Recommend me an incubator, please!

[Rose Quartz]

YES! Is this doable? I mean it makes sense in my brain but is it safe? Do people do it this way? Thank you

Yes i've done it, but with only 1 week between hatches you wont likely have tome between hatches to clean it. Some hatchlings run late.

 

[Rose Quartz]

I like my hovabators with circulated air. I use 1602n. And the egg turners work well.

 

[Honey Meadows]

Yes i've done it, but with only 1 week between hatches you wont likely have tome between hatches to clean it. Some hatchlings run late.

Thank you! Yes I was thinking if I collect eggs, I can add a batch and remove a batch at the same time so as not to keep opening it.

I hear there are some folks who never open then and some who say it is not imperative, as a brooding hen would have to get up for short times for food and water. Thoughts?

 

[Chookwagn]

Buy the best you can afford (even if it holds a few less eggs) .... It pays for itself in the long run

 

[Ridgerunner]

I hear there are some folks who never open then and some who say it is not imperative, as a brooding hen would have to get up for short times for food and water. Thoughts?

During incubation, opening the incubator occasionally is not a problem. The egg needs to lose a certain amount of moisture so the chick can hatch. What is important at this phase is the average humidity over the entire incubation period. Occasionally opening the incubator for short periods of time isn't really going to affect the overall average. Don't be ridiculous or stupid about it but opening it to add water to the reservoirs or to candle the eggs is not a problem, even for several minutes. Same thing is true about temperature. It won't hurt for the air temperature around the outside of the egg to drop. It's the temperature inside the egg where the embryo is located that's important and it takes a long time for the inside of the egg to cool down.

Lockdown is a different situation. By the time you go into lockdown the egg should have already lost the moisture it needs to lose. If the humidity is too low when the chick external pips there is a possibility of the chick shrink-wrapping. That is where a membrane that forms between the chick and the inside of the egg shell dries out and shrinks around the chick, trapping it so it can't move or hatch. That is why we raise the humidity inside the incubator for lockdown. Opening the incubator allows that humidity to escape.

This does not mean that you will shrink wrap chicks every time you open the incubator during lockdown. If the egg hasn't pipped it's a lot less likely to dry out in temporary low humidity. Even if it has pipped they seldom shrink-wrap if you open the incubator. I have caused a chick to shrink-wrap when I opened the incubator to deal with a problem so I really believe it can happen, but I've also not caused shrink-wrap to many eggs that had already pipped when I opened it. It happens seldom but it can. I consider it "best practice" to not purposely or willingly increase the chance of something going wrong just because I can. I will open the incubator to deal with an emergency if I think the risk is worth it.

 

[Rose Quartz]

Thank you! Yes I was thinking if I collect eggs, I can add a batch and remove a batch at the same time so as not to keep opening it.

I hear there are some folks who never open then and some who say it is not imperative, as a brooding hen would have to get up for short times for food and water. Thoughts?

I open my incubator whenever i want. During hatching it's only to take out hatched chicks, or to take out unpipped eggs i think are dead to candle them.

 

[Chookwagn]

I hear there are some folks who never open then and some who say it is not imperative, as a brooding hen would have to get up for short times for food and water. Thoughts?

I open my incubators to add water when needed and candle on day 7 or 10. Then I candle as they go into lockdown on day 18. Other than that it stays closed.

Some people open the incubator to candle on day 3 day 4 and day 5, then again on day 7, 8, 9 and 10. Then day 15, 16, 17 and 18 to candle again. Then they leave them all in there anyway... "just to make sure".

All depends on the person and what they like to do. Ultimately it doesn't affect the hatch anymore than likely 0.5%

You do you

 

[The Moonshiner]

I am looking into hatching this Spring and I want to keep a steady flow of (hopefully!) weekly hatches - Would you recommend getting two to start them in, then take out the ones which are about to hatch and place them in their own (2nd incubator) to hatch and brood a bit, while adding a fresh week's worth of eggs to incubator #1. I am thinking I can place the ready eggs in number 2 for hatching, then I can clean it when they are done, and pop in another set on repeat. Does this make sense? Thank you!

I hatch weekly so ya it's doable. Ya incubate in one and hatch in another.
Every 7 days doesn't work out to move to hatcher and refill incubator on the same day.
Adding every 7 days and moving to hatcher on the same day would put you at moving on day 21. Not good.
You'll be moving that weeks eggs on day 18 then setting the new ones 3 days later. Now I'm setting on Fridays and moving on Tuesdays.
It gives you 7 days for the hatcher. That's easily enough time to hatch and then clean before the next batch. Or it has been for me.
Last year I ran everything every 6 days instead of 7. That gave me a few more hatches for the season and did work out to move to hatcher and refill on the same day. Every 6 days. When doing that there was a time or two I cut it close to getting the hatcher ready before the next batch was due but it wasnt a big deal. I made it work all season.

 

[Honey Meadows]

During incubation, opening the incubator occasionally is not a problem. The egg needs to lose a certain amount of moisture so the chick can hatch. What is important at this phase is the average humidity over the entire incubation period. Occasionally opening the incubator for short periods of time isn't really going to affect the overall average. Don't be ridiculous or stupid about it but opening it to add water to the reservoirs or to candle the eggs is not a problem, even for several minutes. Same thing is true about temperature. It won't hurt for the air temperature around the outside of the egg to drop. It's the temperature inside the egg where the embryo is located that's important and it takes a long time for the inside of the egg to cool down.

Lockdown is a different situation. By the time you go into lockdown the egg should have already lost the moisture it needs to lose. If the humidity is too low when the chick external pips there is a possibility of the chick shrink-wrapping. That is where a membrane that forms between the chick and the inside of the egg shell dries out and shrinks around the chick, trapping it so it can't move or hatch. That is why we raise the humidity inside the incubator for lockdown. Opening the incubator allows that humidity to escape.

This does not mean that you will shrink wrap chicks every time you open the incubator during lockdown. If the egg hasn't pipped it's a lot less likely to dry out in temporary low humidity. Even if it has pipped they seldom shrink-wrap if you open the incubator. I have caused a chick to shrink-wrap when I opened the incubator to deal with a problem so I really believe it can happen, but I've also not caused shrink-wrap to many eggs that had already pipped when I opened it. It happens seldom but it can. I consider it "best practice" to not purposely or willingly increase the chance of something going wrong just because I can. I will open the incubator to deal with an emergency if I think the risk is worth it.

So lockdown is the final phase before hatching- and I think if I had 2 incubators, I'd move them just before that period to let them hatch undisturbed.

Your description makes sense. And in nature, the mother hen would have to get up for short periods for food and water, so that makes sense. Thank you.

 

[Honey Meadows]

That makes so much sense. Thank you!