The Moonshiner's Bootleg Incubator Reviews And Discussions

[speckledhen]

I don't make a dime on YouTube, though I've had the channel for more than a dozen years. Some days I think maybe I actually should monetize again, but it makes them watch you closer and they've slapped my wrist enough, LOL. There are so many YT channels that give insane advice about chickens, I have to be there as an antidote to that.

 

[KF0002]

I don't make a dime on YouTube, though I've had the channel for more than a dozen years. Some days I think maybe I actually should monetize again, but it makes them watch you closer and they've slapped my wrist enough, LOL. There are so many YT channels that give insane advice about chickens, I have to be there as an antidote to that.

I don't make a dime on YouTube, though I've had the channel for more than a dozen years. Some days I think maybe I actually should monetize again, but it makes them watch you closer and they've slapped my wrist enough, LOL. There are so many YT channels that give insane advice about chickens, I have to be there as an antidote to that.

Yes there definitely needs to be an antidote to that. There are a lot of bad advice or just wrong information from novice chicken keepers on there who raise chickens for 5 minutes and think they are experts.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes there definitely needs to be an antidote to that. There are a lot of bad advice or just wrong information from novice chicken keepers on there who raise chickens for 5 minutes and think they are experts.

You bet. There are way too many featherbrained ideas about chickens and their management on YouTube. Sorting the gold nuggets from the poop there can like navigating a minefield!

 

[KF0002]

You bet. There are way too many featherbrained ideas about chickens and their management on YouTube. Sorting the gold nuggets from the poop there can like navigating a minefield!

Indeed it can.

 

[speckledhen]

And speaking of that, some woman did a video about how she hatches hens when she wants to. Good grief, she at least gave me a myth-busting video to do.
By the way, I just did my Day 18 candling. Every single one of the 11 that were fertile and developing on Day 10 are full of bouncing chicks! That is amazing to me from shipped eggs! Four were infertile from one pen the breeder collected from but all others are going gangbusters. There are some scalloped air cells as is per usual with shipped eggs, but only one is fairly deep and it still has a viable chick in there.

 

[Courtney Farms]

I built two with 3/4 plywood based on gqf specs but about 2 inches wider and 4 inches taller and lined it with 1 inch foiled backed styrofoam insulation. foil taped all seams on the inside and wood glued all plywood. ordered fan and heat coils from gqf and installed digital thermostat. Door is built with plexi-glass and 3 snap hinges. weather stripping is on cabinet where door closes against and on the top where access to coil and fan are. Thermostat is flawless. Have another I built using incubator warehouse fans and heat built in one. Also digital thermostat . Bought 4 gqf plastic turners I install on slide out trays.

 

[speckledhen]

We once made one with a mini-fridge, put a viewing window in the door and it worked, but it took up too much room and we abandoned using it. I have hatched a lot in the Hovabator Genesis, but it was much more expensive years ago than this MatiCoopX is now and bulkier on the table as well.
My overall preferred method is broody hen, but they can't really sit on 30-42 eggs and they are never ready when I am. Or they are perpetually ready, as my Brahma hens were in their first three years and my buff bantam Cochin hens always are and I don't want more of either at this point in time.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I built two with 3/4 plywood based on gqf specs but about 2 inches wider and 4 inches taller and lined it with 1 inch foiled backed styrofoam insulation. foil taped all seams on the inside and wood glued all plywood. ordered fan and heat coils from gqf and installed digital thermostat. Door is built with plexi-glass and 3 snap hinges. weather stripping is on cabinet where door closes against and on the top where access to coil and fan are. Thermostat is flawless. Have another I built using incubator warehouse fans and heat built in one. Also digital thermostat . Bought 4 gqf plastic turners I install on slide out trays.View attachment 4080084View attachment 4080085

What thermostat are you using?
How long you been using it and how's hatch rates?
Anything you'd change or do differently next time. I'm a huge fan of homemade incubators.

 

[Courtney Farms]

What thermostat are you using?
How long you been using it and how's hatch rates?
Anything you'd change or do differently next time. I'm a huge fan of homemade incubators.

I built these approx.7 years ago. At the moment I have 28 I believe in the other I use for hatching these are some pics. The previous hatch was at 94%. I would make it a little taller to put an extra shelf. I do not use any water in the one I use for incubation. I use gqf sponge in the hatcher and right now the humidity has been running 50% after 8 to 10 hatching it hovers around 65-70% T

 

[Courtney Farms]

This is the first one I made. This one uses Incubator Warehouse fans and heaters as one unit. I did not use foil back styrofoam in this one