots. If you put a computer fan in just make sure the air is blowing up on the lid and not down on the eggs. I had computer fans in my incubators but eventually did buy and replace the computer fans with the Miller LG fans. The closeness to the heating element can definitely be affecting the eggs.

This is the type of fan I put in. the air actually come out the sides of the fan.

This is a fan I originally put in my incubators..

I don't have a current picture of the LG fans I installed and my incubators are tucked away right now up on a top shelf.

 

[Peep_Show]

SylviaAnne -

It could be the heating element (the thick wire thingy) needs replacing. Check where it attaches to make sure it's clean and secure.

The cord hole for the turner does cause a draft... even with a cord in it I stuff extra scraps of Kleenex in there. However, even with the draft the temps shouldn't be that extreme.

Have you moved the thermometers out of their respective corners? It could be you have one that's defective. Too, the turner kicks out a little heat in its operation. Is a thermometer near that? (Note: turner manufacturers do not recommend setting eggs in holes nearest the turner motor because the temp is higher)

All that being said, keep monitoring the temps. It could be that you'll have to incubate in the ideal sweet spots if the problem cannot be solved.

 

[Sylviaanne]

Oh, sorry, I should have said the one I am using has a fan. Also, that I didn't put the egg turner in because I have goose eggs in there that would be too close to the heating element with the egg turner.

Yes, I have traded corners with the meters and there is always still one corner with higher temps. I need to mark the corner or corners that have the highest heat so I can make sure that it is or is not the same corner.

When I found out that one corner was hotter than the rest is when I started rotating the incubator. The room they are in keeps a pretty steady temperature during the summer but during winter, it is cold, not as cold as outside but still cold.

I do rotate the lid as well as the incubator and I wrapped the cooler side with a towel last night. I have goose eggs in there that should have or be hatching right now but possibly because of the messed up heating, they don't seem to be any good. No movement in them as far as I can tell. The chicken eggs are developing and I can see movement in some of them and a couple that I can't see into.

 

[Arielle]

Given that you have development in the chicken eggs don't give up on those goose eggs yet.

THe LG like a steady room temp about 65-75 as I remember-- lost the instruction booklet long ago . . .heeheee. GOt much better info from the folks here.

Idont incubate in the winter because I cant get the room temps close to optimal and the LG cannot compensate sufficiently to deal with a cool room; for the same reason it cannot deal with a room reaching 95 in July. IT has its limites in my experience.

Don't give up on those eggs yet, they just might surprise you.