Stablising a Little Giant!

[VTHokieAg]

I have an LG and no, I can't say it is perfect but mine works really well. Mine will hold a temp. range of 99.3-99.7 almost all of the time.

Biggest thing I have found is making sure your incubator is in a draft free room, away from the sun, and in a room that holds a very constant temp. I also have the fan on my LG which may or may not help.

Mine will hold a great temp. and I cannot complain. Even after pulling the top off to add water, etc it will always go back to temp. Biggest advice I could tell you is make miniscule adjustments and then leave it be for awhile and check the temp again.

I am wondering if your room possibly fluctuates too much in temp throughout the day and night? My first couple hatches ever with the LG I had it in a different area of my house that didn't hold a temp well and fought the LG quite a bit. Since then I put it in a room and closed all the blinds and it holds much better.

Hope this helps
Ryan

 

[MalloryBranchFarm]

Just to add my experience with the LG. I just hatched 11 eggs last week in it. The ones that didn't hatch were infertile (dark eggs and I couldn't see if there was development or not - new to candeling). Maybe I was just lucky, but this is how I set the temp:
- Set up incubator on table away from window, not under air vent, off the floor where drafts are from walking by.
- Put water in, put thermometer on something to make it level with tops of eggs and where I could read it through viewing area (did this without eggs)
- Plugged in LG, waited to see what temp it reached without adjustment. I checked the temp everytime the light went out. When it seemed to be stable (but not yet high enough), I just squeezed the knob a little till light went on again. Definately not a turn - just a squeeze.
- Continued watching temp and squeezing knob if necessary until I got it up to 100F. Once it was there, I left it alone and just watched temp for about 6 hours. At that point, I felt it wasn't going to change, so I put eggs in.
- We kept the house at 78 degrees, eventhough I normally turn the temp down at night and up when I will be gone for a few hours. I felt it was easier on the thermostat in the LG if it didn't have to compensate for outside temp changes. (I agree with the comment 'don't adjust when you won't be there to watch' paraphrasing.
- when water was added it was always warmed to 100 degrees before adding.
- I had trouble getting humidity up, so at the end I added wet paper towels and just wet them with a tube through the vent during lock down.

I have to say that my LG held temps very well, so I have to think that there must be problems with the thermostats in the ones that cause people so much trouble. This was my first time to hatch, so I guess looking back I would say it may have been hard to adjust, but I didn't know any different. Hardest thing for me was the humidity, but after I added wet paper towels it was easy.

Good luck hatching.

 

[mahalo4]

The last 2 posts are dead on I have an LG also 1 w/fan and turner and 1 for hatching a stable room is most important no fluctuating room temps and barely adjust your temp control just a tiny tiny bit that was hard to learn w/my big sausage fingers but it can be done!!It was hard to get everything right at first but now it goes really smooth!! Good luck!!

 

[Sillystunt]

Quote:
I didnt get it used, I bought it from a tsc the swap was at, I know it isnt one of the best incubators out there but I figured I needed to start somewhere and I definetly didnt have enough for a hovabotor nor would getting someone around here to actaully order one for me is easy either, and I already got eggs from the swap for it so if I can ever get it stable I might as well go with it anyway or dump the eggs which I dont want to do.


6am and I got it stable at 98.4

I did the thing and turned it a fraction and it went to 102.5 gonna let it sit awhile now and go look for some sponges!

I turned the eggs also, How long can the eggs last out of the incubator?

Sillystunt said you got it used, so that is why I thought you had.

The optimum time to get eggs into the incubator are the first 7 days after they're laid. They are still fertile after that for quite awhile, but the fertility starts declining the longer they set out.

i am sorry! i though it was used~ i thought you got it AT the swap rainstorm.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi Diana!
It's been 5 hrs on the hygro-test here. Is yours reading above 45% yet? The two new Accu-Rites I 'bagged to test' are reading 68% and 65%.
*fingers crossed that yours is climbing up the humidity ladder, too*
Great advice after everyone got their flipping-and-flapping out of the way.

Lisa

 

[thespinningcottage]

Hi Rainstorm, just want to throw in my 2 cents' worth of encouragement - I know your LG is new but I DID buy a used one (from Sillystunt, YAY SILLYSTUNT!) and it worked like a charm. I got an excellent hatch out of it, but we did make one modification which was literally a couple of bucks. Maybe you could consider this at some point in the future. I went to Radio Shack and bought the cheapest PC fan they had and my hubby used Jessica117's recommendations on how to hook it up by splicing it into an adapter. With that circulating, my temps and humidity stayed very, very stable. I like the LG very much, but then again I won't be hatching extremely often. If I ever scale up I will purchase a Hovabator or even something higher end than that, but for those of us who just want to do a little hatching occasionally the LG is the way to go.

 

[Akane]

I dont think she asked for evaluations or for opinions. She asked could it be stabilized.

You assumed she could just box it up and take it back or run out and buy a new one.

Rather than just answer the question, or try to be positive and helpful, you start trashing what she has available to use.

Maybe it's just a case of being smarter than the equipment you're using....just a thought. (that comment isn't directed at you, Rainstorm)

I'm not sure who exactly you are talking to. I did give suggestions for using it. Several. Including that turning the temp knob far enough you can feel it will probably just send it too far the other way. I have to apply pressure to mine so lightly that I'm not even sure whether I've done anything and then come back to check it 30-60mins later. I also think all the people who gave their opinion of the LG and the comparisons to hovas were useful. What if she could take it back? What if there was another store that sold other incubators? What if she found someone to borrow one from? Maybe she might want to try to find a broody hen instead of messing with any incubators. We don't know what resources or decisions someone is going to make. We can only give our opinion and whether we have accomplished making something work and how or if we never got it to work. It's often just as useful to hear from the people who never got something to work so you can make an informed decision before you end up making an even bigger mistake and losing out. I would most certainly want to know since even if it wasn't currently relevant I might decide to go buy a different incubator as soon as I could rather than give up on incubating thinking all incubators were so difficult (I've talked to several who have given up when all they needed were a few more pointers or a better model for their situation) or spend more money on eggs to go in an incubator that I could barely get working.

I figured I needed to start somewhere and I definetly didnt have enough for a hovabotor nor would getting someone around here to actaully order one for me is easy either

A new hova costs the same as a new LG. My hova was actually $38 online and the LG $41 locally. Unless you got really discounted on the LG despite it being new.​

 

[Rainstorm]

Quote:
A new hova costs the same as a new LG. My hova was actually $38 online and the LG $41 locally. Unless you got really discounted on the LG despite it being new.

only one I could find online was about $75 cheapest and couldnt find one around here to not have to order

 

[Rainstorm]

Quote:
OMG thank you! I didnt think about that, that will work perfect because my brother works on alot of computers/laptops Ill get him to rig one up for me!

 

[Rainstorm]

Quote:
Just got it in the bag about an hour ago! had to go to the store and get a ziplock, ill give it till about 12am and put it back in, Got my eggs set, temp was at 100.3 and humidity was at 51% when I took it out, if it reads the same when I put it back in would it hurt to cut a sponge in half and bump it up to about 55 or 56? which would be better?