Opinions on tbe Farm Innovators 4200 please

[ButchGood]

I got mine on Sat. and have been running it for the last 4 days (no eggs). As pointed out in other posts the thermometer and hydrometer are useless. I had at one time 5 thermometers in the incubator and finally got one calibrated for use. I have a decent digital that is a cooking thermometer as well. It tested accurate with the 5 I tested. I use it as a spot checker. I used a cooking baster to add water. I filled the reservoirs and got a very high humidity reading 80+%. I'm going to go with minimal water. Not a dry Hatch, but Id like to keep the humidity in the 40% range. I found the incubator to hold a fairly steady temperature for the last 4 days. Spot checks have shown a range of 98.9 to 101.6. But I have been tweeking and getting used to a very touchy temperature control. So far, for the money, Id say the unit has worked in my expectations. I have some Turkey eggs coming this week. So, in about 30 days or so, the verdict will be in on this incubator.

 

[stahlt12345]

Just got home with my eggs! I have been running my FI 4200 for 24 hours. I went today and bought a better thermo hygrometer. Believe it or not...the outside thermometer is maybe 1 degree off, the thermometer sent with the unit from FI is showing the 100.4 that the new thermo hygometer reads. The humidity is showing 64 on the new thermo hygrometer, 80 on the unit one. Is 64 too high? How do you get it down, if it is too high? Removing the water after the eggs are in would be horrible.

 

[SassyChix]

Take the two red plugs out of the top until the humidity drops to where you want it. 60 to 65% is recommended for the first 18 days.

 

[stahlt12345]

Duh...

Thank you!

 

[stahlt12345]

Aren't they pretty? Lol, I am so proud of them...you would think I laid them myself. So, is today day 1? Or, tomorrow?

 

[ButchGood]

The fifth night on a dry run. temps spiked to 103.8. I did nothing to the incubator to cause it. I don't think it was that high for very long. I turned it down slightly. Temps dropped to 98.2 quickly. I struggled with it this evening and now have it somewhat stabilized again.It will drop to 98.9 and rise to 100.9 then drop to 99.5 then back up to 101. I hope this isn't going to be a problem. Im setting eggs Friday night.

 

[ButchGood]

Got my turkey eggs yesterday. They are settling now and will go into the incubator tonight. I used the crushed ice method to calibrate 2 of the thermometers I'm using. One was 1 degree off (a digital) the other was one and a half degrees off (a standard)....both low. So I'm looking at 98.5 degrees from the one I'm keeping and using for spot checking(Digital). I put an accurite Walmart thermometer in there as well. It only shows temperature to the degree. Its reading steady at 99 degrees at the same time the digital that I'm keeping is reading 98.5. Pretty happy with this set up. I did have a slight temperature spike this morning. My humidity was up a bit high, so I opened the lid to remove some water. During the period it was warming back up the temperature spiked at 101 on the digital/spotcheck thermometer. In less than a couple minutes it was stable at 98.5.The accurite was a little less sensitive it jumped to only 100 and then settled to 99. I've learned that when you open up the incubator, don't mess with the thermostat until after it spikes and settles and I've read that when I add the eggs the temps will drop and may take a while to settle. I'll keep updating you on the progress I make on the FI 4200.

 

[ButchGood]

By reading some older posts I found a pretty good idea to help you hold temps. You get a digital thermometer with a probe, like one for an aquarium. Place the probe inside a child's toy called a water wiggler. Place the water wiggler in the incubator and measure the internal temperature. This will mimic the internal temperature of the eggs. This is a slower more gradual reading. When we are seeing sudden spikes and falls as you do with these incubators we aren't patient enough to let it level out on its own and start twisting that control knob. This way we see internal temps only and we wont freak out so quick. We may not even know the air temps are going up and down because the internal temps are staying steady. From what I understand you keep that internal temp at 100. People who had bad hatches in little giants had excellent hatch rates later using this method. I'm on the hunt for one of these toys today. If I can find one and get its temp stabilized by Sunday I'll let you know how it works.

 

[ButchGood]

I put my turkey eggs in the incubator at midnight Friday night/Saturday morning. I have 2 thermometers. One with a probe inside a wiggler and the other has the probe on top of the eggs. The wiggler is holding an extremely steady temperature at 100 degrees. The one on top of the eggs varies a little, but still steady at 99 to 100 degrees. So far I'm pretty happy with how my temps are holding. Humidity I'm still working on. I've been needing to ad 2 or 3 eyedroppers of water a day to keep humidity e at 50 to 55. When it drops to 40, I add two eyedroppers full and it brings it back in ranger. I have to do this twice a day so far.

 

[ChickieG'ma]

Where did you find the wiggler?