Styrofoam Incubators Club

[MeepBeep]

I have eggs with loose air sacs and they are in a little giant still air incubator sitting big end up. Since my styrofoam incubator has hot and cold spots is it ok If I move the eggs around but not turn them?

Sure, and if you can tilt them just a bit left to right with each move, just to make sure the embryo and yolk move around a bit...

 

[SpinningJenny]

Hello Club!

I've got a hand-me-down Hova-Bator 1620 that I'm using for a dozen random breed eggs we got at the local feed store. They were set on Tuesday night and overnight i had a temperature spike to 105 in the early hours of the morning. I got it under control and read a LOT about the possibility of them being cooked but I'm just going to patiently wait until day 10 to make any decisions.

But I've got some questions:

1.) I now know not to follow the instructions that come with the Hova-Bator. But I'm unsure what temperature I should have it at now that I've seen several different temps listed for styrofoam still-air incubators. Some say 100, some say 99.5, some say 102. My thermometers are both reading the same within a half degree so I know I can get an accurate temp if needed, but what should I truly be aiming for here?

2.) Humidity: I've got a digital hygrometer that I calibrated with the salt method. It's reading about 12 percentage points LOWER that the analog dial hygrometer I've got in there, which was reading at 60. I got the humidity to read about 50 on the analog, and the digital is reading 37-38. What can I make of that? Should I assume something in the middle? Should I trust one over the other? What would you do? (Oh, I've been moving the hygrometers around the incubator, too, placing them lightly on top of the eggs to get readings there and they are pretty consistent all over the interior.)

3.) I'm turning the eggs 3-7 times a day and making sure they are resting on alternating sides each night. I'm reading here not to rotate them? Because loose air sacs? I don't quite know what that means. Should I worry about it? Is it something I can avoid? Trying to find the beginning of that convo in the thread so i can learn more...

4.) Are there any other tried and true instructions for using this model that differ from the manufacturer's instructions (besides humidity, I think it's pretty clear I should not use the tray!) or that might not be obvious to me right now? I'd appreciate hearing it!

Ok, now off to read every page of this thread. Thanks!

 

[MeepBeep]

1.) I now know not to follow the instructions that come with the Hova-Bator. But I'm unsure what temperature I should have it at now that I've seen several different temps listed for styrofoam still-air incubators. Some say 100, some say 99.5, some say 102. My thermometers are both reading the same within a half degree so I know I can get an accurate temp if needed, but what should I truly be aiming for here?

You want the internal egg temp to be 99.5°, in a still air incubator that can generally be accomplished by ruing a little bit warmer as the cold air under the egg and hot air above mix at egg level and average out...

2.) Humidity: I've got a digital hygrometer that I calibrated with the salt method. It's reading about 12 percentage points LOWER that the analog dial hygrometer I've got in there, which was reading at 60. I got the humidity to read about 50 on the analog, and the digital is reading 37-38. What can I make of that? Should I assume something in the middle? Should I trust one over the other? What would you do? (Oh, I've been moving the hygrometers around the incubator, too, placing them lightly on top of the eggs to get readings there and they are pretty consistent all over the interior.)

To be blunt ignore the humidity gauges unless you have issues, by issues I mean candle the eggs regularly and monitor air cell development, if it's developing normally continue to ignore the humidity... If the air cell is too big or too small then adjust humidity up or down to compensate... You can also do the same by weighing the eggs and monitoring their weight lose over the incubation period...

3.) I'm turning the eggs 3-7 times a day and making sure they are resting on alternating sides each night. I'm reading here not to rotate them? Because loose air sacs? I don't quite know what that means. Should I worry about it? Is it something I can avoid? Trying to find the beginning of that convo in the thread so i can learn more...

Not turning them to hopefully give the air cell time to re-attach is in regards to shipped eggs that generally come damaged, if they have not been shipped chances are you can rotate them as normal... Candling will easily tell you if the air cell is detached, it will either be floating around the egg like a bubble if you rotate the egg or it will be an abnormal shape and still partially attached...

4.) Are there any other tried and true instructions for using this model that differ from the manufacturer's instructions (besides humidity, I think it's pretty clear I should not use the tray!) or that might not be obvious to me right now? I'd appreciate hearing it!

There is no one set of rules that work for everyone, your locations specific temps, humidity, elevation and what not all come into play, the best you can do is take generic recommended way and see if it works, if not adjust something and try again... And in time keeping notes you will develop a set of rules that is specific to you and your setup...

 

[feedman77]

1) still should 101 _102 at the top of the eggs.

2) if you salt calibrated it and it seemed right I would use that one nit the dial on the uncubator.

3) if your eggs are laying down. I don't see any thing wrong with the way you are doing it.

This is my personal preference that seems to work for me.

Run dry incubation for 18 days. Keep humidity at 25_30 percent. Then raise to 65 to 70 percent for lockdown and hatch.

Hello Club!

I've got a hand-me-down Hova-Bator 1620 that I'm using for a dozen random breed eggs we got at the local feed store. They were set on Tuesday night and overnight i had a temperature spike to 105 in the early hours of the morning. I got it under control and read a LOT about the possibility of them being cooked but I'm just going to patiently wait until day 10 to make any decisions.

But I've got some questions:

1.) I now know not to follow the instructions that come with the Hova-Bator. But I'm unsure what temperature I should have it at now that I've seen several different temps listed for styrofoam still-air incubators. Some say 100, some say 99.5, some say 102. My thermometers are both reading the same within a half degree so I know I can get an accurate temp if needed, but what should I truly be aiming for here? 

2.) Humidity: I've got a digital hygrometer that I calibrated with the salt method. It's reading about 12 percentage points LOWER that the analog dial hygrometer I've got in there, which was reading at 60. I got the humidity to read about 50 on the analog, and the digital is reading 37-38. What can I make of that? Should I assume something in the middle? Should I trust one over the other? What would you do? (Oh, I've been moving the hygrometers around the incubator, too, placing them lightly on top of the eggs to get readings there and they are pretty consistent all over the interior.)

3.) I'm turning the eggs 3-7 times a day and making sure they are resting on alternating sides each night. I'm reading here not to rotate them? Because loose air sacs? I don't quite know what that means. Should I worry about it? Is it something I can avoid? Trying to find the beginning of that convo in the thread so i can learn more...

4.) Are there any other tried and true instructions for using this model that differ from the manufacturer's instructions (besides humidity, I think it's pretty clear I should not use the tray!) or that might not be obvious to me right now? I'd appreciate hearing it!

Ok, now off to read every page of this thread. Thanks!

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Hello everybody!
Going to try and follow too!

(Ok, well...after taxes are done)

 

[SpinningJenny]

1) still should 101 _102 at the top of the eggs.

2) if you salt calibrated it and it seemed right I would use that one nit the dial on the uncubator.

3) if your eggs are laying down. I don't see any thing wrong with the way you are doing it.

This is my personal preference that seems to work for me.

Run dry incubation for 18 days. Keep humidity at 25_30 percent. Then raise to 65 to 70 percent for lockdown and hatch.

Thanks! I am not using any of the stock thermometers or hygrometers. I got one digital and one analog, just in case the digital quit on me. Now that I know the analog is 12% off, I can still adjust that reading in my head of need be! Humidity is currently at room humidity, which is around 30%.

 

[SpinningJenny]

You want the internal egg temp to be 99.5°, in a still air incubator that can generally be accomplished by ruing a little bit warmer as the cold air under the egg and hot air above mix at egg level and average out...
To be blunt ignore the humidity gauges unless you have issues, by issues I mean candle the eggs regularly and monitor air cell development, if it's developing normally continue to ignore the humidity... If the air cell is too big or too small then adjust humidity up or down to compensate... You can also do the same by weighing the eggs and monitoring their weight lose over the incubation period...
Not turning them to hopefully give the air cell time to re-attach is in regards to shipped eggs that generally come damaged, if they have not been shipped chances are you can rotate them as normal... Candling will easily tell you if the air cell is detached, it will either be floating around the egg like a bubble if you rotate the egg or it will be an abnormal shape and still partially attached...
There is no one set of rules that work for everyone, your locations specific temps, humidity, elevation and what not all come into play, the best you can do is take generic recommended way and see if it works, if not adjust something and try again... And in time keeping notes you will develop a set of rules that is specific to you and your setup...

Well, it sounds like I'm on the right track! Crossing my fingers that temp spike didn't affect them much. I'll let you know in a couple weeks how well or how poorly I fared. In the mean time I will continue reading all this awesome information!

 

[BertandMary]

FBCM and Blue Americauna getting brought up to temp now. We also bought a couple of Easter Egger chicks today. We will make some Olive Eggers next year. The blue wheatons weren't fertile enough to monkey with but hopefully we can do those in May.

 

[BertandMary]

To get a better average temp, we're only putting 24 eggs without any beneath the heater element and fan or close to the turner motor. The thermostat sensor sits directly below the fan, on the turner, and we get better air distribution as air hits the plastic support and spreads inside the bator. We started at 100.5 on the digital display and are adjusting every hour by a couple of points (.03) until the calibrated thermometers are reading closer to 98.5 on the ourside. We set as mentioned earlier and are just over 97 on the calibrated thermometer currently. Patience is the name of the game to avoid temp spikes as we bring them up to temp.

 

[BertandMary]

After reading what was written the realisation that the fan was blowing the wrong direction hit. Luckily we didn't overheat anything and it took 10 minutes to change it and get it blowing upwards instead if down towards the eggs.