Little giant incubator

i started with little giants.

they are great for beginners, but need to be kept in a constant temperature to work properly. the main drawback of them, is being styrofoam they will absorb bacteria. after several straight hatches they will have bacterial buildup, bleach and water isnt enough to solve the issue when it happens. if it starts happening to you, just post about it, several people have came up with ideas that work well. if your just hatching a few every now and then, it shouldn't be an issue.

i had the best luck hatching with them when i only filled either the round water trough, or the 2 straight ones for the first 18 days, i ran it with one plug in. after day 18 i filled all the water troughs and took out the second plug. open the lid for 15 or so minutes a day and let the eggs cool a little, on the first 18 days.
 
i started with little giants.

they are great for beginners, but need to be kept in a constant temperature to work properly. the main drawback of them, is being styrofoam they will absorb bacteria.  after several straight hatches they will have bacterial buildup, bleach and water isnt enough to solve the issue when it happens.  if it starts happening to you, just post about it, several people have came up with ideas that work well.  if your just hatching a few every now and then, it shouldn't be an issue.

i had the best luck hatching with them when i only filled either the round water trough, or the 2 straight ones for the first 18 days, i ran it with one plug in.  after day 18 i filled all the water troughs and took out the second plug.  open the lid for 15 or so minutes a day and let the eggs cool a little, on the first 18 days.


Well I have one with no fan just a auto turner and heat. It has these sponges called humid pads and plus, I need to clean it because it's just been so long.
 
There is a plastic liner that you can get for the Little Giant incubator. It is a good investment. This liner keeps ALL the poop from getting on the Styrofoam. You just lift it out of the incubator and wash it.
 
There is a plastic liner that you can get for the Little Giant incubator. It is a good investment. This liner keeps ALL the poop from getting on the Styrofoam. You just lift it out of the incubator and wash it.
i have only seen these for hovabators, do you have a link- i would love to recommend them.
 
I wish I had some type of plastic tray for the TOP of my LG!

I incubate year-round. And every time I have a sick chicken inside the house, the top of the incubator is their favorite spot to be. But obviously, they poop all over it. This last time I just took the incubator completely apart, wiring and all, and tossed the non-electrical parts in the dishwasher - first with vinegar, then with bleach. So it came clean, but I still wish I didn't have to interrupt my hatching to do that every other month.

My last "infirmary" chicken I had was my bantam D'uccle roo, Harry. He had a growth on his foot (part bumblefoot, part tumor) that I had to cut off. Not only did he like to sit on top of the incubator during his recovery, apparently he also liked to peck at it and eat the sytrofoam!

In spring, when Tractor Supply discounts their 'bators, I plan to buy at least one more. I was going to use the extra one for back-up while the first one was being cleaned. But I might just buy two, and toss this original one.
 
By the way, here's some instructions for cleaning the LG incubator in the dishwasher.

First of all, this ONLY assumes you will be cleaning the bottom half, plus egg turner. But for most people, the top half rarely gets dirty anyway.
Take the incubator apart, and remove all electrical components. If you have the turner, just unscrew the motor from the fixture and take the turner apart that way.

Now the actual bottom styrofoam piece needs to go in the TOP SHELF of the dishwasher, up-side down. As a solid piece, water can't get past it easily, so if you put it in the bottom, it will BLOCK the top. Simply lay it flat on the top rack of the dishwasher. Don't try to put it on it's side, lean it slightly to one side or anything. Just lay it flat on top of the pegs. And make sure the inside of the styrofoam faces DOWN towards the main water sprayer.

All of the other pieces go in the bottom of the dishwasher. The wire grate piece may need to be bent to fit. That's fine, just don't CREASE the bend. Make sure it's simply CURVED over like a rainbow. The egg turner pieces should lay with the ends in front and back. This will keep them from slipping to the side and preventing you from pulling the bottom rack out when it's all done. And if you feel like doing so, you can add the two plastic viewing windows in the bottom rack as well.


Typically I run mine twice. The first time I use ONLY vinegar - and lots of it. I've been known to use an entire gallon of vinegar on it before. It doesn't harm the chickens at all. But chicken poop contains the "urine" as well, and it's LOADED with calcium, which gets stuck to everything and feels hard as a rock later on. If you have ever tried to scrub calcium deposits from something (such as an aquarium) you know it's not easy. But vinegar breaks this stuff up. Vinegar also works on actually cleaning most surfaces, but just in case....

The second load I run with either dishwasher detergent or bleach. Most dishwasher detergents these days have bleach in it. But plain bleach is cheaper and just as effective. The vinegar from the first run however, will typically react with soaps and bleach and create some pretty bad fumes. That's why you have to run it separately. You don't HAVE to run the incubator twice. You can run it in just vinegar and hope it killed all of the germs. Or you can run it in plain bleach (or dishwasher detergent) and not worry about calcium deposits or build up. It's up to you. But I run it twice.


If you need to wash the top part of the incubator, take it apart once again to remove all electrical components (I recommend marking wires with nail polish), and run it in the bottom rack, inside facing down, with everything else underneath it. If you have one like mine where a big stream of water comes up the middle to enter a spray bar for the top rack, then make sure one of the now-empty viewing windows is positioned over this center spray so it can still reach the top.
 

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