new bator questions...

[darbella]

Hi everyone, I have made the leap and purchased a Little Giant incubator. I did not get the egg turner or air fan at the time, but will soon. The instructions are not that great at showing what is what on the machine. It states to put water in the water chamber in the bottom of the tray. Are those the 2 small and one large canal type depressions in the base? How quickly does the water dry up? If anyone has had any experiences with this machine, I would greatly appreciate some feedback. Are they safe to leave plugged in and running??? Now I am nervous!

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
The egg turner will make life a lot easier on you by taking over the turning chores but...don't fail to keep a watch on it and make sure that it is doing it's job!

There are plenty of threads on here regarding the LG incubators. Some folks love'em, some folks hate'em.

One thing that seems to be common among all owners is that they state the thermostat control is *VERY SENSITIVE*. You might want to get some kind of a knob to mount on the little stem that raises/lowers the temperature. A larger diameter knob that you can attach to the stem will give you more control over the thermostat by making a slight turn of the bigger knob result in a smaller turn of the stem....basically a "turns reduction" mechanism. Whereas you turn the larger knob a 1/4" you will be turning the small stem maybe only 1/16" or maybe 1/32" thus giving you more precise control over the setting.

Something else that users speak of is keeping the incubator in a room or closet where the room temperature can be kept at a stable temp. The LG incubators are not stable when in an environment where the temperature fluctuates.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[NCIndiaBlue]

I have a Little Giant Still Air incubator, without the auto turner, and have had really good results. I actually have the incubator in my home office because the temp. is always about the same there.
The first thing you want to do is let your incubator run at least a day, make any corrections to the thermostat control, it can take several hours to stabilize the temp. I found that the thermometers that come with the incubator are not that accurate. I went to PetSmart and bought a digital reptile thermometer, it has a long cable/wire with a sensor on the end, I just stick the wire/sensor through one of the vent holes so that it stays right about the top of the egg level (you will want to remove one of the red vent plugs). You will then want to fill all of the water trays, there are 3 total, with warm water. Depending on humidity outside, you can add water weekly or so, just keep a check on it. Also, you want to keep the temp at 102, not 99.5, if your incubator doesn't have a fan.

Once your sure your temp is staying at a constant 102, you can put in your eggs. Let me know if you have any further questions and I'll be happy to help!