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

[bufforp89]

I have had alot of success with my LG. Once I get it to the proper temp I never touch the knob until that hatch is over. I elevate it with two books so that there is air circulation under the unit and cover it with a blanket if it gets chilly. Have had 7 good hatches using this method with the 8th in now and all my hatches have been 95-100% sucessful.

 

[mayberrygirl]

I have my silkie eggs in the LG and this is only the second time using it - temps are wild beyond belief. As soon as my big hatch (well big to me) is done I am moving the silkies over to the hovabator and maybe work on making my own.

 

[nonseq]

I have had temps all over the place this morning. I think it is stabilized now, but since 6:30am it has gone from 102 to 95 and back up to 99F. And I hope that is good enough. Because I don't know what else to do.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I HATE the LG's Bought one with all the bells and whistles and used it a whopping 3 times with horrible hatches everytime. They are junk IMO so I sold it and cut my losses.

 

[Vanessabuffsnsilkies]

Have an LG, just received my Genesis 1588 yesterday. It's a really nice incubator. Just plugged it in, added a little water, waited a few hours to check it and it's held steady at 100 degrees since. I will still use the LG as a hatcher.

 

[clarmayfarm]

Hi,

One thing I learned with my LG (and I am not experienced yet) is that the less I messed with the temp knob, the better. If things get too hot, I would lift the lid for a few seconds to cool it down.

 

[Manda0227]

We're only on our second incubation right now, but the thing was on for like a week (fiance is a perfectionist!) just to make sure the temps would hold, and to work out any bugs. We got the eggs after the bator was set up, but I understand stuff happens! Anyways, we've noticed as far as the LG still air holding a good temp the room its placed in needs no drafts, and a pretty constant temperature. If we shut a fan off, or leave a door open way too long- it fluctuates. I definitely agree with hatching the babies out first, then worry about the run. If you get a bator, you have 20 days or so to figure out the next step! Even longer if you can set up a brooder inside! Whatever you decide to do- Good luck!!

 

[Sweetfolly]

I borrowed an LG this month to fit all my extra eggs into (I have two Brinsea Octagon 20's, but they were jam-packed full!).

I HATE the LG. I monitored the temperature closely with my Brinsea Spot-Check thermometer, but it fluctuated all over the place. The 'bator was in my bedroom, which is in the basement of a ranch-style house, and the temperature down there is a really constant 67 degrees right now - still, the 'bator couldn't hold a steady temperature.

I had both chicken and duck eggs in there, and they dropped like flies throughout the incubation period. I had a new quitter every time I candled, every week (a batch of the same duck eggs in the Brinsea at the same time had NO quitters at all). Of the chicken eggs, 4 of 9 ended up hatching, but one of the chicks hatched with an unhealed navel and a bulge of intestine hanging out (yes, it was intestine, not yolk - I'm a veterinary assistant, and I definately know the difference!) I carefully pushed it in, put some antibiotic ointment around it and put a bandage on it, but the little one only lived for four days.

The duck hatch was even worse. Out of 15 eggs, only 4 made it to lockdown (which is where they still are right now). They started hatching too early, a full day before lock-down was set to begin, before the humidity was bumped up, so the two that had pipped are hopelessly shrink-wrapped, but I don't want to help them out just yet - they're not supposed to be due until Sunday! We'll see - I have one out, two pipped but stuck, and one that's moving around in the egg, but hasn't pipped yet. They're purebred Dark Campbells and one mutt, so I'm a little ticked that more of them didn't make it.

So, that's my LG rant.

By the way - at $130 after shipping for the Brinsea Octagon 20 Eco, you'd only have to hatch and sell 26 ducklings (that's just over one setting, so two months, really) at $5 each to pay for the 'bator. I'm NEVER putting any of my eggs in an LG again, not for incubating, not even for hatching. I LOVE my Brinsea incubators!

 

[houndit]

I had the same problem! Little Giant Incubator =

I

my G.Q.F. Cabinet incubator.

 

[ginbart]

I know one thing and that is keep it out of the draft and a room where there is not a lot of people moving around in it. That helped mine out greatly. I would not put a towel over mine but that's just me because it covers up the holes on the top.