Now I'm confused.....!!???

[NestingHillsSC]

True but it is too BIG!!!!


See how big it is. I actually have to set it on the top tray. So that tray is useless to me. Otherwise the fan blows to hard across the eggs. If if they hatch it would be blow right no them. And worry about them running into it. LOL I think it really need 1 or to 4" fans from radio shack.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

I should also say, that is when I first got it. Since been cleaned REALLY GOOD!! hahahaha

 

[yinepu]

True but it is too BIG!!!!


See how big it is. I actually have to set it on the top tray. So that tray is useless to me. Otherwise the fan blows to hard across the eggs. If if they hatch it would be blow right no them. And worry about them running into it. LOL I think it really need 1 or to 4" fans from radio shack.

I should also say, that is when I first got it. Since been cleaned REALLY GOOD!! hahahaha

Just keep an eye on the chicks at hatch.. see if the fan is blowing too much air.. because that would be a bigger issue than humidity.

Do you have any more pics of the incubator? I'm curious about what the rest of it looks like.

I love the "old wooden" bators the best... even though the wood can harbor bacteria.. they are still very classic and remind me of the ones I grew up with and my grandparents used.
Lol.. I've been hatching out birds for over 50 years now .. so that's another reason I love the "oldies".. On occasion I have come cross "new home made" bators that still have that vintage feel to them. My grandfather had several of the kerosene bators.. a few nice ones that were made from redwood.. Wish I had gotten one from him before he died.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

Just keep an eye on the chicks at hatch.. see if the fan is blowing too much air.. because that would be a bigger issue than humidity.

Do you have any more pics of the incubator? I'm curious about what the rest of it looks like.

I love the "old wooden" bators the best... even though the wood can harbor bacteria.. they are still very classic and remind me of the ones I grew up with and my grandparents used.
Lol.. I've been hatching out birds for over 50 years now .. so that's another reason I love the "oldies".. On occasion I have come cross "new home made" bators that still have that vintage feel to them. My grandfather had several of the kerosene bators.. a few nice ones that were made from redwood.. Wish I had gotten one from him before he died.

Let me gather a few new ones as it's running. I have to turn them now anyways.

 

[Bill 101]

That IS a pretty big fan

. If your humidity is correct, it shouldn't affect anything. Shrink wrapped chicks come about from to low a humidity & the membrane dries out & shrinks. As long as you have proper humidity there shouldn't be a problem. The fan simply moves air & moisture around.
If there is a question about enough humidity, you simply add more water.
Here is something I learned from experience. AFTER the chicks have piped the shell you cant drown them with excessive humidity. The only evidence I found that excessive humidity created was that the chicks took a long time to dry & fluff out & by removing all water after they hatched, they dried out quickly. BUT DON'T TRY THIS BEFORE THEY PIP THE SHELL .
Hers is something else, If you want to PLAY. At your last candling, mark an "X" on the shell where the air cell is lowest (toward the small end of the shell). Put the "X" up. The chicks will pip the shell at or close to that "X"

I decided that I'd better edit this ----- The thing about excessive humidity ----- You can tell if a chick is having a problem hatching. If it the humidity is to low, they will pip, Sometimes they will sit there for awhile then continue piping around the shell, if humidity is correct once they start around the shell they generally continue until there out. If the humidity is to low you can generally tell. The will pip & because they can't turn, they will continue to pip about in the same spot ;making a large hole OR if they start piping around the shell & then run out of moisture, they stop piping part way around, Both of those situations is when you should consider adding more water

 

[yinepu]

That IS a pretty big fan

. If your humidity is correct, it shouldn't affect anything. Shrink wrapped chicks come about from to low a humidity & the membrane dries out & shrinks. As long as you have proper humidity there shouldn't be a problem. The fan simply moves air & moisture around.
If there is a question about enough humidity, you simply add more water.
Here is something I learned from experience. AFTER the chicks have piped the shell you cant drown them with excessive humidity. The only evidence I found that excessive humidity created was that the chicks took a long time to dry & fluff out & by removing all water after they hatched, they dried out quickly. BUT DON'T TRY THIS BEFORE THEY PIP THE SHELL .
Hers is something else, If you want to PLAY. At your last candling, mark an "X" on the shell where the air cell is lowest (toward the small end of the shell). Put the "X" up. The chicks will pip the shell at or close to that "X"

uhm...sorry but WRONG

As I have stated I have been hatching out birds for over 50 years... 100% hatch rates on fertile eggs

I never had a single problem in all those years until I used Brinsea incubators. The fan placement with those is horrible (I had lots of Brinseas too .. so this isn't just an "oh gee it happened one time scenario")

With the Brinseas the fan blows down ONTO the eggs.. every single chick that made a large pip hole then took a break shrink wrapped.. even though the humidity at hatch was over 85% (checked with two reliable hygrometers in each incubator that were calibrated before every hatch). A fan blowing directly onto an egg CAN cause shrink wrapping even if the humidity is sky high. Been there seen it more than once.

Also I have had broody hens here in Texas when the humidity was at 16% hatch out eggs just fine even though they would leave the nests while the chicks were hatching (so the humidity around those chicks left with pipped shells to the surrounding air was at best 20%). The difference?.. no fan blowing directly onto the chicks that were hatching out in the open air.

I have also Dry incubated AND DRY hatched with the Reptipro incubator and have had 0 shrink wrapped chicks and 100% hatch rates with the relative humidity in the incubator at 20% at hatch. As the chicks hatched the humidity raised on it's own to 45%.. which is even too low according to some people.. but again.. under a broody hen she doesn't have a pan of water and can get up leaving the nest alone during hatch. So the be all end all of high humidity at hatch preventing shrink wrapping is a myth. It does NOT hold true in all scenarios and other factors have to be taken into consideration. fan placement being a major one of those factors.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

Just keep an eye on the chicks at hatch.. see if the fan is blowing too much air.. because that would be a bigger issue than humidity.

Do you have any more pics of the incubator? I'm curious about what the rest of it looks like.

I love the "old wooden" bators the best... even though the wood can harbor bacteria.. they are still very classic and remind me of the ones I grew up with and my grandparents used.
Lol.. I've been hatching out birds for over 50 years now .. so that's another reason I love the "oldies".. On occasion I have come cross "new home made" bators that still have that vintage feel to them. My grandfather had several of the kerosene bators.. a few nice ones that were made from redwood.. Wish I had gotten one from him before he died.

OK here we go. LOL.

W171/2"xH26"xD281/2"




Here's one shot of the inside. This is how it was setup when I bought it. Didn't like it because of fan placement I can not use the top shelf. So I put the fan on the bottom with the water pan. But then I got reading and people say chicks have a tendency to jump over the edge and fall to the bottom. So I got thinking, which is probably a bad thing, if they did that they had no where to jump except over the back. Because I could not push the drawer in all the because the fan is so big. So if they did jump out they would end up in the fan. So on day 3 I moved the water and fan back to the top and set it up the way they had it.


I had to cover up the pan with foil because I was having to fill that pan every day and a half. Wood sucks up the water. Next thing I found I didn't like was the 3 light bulbs. When I got it they all 3 were 100w. Now the 2 in front must be hooked to the wafer therm. They go off and on as needed but the one in the back stays on. So I switched that one with a 40w bug light.



Now I have no issues with temp or humidity. Stays right at 100 and humidity stays between 40-45%.

What I plan on doing after this run is get some outdoor/water resistant paint. And paint the inside and out. I think that will cut down on the Bactria as you were talking about that wood might hold. It does even after hours of washing has that musty wood smell. And maybe then the wood won't soak up so much of the humidity. So my pan will stay filled longer. Because I'm afraid at lock down even with a bigger pan that it won't last 3 days. We will see.Then I want to get 1 or 2 4" fans from radio shack and maybe put one in the back and one on top. So it blows across and down. Take out that bottom rack with the squares. No need for that. And space the other 2 racks more evenly in there so I can get my hands in there to turn them. Have to pull them out right now to turn them all. And the wire in there is not even close to being even. They roll around when trying to push the racks back in. Maybe more improvements after hearing from everybody. LOL

Go ahead a fire away!!!

 

[NestingHillsSC]

uhm...sorry but WRONG

As I have stated I have been hatching out birds for over 50 years... 100% hatch rates on fertile eggs

I never had a single problem in all those years until I used Brinsea incubators. The fan placement with those is horrible (I had lots of Brinseas too .. so this isn't just an "oh gee it happened one time scenario")

With the Brinseas the fan blows down ONTO the eggs.. every single chick that made a large pip hole then took a break shrink wrapped.. even though the humidity at hatch was over 85% (checked with two reliable hygrometers in each incubator that were calibrated before every hatch). A fan blowing directly onto an egg CAN cause shrink wrapping even if the humidity is sky high. Been there seen it more than once.

Also I have had broody hens here in Texas when the humidity was at 16% hatch out eggs just fine even though they would leave the nests while the chicks were hatching (so the humidity around those chicks left with pipped shells to the surrounding air was at best 20%). The difference?.. no fan blowing directly onto the chicks that were hatching out in the open air.

I have also Dry incubated AND DRY hatched with the Reptipro incubator and have had 0 shrink wrapped chicks and 100% hatch rates with the relative humidity in the incubator at 20% at hatch. As the chicks hatched the humidity raised on it's own to 45%.. which is even too low according to some people.. but again.. under a broody hen she doesn't have a pan of water and can get up leaving the nest alone during hatch. So the be all end all of high humidity at hatch preventing shrink wrapping is a myth. It does NOT hold true in all scenarios and other factors have to be taken into consideration. fan placement being a major one of those factors.

I'm new to incubating but from what I have read so far I have to agree. You do not want the fan blowing directly on the eggs. Just what I have read.

 

[yinepu]

OK here we go. LOL.

W171/2"xH26"xD281/2"




Here's one shot of the inside. This is how it was setup when I bought it. Didn't like it because of fan placement I can not use the top shelf. So I put the fan on the bottom with the water pan. But then I got reading and people say chicks have a tendency to jump over the edge and fall to the bottom. So I got thinking, which is probably a bad thing, if they did that they had no where to jump except over the back. Because I could not push the drawer in all the because the fan is so big. So if they did jump out they would end up in the fan. So on day 3 I moved the water and fan back to the top and set it up the way they had it.


I had to cover up the pan with foil because I was having to fill that pan every day and a half. Wood sucks up the water. Next thing I found I didn't like was the 3 light bulbs. When I got it they all 3 were 100w. Now the 2 in front must be hooked to the wafer therm. They go off and on as needed but the one in the back stays on. So I switched that one with a 40w bug light.



Now I have no issues with temp or humidity. Stays right at 100 and humidity stays between 40-45%.

What I plan on doing after this run is get some outdoor/water resistant paint. And paint the inside and out. I think that will cut down on the Bactria as you were talking about that wood might hold. It does even after hours of washing has that musty wood smell. And maybe then the wood won't soak up so much of the humidity. So my pan will stay filled longer. Because I'm afraid at lock down even with a bigger pan that it won't last 3 days. We will see.Then I want to get 1 or 2 4" fans from radio shack and maybe put one in the back and one on top. So it blows across and down. Take out that bottom rack with the squares. No need for that. And space the other 2 racks more evenly in there so I can get my hands in there to turn them. Have to pull them out right now to turn them all. And the wire in there is not even close to being even. They roll around when trying to push the racks back in. Maybe more improvements after hearing from everybody. LOL

Go ahead a fire away!!!

lol.. don't worry about "lockdown" with that bator. It's going to be more important to keep an eye on the chicks than worrying about losing a smidge of humidity which will climb right back up when the door is closed. And I know you will have chicks who will roll their egg away from that window and keep you from seeing the pip.. (and a quick spritz with a spray bottle of warm water will also bounce the humidity right back up). With the walls being plain wood it's also going to hold a higher humidity in the wood.

If it had a bigger window I would say yeah try to keep it closed.. but that's one tiny window to try to see the eggs through

For a coating maybe marine varnish.. then let it air out very well before the next hatch?.. I would also let the bator run empty after coating the inside just so any lingering fumes will work their way out. The added heat from the bator would also help cure the coating faster.

 

[NestingHillsSC]

so many thoughts. HAHAHAHA. I will say that even after hand turning it only takes mins for the temp to bounce right back. Along with the humidity. As it is now. Not sure on weather to get 1 or 2 4" fans for it. Then I can mount them on the back and can actually use both trays. LOL.I could actually mount one on the back blowing across the bulbs. Then one on the bottom to turn the air even better.

See that's whats wrong with be retired (qand only 50)

. Have to have a project to stay busy. I'm always looking for something to do. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA