R-com 20 eggs turning but winding up pointy end up?

angelobutter

Songster
9 Years
Jul 27, 2010
724
62
196
Cornish NH
Hello, I recently purchased an R-com 20 and once i figured out how the eggs went in the turner (flat on their sides, not big end up like usual) i got them all situated, and when i heard the little tune it plays when it turns the eggs i went to see how they did. my bigger ones are all turning well but my modern game bantam eggs turn every which way and every time at least one of them winds up with the pointy end of the egg up. I know when a chicken "incubates" her eggs they don't all wind up facing pointy end down but as a long time incubator I have always been told "pointy end down!" so I am panicking that I am doing something wrong.
I tried adjusting the tray dividers, but if i put them any tighter they just hold onto the egg and they don't turn at all.
I will get a photo of it tomorrow
 
Eggs are ...well eggs are egg shaped. The slight weight of a sitting or hovering hen and the depression of the hen's nest depresses the pointy end of the egg causing the big end of the egg to rise or point upwards, if only slightly.

I am unfamiliar with a R-com 20 and can not advise you on the operation of one. While it is true that some of the eggs under a hen may be pointed end up at one time or another, a hen may move or shuffle her eggs perhaps 50 times or more every day (I forgot the actual number if there ever was one) I have had brood hens that sounded like a gravel truck on a rough road because she shifted her eggs so often. This tends to even out or minimize the amount of time that any one chick spends standing on his head. Mechanical incubators are mostly built to operate with plastic egg turner trays designed to hold the egg in only one position, and these work well as long as the size of the tray dividers matches the size of the eggs that you are incubating. The embryo inside of the egg orients itself by both light and gravity. By using a hatching tray you are attempting to remove one variable, the position of the developing chick inside of the egg.

Size wise bantam eggs have more in common with pheasant eggs than they do with the eggs of a full size chicken. Contact the manufacture of your incubator and ask them if they make turner tray dividers designed for smaller eggs.
 
the tray us a "universal tray'' and says it is for any sized egg, the photo shows anything from goose to quail.
it turns the eggs every hour, so in 24 hours they get turned 24 times, so in theory they aren't sitting wrong way up for too too long but it makes me nervous
I just took these photos and as per usual one egg is wrong way up, this time a normal sized egg all the way too the right.



 
I have the R-Com 20 Pro. I like the incubator but dislike the turning system. In my opinion the universal tray performs poorly especially with eggs that are triangular in shape. You could purchase one of the egg trays that R-Com makes for this incubator but that may not work if you are incubating different sized eggs at the same time. Also the tray will not turn eggs that are even slightly oversized for that particular tray. There are rollers available that do a better job turning the eggs without turning the pointed end up and would allow you to incubate different size eggs at the same time. The rollers are expensive.
 
Ya they are outrageously expensive haha, to make matters worse i literally just bought a new turner for it because the one I bought only had 5 deviders, but went with the regular universal trays because i didn't realize that it was turning them weird. oh well, time to shell out another ridiculous amount of money lol.
its a shame the incubator itself seems to be really nice. I love that it is all digital and, call me crazy, but I love hearing it play that little tune when it turns the eggs haha
 
Ya they are outrageously expensive haha, to make matters worse i literally just bought a new turner for it because the one I bought only had 5 deviders, but went with the regular universal trays because i didn't realize that it was turning them weird. oh well, time to shell out another ridiculous amount of money lol.

its a shame the incubator itself seems to be really nice. I love that it is all digital and, call me crazy, but I love hearing it play that little tune when it turns the eggs haha

We just got an RCom Pro 20 & so far I'm login' it almost as much as our RCom Pro 50. I honestly feel useless because I have not needed to do anything more than push buttons from the get go. The temp & humidity has stayed constant & like you said, the sound that tells you when the eggs are rolling is music to my ears:)
I'm planning on getting the roller set for the 50 for the slow months when I just have a handful quail, Silkie & Americauna eggs to incubate. Their products aren't cheap but well worth it.
 
ya i feel the same way- I am running the r-com 20, two brinsea octagons and a janoel and I can't believe how stupidly easy the r-com is. I want to convert all my incubators to r-coms haha. the turning seems to be ok, i rearranged a bunch of times and it seems that once i got the right eggs in the right spots they all turn effectively now. and yes, i love hearing the little tune haha. so for now I am keeping my eyes peeled for 2nd hand r-coms but I will probably have to just buy a second one full price somewhere. oh well it is so easy I don't even have to think about it so it is worth it.
 
ya i feel the same way- I am running the r-com 20, two brinsea octagons and a janoel and I can't believe how stupidly easy the r-com is. I want to convert all my incubators to r-coms haha. the turning seems to be ok, i rearranged a bunch of times and it seems that once i got the right eggs in the right spots they all turn effectively now. and yes, i love hearing the little tune haha. so for now I am keeping my eyes peeled for 2nd hand r-coms but I will probably have to just buy a second one full price somewhere. oh well it is so easy I don't even have to think about it so it is worth it.

We got ours from uniqueincubators.com because of the free shipping. I ordered a Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance & am looking forward to seeing how it compares to the RCom. That's a good plan that I'll be adopting & will start by getting rid of the Genesis 1588. :)
 
I love my brinsea octagons, I have three. they are my favorite non-digital incubator. when i switched from the styrofoam incubators to the octagons it was amazing! it took me a test run or two to really get the feel of them but they are great. and they clean up pretty easy too, just make sure you do it asap! it is a pain if "egg residue" gets stuck in the water reservoir, since you can't submerse the base you have to scrub at a weird angle. but easily avoidable when you just clean it right away.
since getting my octagons, i haven't even touched my styrafoam ones, all 5 are just in a heap in my attic. lol
I am glad to hear that uniqueinqubators.com works, i went to the website and it looked so simple i wondered if it was a fake or cheap retailer. but i might order now that you have already haha. I was going to order from kempscoops, as their prices weren't terrible, but unique incubators was cheaper.
 
Last edited:
I love my brinsea octagons, I have three. they are my favorite non-digital incubator. when i switched from the styrofoam incubators to the octagons it was amazing!  it took me a test run or two to really get the feel of them but they are great. and they clean up pretty easy too, just make sure you do it asap! it is a pain if "egg residue" gets stuck in the water reservoir, since you can't submerse the base you have to scrub at a weird angle. but easily avoidable when you just clean it right away. 

since getting my octagons, i haven't even touched my styrafoam ones, all 5 are just in a heap in my attic. lol

I am glad to hear that uniqueinqubators.com works, i went to the website and it looked so simple i wondered if it was a fake or cheap retailer. but i might order now that you have already haha. I was going to order from kempscoops, as their prices weren't terrible, but unique incubators was cheaper. 

Funny but that's exactly what I thought too! I guess I was pleased yet suspicious of the free shipping because I've looked up RCom on Ebay, Kemp's, Lyons' and everyone of those want to charge you an arm & a leg to ship. So I tried calling & it goes to a recording. When I tried to inquire via email they didn't answer until the next day (which in hindsight is actually a prompt enough response) and so my suspicion grew as I waited. But so far, great price on RComs & great experience. I am seriously considering getting one of Brinsea's ova easy. I thought about the RCom Maru but saw that it's not entirely a plastic construction. You don't happen to have an ova easy do you? Also, do you have the humidity pump on your octagons?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom