little giant incubator

They don't care what species they are, as long as they are bird babies of some sort, and of a species that runs around soon after hatching. It wouldn't work to hatch, say, robins, under a hen, for example. But chickens will hatch and raise chicks, poults, keets, ducks, geese, peachicks, and I'm sure they raise others just as well. I don't know how well turkeys will do with chicks or keets, I haven't tried that, and I don't know if guineas are any good at cross-species parenting. I've only personally hatched multiple species under chickens.

I wouldn't hatch non-aquatic species under ducks or geese, in case momma tried to teach them to swim. I know of somebody who had a duck mom drown a bunch of chicks that way. She was freaked out because her babies didn't swim right, and the chicks all died. Very sad.

Algopurple, rocks and leghorns can cross, it wouldn't affect whether her eggs are fertile unless the size difference prevents good contact when mating. Often they manage just fine anyway, even if we think they can't. Wait 10 days, candle the egg, and if there's no development, take it out then. There's no reason at all to remove eggs before 10 days, just because you don't know whether they're fertile or not. You don't really know whether any of them are fertile until you see development. If you don't know how to candle, or can't tell for sure, leave it in. See if it hatches. Anything that didn't hatch within 3-5 days past the due date, remove and discard then.
 
Thanks Jenny, enjoyed reading your post!
Think I will just leave the leggon egg in the bator and see. Don't like to open it if I don't have to.
 
I just got done with my first hatch in my lg still air. out of shipped eggs 7 of 13 were fertile 6 hatched the last one is pipped i also had 6 of my barnyard mix 5 out of 6 were fertile and all 5 hatched. i kept hearing how air flow made for issues with this incubator so on day 14 i took the second plug out for more air for the developing eggs. i had the lg in a room with no temp changes and didn't have any fluctuation with incubator temp. for a less expensive incubator it did great for me and this was only my second hatch ever and first with my LG.
 
Im LG'ing here also, brand new for my 50th bday last week...Im on day 9 of bating....I candled today Im doing good it looks like...I have chicks moving in the eggs!!!!
big_smile.png
big_smile.png
Sorry its my "first time"...my only problem is:

the middle rack I had 4 eggs explode, or pop...they are stuck in the slots, got 2 out, and still have 2 in, how do I remove them so they dont contaminate the others? and do I take them all out to clean my bator??? how does this effect the temp when I put the eggs back. I only lost 4 egg RIRs this way.

I have 13 Buff Orps, 4 Cuckoo Marans and 8 RIRs all with chicks/movement!!! My temp keeps at 98.0 and 57%. Im EXCITED!!! The room has the A/C off its our what we call storage room...what it is..is an apt next door like a small house. That where I have my bator so I can regulate the temps in the room to low.
 
I use a little giant..9200...at first humidity was hard for me, but I was reading alot of different %'s and that was confusing.

Im in the process of hatching since last night, and so far...its been great!!!

36033_dsc_0708.jpg


temp Ive kept at 98- mostly 99 not 99.5....and humidity has been as high as 77% when I put a moist hand towel in it, took it out, and its been 68%-71% so far so good
 
Not bad, lotsa pretty babies. Good job!

I hatched 17 out of 23, then 10 out of 11. Now I have 7 eggs under a hen, I had chicks hatching under hens the same time as the 17, too. I snuck 10 of the 17 under the hens with new chicks. The other seven are in a section of the coop separate from the rest of the flock, along with the 10 that hatched 10 days later. I've got babies all over the place.
 
Quote:
Just FYI, not a single one of these eggs hatched.

Oh, well. Lesson learned. Never use the expensive eggs while you are still learning to incubate.

I bought a second LG with a fan and egg turner at an auction and I'm using two dozen Guinea eggs I got for a buck and a half to test it out. Temps remain constant and I've been candling them. Progress is good so far!
 
Quote:
Where on earth did you find 2 doz. guinea eggs for $1.50? That's The Grand Bargain of the month, what a score!

If you get a good hatch and don't want that many guineas, the keets should be really easy to sell. I've never found any for less than $4 each. Always paid at least $10 for adults.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom