The Old Folks Home

[vehve]

Scg, these were eating snow in the run. I've kept the coop heated now due to barely freezing temps, makes keeping them watered super easy for the cost of a 37W heater being on.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I run an extension cord and have a heated water base. I barely see the uptick in my electric bill.

 

[vehve]

Hey Deb! Hope your BP is still in check? Are you still a bit lopsided?

 

[chickadoodles]

Cute chicks V love all the pics.

Scg your lighthouse painting is beautiful.

 

[getaclue]

Dh is getting me an Rcom incubator next payday as an anniversary present. Last night I was reading through an online PDF version of the owners manual. Clearly, it was translated from another language, and the translation isn't too great, but didn't seem so bad that I couldn't understand it. It walks you through the entire process of using the incubator to the completed hatch. There's even a drawing type picture of it with chicks in it, and they caution you to move the chicks into a brooder when they hatch.

I was envisioning myself doing all the steps, putting my eggs in, and having a successful hatch. Now moving on to the section about taking care of the incubator after the hatch....


Huh? So, they sell an incubator for hatching eggs, BUT if you USE it to hatch eggs, it could break the incubator, and it voids the warranty? It's especially not to be used for the 3 days before hatching, what we call lockdown. I re-read the instructions. Yes, it is even programed to go the full 21 day cycle, including shutting off the egg turner, and increasing the humidity for the final 3 days of lockdown. There are even instructions for extending the lockdown period for late hatching eggs. There is even a picture of a successful hatch in this unit. I understand that unlike the styro-bators, you can not keep the chicks in this unit to dry them, or keep them in there for 3 days after they hatch to let them finish absorbing their yolks, which is what I think they are trying to say. Gosh I hope that's what they mean. I'd hate to spend all that money on a wonderful incubator that is only to look at, show to my friends, but never hatch an egg in it.

 

[Latestarter]

I think what they might be doing there is protecting themselves from repair requests from folks who hatch out and leave the chicks in there creating a lot of mess that could damage the bator if not cleaned out/up. So folks send back dirty bators wanting them repaired under warranty when they broke because the owners didn't clean/care for them properly.

Hatching does create a bit of a mess with goop and shell fragments and then feathers and stuff if the chicks are left in there. A lot of folks line the bottom of the bator before hatch with paper towels or something to make it easier to clean up afterwards. some folks put the eggs in cut off egg cartons to help contain the mess. I think if you take the turner out (I hope it's removable) about 3 days before hatch and place some paper towels in there under the eggs, that will help with clean up.

From a while back:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/452202/incubator-r-com-20-worth-it

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My Brinsea is completely nasty thanks to hatching in it. I now have 2 styrobators to hatch in after incubating in the Brinsea.

 

[vehve]

Dust gets everywhere when hatching, I remember how dusty our Brinsea got. A filter would be a good idea to add, but in many models it would mess with the thermostat.

 

[vehve]

Or just using a still air is probably good too. Less risk of shrink-wrapping ad well, I would guess.

 

[getaclue]

I'm still getting one, but clearly things were lost in translation. I think some of it has to do with them having almost the exact same user manual for both the MX series, which does not automatically go into the 3 day lockdown, and it has to be set manually to turn off the egg turning, and elevate the humidity, while the Pro series goes into lockdown automatically.

With the cost of translating, and printing, it was probably more cost effective to slightly modify the existing user manual, even though it was not the best translation, but made sense considering that the user has to manually set it to go into lockdown, and they were attempting to protect themselves from warranty claims by users that failed to change the settings for lockdown.