She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[scflock]

Everyone's input counts. Taking into account regional conditions, altitude, and equipment will make this immensely valuable. So I'd like to suggest for "incubator experiences" that they be:

Firsthand experience
Your general location
Time of year/average weather conditions
Brand and model of incubator
How it's equipped (still air, forced air, type of thermostat such as analog or digital, and proportional or not if known)
Incubation set temperature and where measured
Backup thermometer reading and where measured
What kind of eggs
How you control humidity and what you tried to maintain
How long it took to hatch
Whether you assisted in hatching
What percentage made it to 3 days

I incubated in 6 or so different incubators last year but I would like to focus my observations on what I am doing today, as the last two years have been dissatisfying to say the least.

And as a last step, after posting, please put a permanent link to your story in your signature for others to find easily.

Or do it your way, and it may still be useful!

Dang it, I was typing!

Now I gotta go edit

 

[scflock]

How's the signature look?

 

[Tumbling K]

real quick question, about hatch rate percentages.

do you count your percentage off the eggs set, or the eggs you put into lock down?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Dang it, I was typing!

Now I gotta go edit

I had to too!! lol

real quick question, about hatch rate percentages.

do you count your percentage off the eggs set, or the eggs you put into lock down?

It depends what the person is asking for. I will give the percentage by how many were fertile or started developing xs how many hatched, I never count clears. And I will give the lockdownxhatched rate, as that is the rate that is most important to me.

 

[WalnutHill]

I'm in metro Detroit, and hatching mostly March-July but can't resist a few off season hatches. Summer climate 80s / 40% with spikes to 90s/70% or dips to 70s / 20%. I don't use climate control in summer. Winter outdoor climate -5 to 35, dry as dry can be when below freezing. Indoors in winter is 58-64F / 16%.

I'm currently hatching in an old GQF 1402 cabinet incubator that was purchased for a song as a partially burned, not working carcass. It has an auto turner that rotates 90 degrees every hour. The original thermostat was the early analog proportional thermostat but I replaced it with a modern multi-turn proportional thermostat. Since it's analog, it doesn't have a "set" temperature, but I have the knob set so that the thermometer reads 101F in the middle of the egg tray on the top shelf. I don't have to touch it, ever, regardless of conditions. The bottom hatching tray area is about 3 degrees cooler.

For humidity, I use the GQF water pan with float, but made my own bucket reservoir to sit on top of the incubator. Humidity averages 35% with an occasional rise on really moist days.

I candle at 7-10 days, and then 4 days before hatch date to be sure that I only lock down viable eggs.

I just hatched out some turkeys from winter eggs. Overall fertility was low, but every egg that started grew through lockdown without any losses. I had 100% hatch unassisted but lost one in a brooder incident the next day when the heat went out overnight. Hatch began at 27 days and completed on the 28th day. I did not hatch in the GQF as the chicken hatching tray is too shallow for turkey eggs, so I hatched a couple in an Eco 20 (super easy!) and a couple in a Brinsea Ova Easy 380 (separate post forthcoming).

Last month I hatched out some chickens, again from winter eggs. Overall fertility was low, but every egg that started grew through lockdown without any losses. I had 100% hatch unassisted in the Eco 20.

I prefer to have a separate hatcher to reduce mess in the incubator, which is why I have no hatch results from the GQF.

 

[WalnutHill]

How's the signature look?

Perfect!

 

[scflock]

real quick question, about hatch rate percentages.

do you count your percentage off the eggs set, or the eggs you put into lock down?

We have had this discussion before. The final hatch rate is the percentage of lockdown eggs, but we also track the percentage that make lockdown from set to track infertiles or early death

 

[FridayYet]

Speaking of that, Walnut and I have been talking for the last few days about a great idea for the thread. OK, it was her idea, but I talk way more, so here it is:
Hatching season is coming up, and I have seen it posted that people shouldn't give advice on something that hasn't been researched. Since the gang is all back together, I think we have every conceivable kind of incubator covered. Some of us began hatching last year , some of us have been hatching multiple species of birds for many years. Sounds like research to me
We could kinda start the thread over again where it started before Amy went on vacation. For absolutely no reason whatsoever
Tell what incubator you have, what has worked and what hasn't, and yes, we are reviving the red and blue teams, as well as parades e , for the new season.
What do you guys think?

So my question to everyone is: are we going to focus on incubating and hatching here or is it going to be a Frogs 2? New hatchers can get frustrated when there are hundreds of posts from the time their question is asked to when they get back on the thread.

Just wondering what others thoughts are.

 

[BantyChooks]

Firsthand experience:
One successful hatch.

Brand and model of incubator:
LG 9200 (aka Scarf-o-Bator)

How it's equipped (still air, forced air, type of thermostat such as analog or digital, and proportional or not if known):
Still air, with some simple modifications, (lego glued to temp control) thermos are LG and hygroset II (digital). Edit: Got 2 fish tank thermos and trashed the LG thermo.


Incubation set temperature and where measured:
101.5, measured to the left of the heating element on the right side, directly under the window.

Backup thermometer reading and where measured:
LG, same as above exept on opposite side.

What kind of eggs:
EE and BSL crossed with silkie or sultan, depending on which roo covered the hens.

How you control humidity and what you tried to maintain:
Syringe through hole in side, about 28-30%.

How long it took to hatch:
As in pip to hatch? 12 hours.

Whether you assisted in hatching:
Yes.

What percentage made it to 3 days:
100%


Other: I can't quite decide which side I want to join, so I am "purple". ***Edit*** First hatch failed completely, setting again 3/5/16. ***Edit again*** 2nd hatch went much better, ended up with a 91% of fertile eggs hatched. The remaining egg was malpositioned with its head under its leg and never pipped.

 

[FridayYet]

How's the signature look?

On mobile now, will look later.