The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[Cynthia12]

Thanks, Cynthia
We're up in the cold, cold north - will keep the incubator inside but want to be sure we have adequate humidity control, since it's more dry while the furnace is running in the house. There are elaborate incubators with automatic external humidifiers ($$$) but is it just as adequate to use a sponge or pan of water & a monitor? I also read about maintaining 20% oxygen concentration - yikes stripes...

Are you talking about a mini? ron is right if so..I haven't tried the small Brinsea ones. I hear that a lot of folks love them for the smaller hatches. Tried the larger one, didn't care for it. Just me.

 

[Cynthia12]

Are you talking about a mini? ron is right if so..I haven't tried the small Brinsea ones. I hear that a lot of folks love them for the smaller hatches. Tried the larger one, didn't care for it. Just me.

Like this one?

I haven't tried this small one.

 

[Cynthia12]

Yup, I'm just the opposite. I like my forced air and egg turner...lol. Though I have to admit I have not tried hand turning. Last hatch was 13/16 so I felt pretty good. lol

Hey, not bad at all!

 

[Cynthia12]

For me, life gets in the way of hand turning. Because of an irregular schedule, hand turning was not as good as the auto turner FOR me. Others that use an auto turner also allow their eggs to cool down for an hour or so once they are 8 days old and before lockdown starts. That is supposed to help the hatch rate too. I have not tried the cool down yet as seeing started eggs out of the incubator for more than a few minutes would be a stress trigger for me.

I actually started doing a cool down with my eggs, but not for long..just to the point where they feel cool, not for long at all, I go by what I've seen my broodies do, get up to eat, drink, and poo..so, around 15 .. 20 mins. Some folks go longer.

 

[MavisMama]

Thank you. Yes, I saw this incubator and it looks very complete.

 

[blackgoat]

I'd love to hear people's opinions on the best small incubator (I'm planning on setting 6-12 eggs).  I've read so many reviews and I appreciate how important maintaining the temperature, humidity level and O2 concentration is, as well as appropriate turning of the eggs.  I have a friend who has done lots of home hatching who says manual turning is better than automatic turning, as she has improved hatch rate with hand turning vs higher mortality rate with the automated turner.  I would just think not opening the incubator to hand-turn the eggs would be better -
Help!
thanks
MavisMama (Teri)

I use a still air (older, shorter) Hovabator. I have to monitor the temp pretty constantly. I have to keep turning the knob down as the eggs develop. Which seems weird, because you'd think that the thermostat would keep it constant. It doesn't . Newer ones might be different.
Since having a 1- 2 hour cooling period each day is okay, then I don't think opening the incubator for a minute to turn is going to be a problem. I have heard that bacteria from skin oils can get into the eggs from touching them. I wash my hands before turning or candling. I've only had a few quitters, most of my bad hatches come from eggs not developing at all.

 

[eggorthechicken]

I have the Hovabator and Brinsea Mini. both have the turners and both have done very well for me. I use an incubator from tractor supply as a hatcher for my Hovabator because I usually have staggard hatches but it hatches very well otherwise. I use my mini to hatch in and it has been great also.

 

[Razadia]

GQF also has a mini. It's called the chickbator. Though, I've never heard a single good thing about it.:what:

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I have a forced air hovabator. My first hatch was shipped eggs and I hatched 12 of 14 Marans very much a success in my eyes. I just recently picked up a used little giant still air to use as a hatcher. I'm not sure about it yet. My first couple attempts to get a stable temp in it have been rough. I have about 2 weeks until my first set of eggs go in it so we'll see how it goes. I knew I'd be doing a lot of staggered hatches so I couldn't resist when I saw it up for sale lol

 

[nate1the1great1]

I have a 20 year old little giant bator and it has no accessorys and its also starting to fall apart. So I went to tsc and got a pro series bator with all accessorys so now I have one for ducks one for chickens

See the difference i love the new one since it has the turner and the air fan to circulate so im all set for the hatch a long