Most ridiculous features on an incubator, what’s your favorite?

[Susan Skylark]

First don’t panic, the temp is wrong I have external thermometers, also my humidity jumps around something awful but the chicks hatch fine so ignore that too, rather notice the Day 55 of incubation, and no these aren’t emu eggs. Rather it is day 3 of my fourth batch of quail. I can’t figure out how to reset the days of incubation, even shutting it off for a month doesn’t do it, so it is an odometer instead of a handy reminder of what day I’m on! I wonder what happens when it goes 3 digits?

What is your funniest, strangest, or most frustrating feature on an incubator that you’ve experienced, it can be a real feature or a malfunction and no, the thermometer doesn’t count as they are usually wrong in many models!

 

[Sc_chickengirl]

My first incubator was a farmer’s innovators from tractor supply. Could not keep up a constant temperature at all. It spiked to 119 one time.

 

[AmericanDwarfChicken]

I have a little quail egg incubator, it’s nice, but I can’t control the temperature. While yes, it does hold 100 degrees fahrenheit, I needed it to cool down to 99 degrees for a chicken breed that I own.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My most frustrating feature on my old Hovabator 1588 was the dip switches for temperature control. They have since switched to digital controls which I consider an upgrade. Once they were set, the dip switches were excellent in maintaining temperature but they were a pain to adjust and get to the correct settings. I do not mean to imply that I had to reset it often. I did not. Once I got them right they stayed right for all subsequent hatches.

I carefully followed instructions but instead of tweaking it 1 degree it would jump 5 or 10 degrees, totally out of range. It took a lot longer to get it set correctly than it should have. Really frustrating.

 

[AmericanDwarfChicken]

My most frustrating feature on my old Hovabator 1588 was the dip switches for temperature control. They have since switched to digital controls which I consider an upgrade. Once they were set, the dip switches were excellent in maintaining temperature but they were a pain to adjust and get to the correct settings. I do not mean to imply that I had to reset it often. I did not. Once I got them right they stayed right for all subsequent hatches.

I carefully followed instructions but instead of tweaking it 1 degree it would jump 5 or 10 degrees, totally out of range. It took a lot longer to get it set correctly than it should have. Really frustrating.

do not upgrade your hovabator. The new ones aren’t as good as the old ones, they use cheaper materials, thinner styrofoam, and they usually don’t hold heat all too well

 

[Susan Skylark]

We are on day 99, apparently forever, what a great feature!