Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[Arielle]

Quote:
The picture you provide has the baby jar in the corner of the incubator but I don't see any holes that would line up with it.

THe breathing holes in my LG are tiny, 1/4 inch holes in 2 rows across the top of the LG. 8 holes total, with one in each corner. Perhaps not all models are the same?

 

[al6517]

LG owners always have issues with temp & Humidity, ever wonder why, one reason for all the wild temp swing's in the LG is in the styrofoam itself, it's of very poor quality, the pours are open and the density is to light. It's just cheap chinese styrofoam that has a hard time insulating what's happening inside. But keep in mind that is only one of the problems, and as you LG owners know there are a passle more issues. wish Ya'll luck though.

 

[ChicwannaB]

I do wish the LG9200 had a better window system, won't be able to see squat when the "event" happens.

 

[jabowery]

Quote:
The picture you provide has the baby jar in the corner of the incubator but I don't see any holes that would line up with it.

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee237/aliedaw1/IMG_3429-1.jpg

Ah! You enlarged two of the SMALL holes! I get it.

That would, of course, change air circulation somewhat but you are successful with that. Who am I to argue with success?

 

[cmom]

Quote:
The picture you provide has the baby jar in the corner of the incubator but I don't see any holes that would line up with it.

THe breathing holes in my LG are tiny, 1/4 inch holes in 2 rows across the top of the LG. 8 holes total, with one in each corner. Perhaps not all models are the same?

No I didn't enlarge the holes. The holes are tiny but They work.

 

[ChicwannaB]

I just looked at mine, it has them

 

[jabowery]

Quote:
THe breathing holes in my LG are tiny, 1/4 inch holes in 2 rows across the top of the LG. 8 holes total, with one in each corner. Perhaps not all models are the same?

No I didn't enlarge the holes. The holes are tiny but They work.
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee237/aliedaw1/IMG_3561.jpghttp://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee237/aliedaw1/IMG_3562.jpg

The squeeze bottle picture in your original post had a straw attached to the tapered pipes, and that straw looked like it would require bigger holes.

What does one ask for when one goes to a store to buy those squeeze bottles with the tapered pipes?

The more accessible the parts you use are, the more likely your results are to be replicable by others. I'm trying to compile an easy to follow recipe that is ultimately a lot less expensive than a higher priced incubator that may require less labor to achieve your kind of results.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
No I didn't enlarge the holes. The holes are tiny but They work.
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee237/aliedaw1/IMG_3561.jpghttp://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee237/aliedaw1/IMG_3562.jpg

The squeeze bottle picture in your original post had a straw attached to the tapered pipes, and that straw looked like it would require bigger holes.

What does one ask for when one goes to a store to buy those squeeze bottles with the tapered pipes? Wash Bottle

The more accessible the parts you use are, the more likely your results are to be replicable by others. I'm trying to compile an easy to follow recipe that is ultimately a lot less expensive than a higher priced incubator that may require less labor to achieve your kind of results.

I use the straw to put water in the channels in the bottom of the incubator through the bigger hole.
I don't remember where we ordered out bottles from but I came across these.
http://www.amazon.com/Narrow-Mouth-...PLCC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1323139147&sr=8-3

 

[jabowery]

6 more chicks this morning! That makes 12.

Quote:
Well, so much for that idea! Two more chicks hatched yesterday morning and one of them got caught in the fan. It wasn't hurt and both chicks are doing fine but I did open up the LG to take out the fan so I could put cheese cloth over it with a hot glue gun holding the edges taught. I also took the chicks out and put them in the rabbit cage with the first hatchling. They're peeping away and chowing down.

No hatches since yesterday morning.

A couple more chicks hatched a few days ago, and I decided to take them out and put in the corner jars recommended by cmom, as well as a Sunbeam hygrometer from Walmart that cost under $4 (its back with the humidifiers).

That made 6 chicks in the rabbit cage, and, by keeping 3 containers of water with little hand cloths in them full as well as the troughs in the bottom full (it was really too late to lift up the wire grid and put a towel under it) the humidity is near 60%.

I seem to need to tweak the temperature more with this arrangement. Also, it takes a while for the thermometer to get a good reading, and while it is in the hole, it blocks half the circulation (at least of the big holes). So I started leaving the thermometers out. I should probably get a thermometer that I can leave inside and read through the window, the way I do the hygrometer. The problem is the medical thermometers give the maximum reading over a time span, and that would mean opening the incubator for every reading. I need a cheap thermometer that has high accuracy and doesn't need "resetting". Too bad Sunbeam doesn't make a thermometer to go with their hygrometer.

Then this morning, there were all of a sudden 6 chicks in there, with more cracking their eggs!

 

[ChicwannaB]

Quote:
Well, so much for that idea! Two more chicks hatched yesterday morning and one of them got caught in the fan. It wasn't hurt and both chicks are doing fine but I did open up the LG to take out the fan so I could put cheese cloth over it with a hot glue gun holding the edges taught. I also took the chicks out and put them in the rabbit cage with the first hatchling. They're peeping away and chowing down.

No hatches since yesterday morning.

A couple more chicks hatched a few days ago, and I decided to take them out and put in the corner jars recommended by cmom, as well as a Sunbeam hygrometer from Walmart that cost under $4 (its back with the humidifiers).

That made 6 chicks in the rabbit cage, and, by keeping 3 containers of water with little hand cloths in them full as well as the troughs in the bottom full (it was really too late to lift up the wire grid and put a towel under it) the humidity is near 60%.

I seem to need to tweak the temperature more with this arrangement. Also, it takes a while for the thermometer to get a good reading, and while it is in the hole, it blocks half the circulation (at least of the big holes). So I started leaving the thermometers out. I should probably get a thermometer that I can leave inside and read through the window, the way I do the hygrometer. The problem is the medical thermometers give the maximum reading over a time span, and that would mean opening the incubator for every reading. I need a cheap thermometer that has high accuracy and doesn't need "resetting". Too bad Sunbeam doesn't make a thermometer to go with their hygrometer.

Then this morning, there were all of a sudden 6 chicks in there, with more cracking their eggs!

Are you in a southern climate?? What do you do with hatched chicks if you are northern? Keep them IN till spring arrives.
I really really jumped the gun I think starting eggs in Dec cause I won't get a hatch till Janueary. Never having done this before at ALL in my life I'm trying to figger where I can set up a brooder and keep it protected in a house with 5 terriers and 3 cats, and then once the babies are featherd, they'll probably still have to be protected because Im in mid-Michigan and wibnter has only just begun.