Nurture Right 360 Newbie Questions

[Katie4098]

I just got it in the mail today, and set it up to test. Planning to incubate next weekend.

It been running about 7 hours, and so far temp and humidity levels have been good. It didn't take long to reach 99.5 (less than 30 min), and once I figured out how much water to add, the humidity was fine. The instructions should be more clear about the water needing to cover the hole in the port, IMO.

Question 1: Is the red light by the temp reading supposed to blink constantly? I thought it was only supposed to blink when it was raising the temp, but it hasn't stopped blinking at all and temp has been constant for hours.

Question 2: According to the hygrometer I purchased separately, the temp reading on the NR360 is .5 degree higher than it reads, and humidity is 1 percent lower. Is this a big enough difference to bother altering the temp on the incubator?

Question 3: I am planning to incubate 1 goose egg along with 18 chicken eggs (if all fit). The person I'm buying the goose egg from said she incubates hers with chicken eggs, but I'm assuming she has a cabinet incubator. Will a goose egg even fit in the turning tray? And should I put the goose egg in at he same time as the chicken eggs, or a few days before in hopes that they all hatch together?

Thank you for helping me out! I've searched for answers to my questions everywhere online and haven't been able to find them.

 

[Pyxis]

1. Constantly blinking is normal - it blinks when the heating element is on. When the temp is stable, it's constantly flicking on and off to hold.

2. Did you make sure the thermometer you bought was accurate as well? .5 is something I would adjust for, but you'll want to make sure it's the incubator that's wrong, and not the thermometer. 1 percent off on humidity isn't a big deal, I wouldn't worry about that.

3. Nope, goose eggs don't fit in the turner. They also take longer to hatch, so you'd want to start it at least a week before the chickens. But you won't be able to use the autoturner while incubating, because the goose egg won't fit in it, so all the eggs will have to be hand turned.

Why just one goose egg? Do you already have a goose/geese and you're just trying to hatch another to add to the flock? If yes, it's better to do more eggs anyway, because there's no guarantee the single one will hatch.

If you were thinking you'd just hatch the one and keep it alone with the chickens, don't do that, for the reasons listed in that thread.

 

[Katie4098]

Thanks for all this info! I'm glad the light is supposed to be blinking.

I just went back and read more info on my hygrometer, and it does say that it guarantees accuracy within +/- one degree F and within 2% humidity, so perhaps the incubator is correct after all. No way to tell without buying a more accurate hygrometer. This model was recommended to me, and I didn't realize it didn't guarantee exact accuracy.

We were originally going to buy two goslings, but then a seller I'm buying some chicks from said she could sell me hatching eggs much cheaper than goslings. She has lots of geese and doesn't want to hatch any herself right now, but said she could collect eggs for me. So I was planning to hatch one egg with one hatch, and another egg with another hatch, because I'm already set to have 18 chicken eggs for my first hatch. Now I'm thinking I may just back out for now, though. Since I would have to hand-turn all the eggs, that's a big negative to me. Hopefully we can find someone else locally who can sell us goslings.

 

[americanchicks]

My temp reads one dagree higher and my hydrometer is off by a bit.

One thing you can do to fit in a goose egg is clip out one of the plastic rungs that holds the egg in place. We did that to fit in some of the larger Muscovy eggs. Just watch and make sure it turns. And once you clip it you can undo it.

Watch your auto egg turner. I had mine go totally out. Lost a clutch of eggs. Luckily I had a warranty on the machine. I just found out tonight something new about the incubator. When the countdown gets to 3 days left the auto egg turner automatically shuts off. Its not a problem if you are hatching chicks in it. But I take mine out into a more roomy incubator for lockdown. I had duck eggs in the incubator at the same time as the chickens. They where much younger and went for nearly 2 days without being turned. I didnt bother changing the countdown on the incubator because I wrote it on the calendar.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

You may find this article helpful on calibrating thermometers:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/
As @Pyxis already mentioned, you would definitely need to hand turn. Here's a picture of some goose eggs in my Nurture Right as an example, they're very big, lol.

 

[ShannonLM]

Does the Nurture Right 360 do an auto shut off after 23 days? Do I just add days if my chickens are not all hatched?