NOT so impressed with the LG (UPDATE: PIPS!!)

Using an LG as a hatcher. I was so impressed with how it held temps steady at first, but now it fluctuates so wildly it's driving me insane. Mostly it gets warm during the day and cold at night, but sometimes it fluctuates during the day too.

And right now I'm not sure what to do because the in-incubator thermometer registers 102 degrees, but the more-accurate probe thermometer says 94, and they are not usually that wildly off from each other. I just replaced the batteries in the in-incubator therm to see if that's the problem. I'd do the same for the probe, but it takes a watch battery and I don't have one handy.

I don't really need advice or anything. I knew the perils of the LG when I bought it, and I know it's a cheap bator. I just wanted to post an update to add to the general body of knowledge about the LG.

Anyway--we'll see how the hatch goes. I hope well. We'll see.

 

Thanks, guys. It's brand new. And yeah, I did my research--I knew what I was getting into. My understanding is that temps don't matter as much during the hatch, so a lot of people--including several I know actually IRL, amazingly enough--use them as hatchers, because they're a cheap way to run staggered hatches without the complications of hatching in a bator full of younger eggs. So I know they can be very successful as hatchers, and my current set-up really calls for economical ways of doing things (i.e., I don't have much money for this!). So I will make it work. It's just frustrating, and I wanted to put it on the record that the Hovabator (which is what my primary incubator is) is a far superior machine, in my opinion. But I guess everyone already knows that.

 

Oh, thank you for that! I'm going to get it so that the temp is right at the peak of the day's heat (to avoid the danger of upward temp spikes), then I'll stop messing with it and just throw towels over it when I know it's going to get cooler in here. Thank you SO much for that tip.

The babies have still not pipped, which is weird because they usually pip a couple days early and they are due Saturday (i.e., they usually pip Tuesday night or Wednesday morning), but that may have to do with slightly lower temps while I had another batch locked down with them in my Hova before I got the LG. They are still alive--or at least, the one I candled this morning was--and either internally pipped or working at it.

Temp was really good this morning.

Mandyp--when there's a discrepancy between my digital in-bator thermometer and the fancy probe thermometer (I got it from Hoegger's Goat Supply--it's for pasteurizing milk, but it's rated for use in air or liquid and has a guaranteed accuracy to 0.1 degree F), I always go with the fancy probe. I think that must be right this time too, because the eggs would be cooked by now if the other thermometer were correct (it's been reading 104 for days). But it still always freaks me out.

I know the Brinsea's are awesome machines. I'd love to have one some day, but this operation has to pay for itself or I can't afford to do it right now, and there's no way the Brinsea can pay for itself with the cost of it and the number of eggs it holds. So sadly, I'm stuck with cheap bators for now.

We are planning to build a cabinet incubator, but we have so many other livestock projects right now that it will be a while before we get to it.

Thanks so much, both for the sympathy and the advice. I really appreciate it!