Success with you LG!

[MommaB]

Hi! I have read the cheat sheet for the Little Giant from ChooksChick and am planning on trying that method. I wanted to know of others that use this dry incubation method or other methods that work for the with the LG. My first batch hatched 4 out of 27 eggs and this last batch I got 1 out of 6 eggs but I actually hatched the one. My chicks are alive until after lockdown.

Please share your LG stories!

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

I use dry incubation, and I have looked over the "cheat sheet" you mentioned, but have never followed it COMPLETELY. I believe the differences in climate and ambient room temperature in your home make an atmosphere that can't be replicated exactly from dwelling to dwelling, so what works for many won't always work as well for all. My experience with LG's (I have 3) is that the temp stays pretty stable from days 1-8. For me, around day 9, the temp spikes a little. I attribute this to the chick creating it's own heat and adjust the thermostat accordingly. Also, I have found that what works best for me is to LOWER the temp at lockdown to 98 F. Think about it: The last 3 days there is really not much going on developmentally to "slow" by the decrease, and once chicks hatch they only need a temp of around 95 to thrive, so I would rather take a chance on being slightly too chilly as opposed to overheating. The reason I implemented this change in my own incubator is because I found that for some reason when I increased humidity at hatch time, the temp was spiking and killing my chicks in the shell. Since I now lower the temperature for the last 3 days, my hatch rate has increased. Good luck!

 

[Katy]

I hated my LG...killed off more chicks in the years that I had it than it hatched. It was a good day when I trashed it!!

 

[LilyD]

Quote:
I used the cheat sheet my last hatching with the exception of the paper towels at the end because I have a forced air LG with a fan. and out of 26 shipped eggs I got 14 to hatch. My totals would have been higher but I had one batch of eggs that didn't develop at all and the ones that did didn't make it to hatch time.

 

[jfulcher]

That cheat sheet won't work for me since I do quail eggs >< dry incubation kills quail, but just putting a plain ol pc fan in got me a 90% hatch

 

[LilyD]

Quote:
Nice I am so glad that you got a good hatch this time

I had a good one too but mine was only about 54% because one of the batches of eggs was bad.

 

[cmom]

I have an LG that I have had many hatches in. A couple of things I have discovered is that when I adjust the temperature I only need to turn it a very slight hair and walk away for awhile until it stabilizes. Also I had a hard time regulating the humidity at lock down so I started putting a wet sponge in and that helped to bring my humidity up for hatching. I know there are a lot of LG haters on BYC but I did the same thing and bought the LG originally as I wasn't sure if I wanted to get into hatching. Now I use it as a hatcher as I have an cabinet incubator.