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LOL.... Ibought a reptile thermometer/hygrometer.... because it had two separate probes or sensors that could be placed anywhere in the incubator The unit itself sat on a shelf above the incubator... But hOnestly I just kept the appropriate reservoirs filled and checked the humidity and temperature on a regular bassis... I got the one that didnt have a didgital readout.
No I cant do hand turning.... Id forget....
from my own eggs i am happy with the results... IF i buy eggs from a breeder I wont trust my own skill... There is a gal here that is a master hatcher shes got one of those cabinet incubators.... she hatches and charges per egg... I am good with using her...
LOL.... Ibought a reptile thermometer/hygrometer.... because it had two separate probes or sensors that could be placed anywhere in the incubator The unit itself sat on a shelf above the incubator... But hOnestly I just kept the appropriate reservoirs filled and checked the humidity and temperature on a regular bassis... I got the one that didnt have a didgital readout.
No I cant do hand turning.... Id forget....
from my own eggs i am happy with the results... IF i buy eggs from a breeder I wont trust my own skill... There is a gal here that is a master hatcher shes got one of those cabinet incubators.... she hatches and charges per egg... I am good with using her...
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Last time i asked she charges a dollar an egg. Her only requirement is you come and get them as soon as they hatch. but even at twice that I would be good.
Well crap! It just clicked my EE roo has favus... And five of my hens have milder cases. I will start with nystatin in the morning... Agh and ACV in the water...
( insert the guy banging his head on the wall )
Ah hah! And I will use grapefruit seed extract, that worked better than nystatin when my baby had thrush!
2 farm innovators with digital and can conversions.
1 hovabator Genesis
2 hovabator 1602N with fan kits
A home made wooden wine box incubator
A 600 egg home made
A 150 egg home made hatcher
A 400 egg home made
The cheap farm innovators with an stc1000 thermostat and a fan kit are as reliable as anything.
I only have the gateway incubator, the Brinsea Mini Eco. And without a turner. It had a bit of a learning curve, but keeping it in a warm room (25C) seemed to be a good idea. We turned our smaller toilet into a plant nursery and incubating room last spring. First hatch attempt was unsuccessful, we put store bought eggs in it, but I think the fact that they were a bit old had something to do with it, 2 of them quit around 8 days and two made it to lock down but gave up during that time. Second set was 6 Sussex eggs, all clears, but by then we had learned to keep the temps and humidity stable in it. In addition to the built in analog thermometer we had two digital thermo-hygrometers in there, and they all showed the same numbers so it seemed to be pretty stable. So our fourth attempt yielded 4 hatchlings, one quitter and one clear out of 6 eggs, and fourth hatch was 6 sussex eggs again, with 2 clears, one broken egg, one quitter and 2 hatchlings (The breeder had some fertility issues, same person as the first 6 sussex eggs). The thing I like about the Brinsea is that the dome shaped lid keeps the moisture pretty well when you're turning the eggs. We kept around 35% humidity until lock down too.
Here are a couple of pics of our plant and chicken starters. The mini greenhouse worked pretty nicely, I modified a Ikea mini greenhouse with a light fixture and kept a heat mat under it.
In the pic the rubber plug is still in on the left side, and that kept the humidity too high, it worked better when it was removed.