Ok, how do I get this started again?

[kupi99]

Hello all!

I am a preschool teacher and I found this forum last spring while hatching eggs for the first time ever in my classroom. Now it's spring again, and I'm back at it again.

I have a LG bator with an egg turner and fan. I bought a digital therom/hydro last year.

I do have a few questions as I try to remember everything from last year:

How should I clean the bator? I think I just kinda rinsed it last year after the hatch, I don't remember if I used anything other than water

. What should I do now to make sure its clean and ready to go?

Also, I had alot of trouble with low temps and the temp fluxing last year. This year I plan on taking more time to set it and get is stable before adding eggs. I remember from last year that someone suggested I add rocks and balloons filled with flour or sand to help stablize the bator. Am I remembering this right? I won't be hatching a lots of eggs (more like anywhere from 7-12), can I leave the rocks and balloons in there to help hold the temp steady?

And the thermo goes on top of the eggs, yes?

Thanks for the help, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions. The 5th graders are going to help out this year, so hopefully all the goes well!

 

[babsbag]

I think you can clean it out with a diluted bleach solution. Let it air out for a little while, make sure you can't smell the bleach. Also an antibaterial soap would work well, just make sure you get all the residue out.

You could leave the rocks in, but IMO I wouldn't leave the balloons. You could also use jars of water, I used baby food jars, with the lids on of course. They are clean, can't be broken, and no one can eat them.

Did you calibrate the hygrometer? There are easy directions on BYC to do that if you need to.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[debilorrah]

I use anti bacterial soap on mine. Mine is a brinsea so I can put it in the sink, I use the bleach solution for the top part that cannot go in the sink.

 

[kupi99]

That's good, we have anti-bacterial soap here at work, so I can have the 5th graders clean it with that. I will look up calibrating the hygrometer. Didn't do it lsat year, b/c it was new (I know, you're suppost to do the new ones too).

Any more thoughts on leaving the balloons in? If not, we might just use more rocks than balloons. I had alot of probs with temp fluxes, and a possible bad spike. I'm trying to fix that this year. Thanks!