Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[Arielle]

THat's a great idea! Sorry I didn't know they could come out. ( I don't have turners) Try to start with warm water, close to 100 or slightly higher. Easier to cool it down that to raise it up.

Night time temepratures hit the lowest outside about 5am, my house hits the low a little after that and the LG a liitte after that.

I use a few human thermometers because they record the highest temps (when I'm checking for spiking) and don't dec until I shake them down. PITA but very informative. ANd this is where a water wiggler is helpful. A high air temperature is NOT the same as the egg coming up to that temperature. SO a water wiggler can be helpful understanding there is a delay in the air temperatures raising the eggs temps.

 

[Lisa Pedro]

101 for a LG with a fan is fine. realize that this machine has different temperatures in different locations, so rotating the eggs to different places is good to. I carefully pick up the carton and relocate it.

For anyone using the still LG the temps must be 102 on top of the eggs, so depending on how big the eggs are and how high the cardboard cartons are, this can vary.

Some people use rings, like cut toilet paper rolls to set the eggs in. THis seems to allow more tipping of the eggs without getting the eggs too high in a still LG.

I have hatched both ways. Generally I prefer to hatch the eggs the same way they were incubated. YOu have time to research this before day 18. THe general thinking is that in a still air the eggs will be moved to a slightly cooler zone when moved from a carton to on it's side. For turkey eggs this is especially a good idea ( slightly cooler temps when using very high humidity).

Thank you for all of you help. The temp stayed at 102 all night. The only thing that changed was the humidity, it went down to 24. It rose some as the day has progressed. I added 4 jars full of water with lids yesterday. So the last thing I am wondering about is the turning. I brought in some egg cartons to cut the bottoms out of. From your posts, it sounds like the big side of the egg is up but that you try to tilt the egg to the side alittle in the cartons. I know you said that you just stick something under the carton to tip it from side to side, but do you rotate the eggs in the cups of the carton as well? And if so, how much of a rotation do they need? 1/2 turn, 1/4 turn, 1/3 turn? Or is it one or the other? Choose to tip or choose to rotate? Sorry for all the questions. Just want to figure it all out. I got an email saying my eggs are on there way. Thanks.

 

[SunnySkies]

For those of you using the LG automatic turner, what temperature decrease do you experience when the turner is removed on day 18.

 

Mine drops 1-2 degrees.

 

[cmom]

 

[Lisa Pedro]

When incubating you are ok with the humidity drop. Since you are using a still air incubator, I would hand turn the eggs and move them around to different spots. With a still air incubator you get cool and hot spots. With a circulated air incubator the air moves around in the incubator the the temp stays more even throughout the incubator. If you decide to put the eggs in a tray you do not need to rotate the eggs if you are turning them either by hand or with something under the tray. I have incubated this way before with the pulp trays and found the eggs got too hot that were close to the heating element in the LG. The pulp egg trays in either my homemade or Hova-Bators worked better and they are deeper.

I now have a turner but used to turn by hand.
If you are going to hand turn the eggs I would turn them around 7am, 3pm and 11pm. Also I would put an X on one side of the egg and an O on the other side of the egg and always turn the eggs in the same direction so that at 7am all of the X's are up, at 3pm the O's are up and 11pm the X's are up. Then the opposite the next day. Just my suggestions. Here are a couple of pictures a friend of mine took to illustrate.

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Thanks Cmom. I was still going back and forth about whether to put them in a carton or just laying them in the incubator. I just keep thinking that a hen does not keep her eggs large end up. What do you mean by "pulp tray"? Cardboard carton? I read on one thread someone said not to use cardboard cartons and another person on a different thread said don't use styrafoam cartons. That is confusing, lol.
Since I see x's on your eggs, does that mean you just lay yours down and do not use a carton?
I saw a video of eggs hatching on youtube yesterday and they put a towel on the bottom and made a small fold and laid the large end on the fold to raise it slightly. I just went and looked it up again so you could see the towel. Is the towel a good idea or bad idea? What do you think? Thanks.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Some people use an egg carton for all incubating eggs, not just shipped eggs. Since you are using the egg carton to hold shipped eggs upright, you only tip the carton, not the individual egg.

Here is my concern--where are you measuring the 102 temps? I fyou envision the eggs being tipped , in a still air incubator the eggs highest to the heating element are in a warmer layer of air. Possibly too warm.

Sorry I can't remember are you using a fan? or still air??

My suggestion is to put the eggs in rings and hand turn them; then they are all the same distance from the heating elements all the time. Does this make sense??

ANd use of a fan increases success rates as well.

You have time to get this set up--breath. THe eggs will hold. Better to have the temps stable than risk a spike .

 

[Lisa Pedro]

Some people use an egg carton for all incubating eggs, not just shipped eggs. Since you are using the egg carton to hold shipped eggs upright, you only tip the carton, not the individual egg.

Here is my concern--where are you measuring the 102 temps? I fyou envision the eggs being tipped , in a still air incubator the eggs highest to the heating element are in a warmer layer of air. Possibly too warm.

Sorry I can't remember are you using a fan? or still air??

My suggestion is to put the eggs in rings and hand turn them; then they are all the same distance from the heating elements all the time. Does this make sense??

ANd use of a fan increases success rates as well.

You have time to get this set up--breath. THe eggs will hold. Better to have the temps stable than risk a spike .

It is still air. I will get a fan for the next hatch. I have moved these around and consistantly gotten 102 on all of them. I even sat the LG thermometer on top of the black humidity/thermometer and still got 102. So it seems to be pretty even. Now what would be the difference between laying the eggs down on the mesh and laying them on a ring sideways. Is the ring an improvement? Giving a better hatch rate? Just wondering. Thanks.

 

[Arielle]

Temperature needs to measured at the TOP of the egg, not the floor level. You will cook the eggs.

Don't worry-- you have time to work this out.

Still air with shipped eggs in egg cartons is not ideal. Let me brain storm . . ... .

THe first 5 days the eggs will be in an eggcarton ( bottoms cut away) and let sit . I turn mine just a little as if to let them know "momma hen" is here and turning them but not actually moving them much. .

OK , perhaps yu can cut the egg carton in half the long ways, to make a strip of 1 egg by 6 eggs, and lean them against the side of the incubator at 45 degrees, then "turn them" by tipping 90 degrees to tip the other way. YOu can lean all the strips against each other, turning one strip of 6 eggs at a time at a time. ( I've done this with5 dozen eggs in 5 egg containers)

By putting eggs in 1 x 6 egg strips the height is made the same for all the eggs.

Use some eggs now( I have blown out eggs to do this) to set this up to get the thermometer on top of the eggs and get the temperature knob reset.

Does this make sense??

 

[Lisa Pedro]

Temperature needs to measured at the TOP of the egg, not the floor level. You will cook the eggs.

Don't worry-- you have time to work this out.

Still air with shipped eggs in egg cartons is not ideal. Let me brain storm . . ... .

THe first 5 days the eggs will be in an eggcarton ( bottoms cut away) and let sit . I turn mine just a little as if to let them know "momma hen" is here and turning them but not actually moving them much. .

OK , perhaps yu can cut the egg carton in half the long ways, to make a strip of 1 egg by 6 eggs, and lean them against the side of the incubator at 45 degrees, then "turn them" by tipping 90 degrees to tip the other way. YOu can lean all the strips against each other, turning one strip of 6 eggs at a time at a time. ( I've done this with5 dozen eggs in 5 egg containers)

By putting eggs in 1 x 6 egg strips the height is made the same for all the eggs.

Use some eggs now( I have blown out eggs to do this) to set this up to get the thermometer on top of the eggs and get the temperature knob reset.

Does this make sense??

So I think you are saying stick something (lightweight or hollow) in there that is equal to the height of the eggs and put the thermometer on top of it and check the reading. I can do that.

 

[Lisa Pedro]

So I think you are saying stick something (lightweight or hollow) in there that is equal to the height of the eggs and put the thermometer on top of it and check the reading. I can do that.

I blew out eating egg and put it in and sat the thermometer on top of it. Just waiting for the temp to adjust.