The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Yard full o' rocks]

Hi Scott, I've been looking at this controller

It is at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Docooler-Temp...ini+Digital+Temperature+Controller+Thermostat

My hovabator has pretty much died. I cannot, for the life of me, keep it at 99. I'm thinking I'm going to do something along the lines of your wine cooler but I cannot do it now and we're right in the middle of starting up the hatching season. I'm thinking about perhaps adding some kind of light into my hovabator to raise it just a few degrees. Is this something you could advise me on? I'd like help with making an incubator probably some time during summer but for now, would a nightlight or two in the hovabator warm it up say 2 or 3 degrees? The fan works, it just sits between 96-97 degrees.

I've looked at several of these (they are available under a variety of names).....this is a proportional thermostat only, it is not a heating unit or fan....if your heater is ok, then it might work ok

 

[DMRippy]

Hi Scott, I've been looking at this controller

It is at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Docooler-Temp...ini+Digital+Temperature+Controller+Thermostat

My hovabator has pretty much died. I cannot, for the life of me, keep it at 99. I'm thinking I'm going to do something along the lines of your wine cooler but I cannot do it now and we're right in the middle of starting up the hatching season. I'm thinking about perhaps adding some kind of light into my hovabator to raise it just a few degrees. Is this something you could advise me on? I'd like help with making an incubator probably some time during summer but for now, would a nightlight or two in the hovabator warm it up say 2 or 3 degrees? The fan works, it just sits between 96-97 degrees.

This is just a thermostat. Works great too! I have it in my hatcher, incubator and my NEW hatcher. The great thing about this is you can adjust the variance in temp. I have mine set to .3 C. I think that is the lowest you can on these. I love the fact that I can put a COOLING fan in and if the temps get too high. I had a hatcher get to 118 with a water heater thermostat and KILLED all my new chicks. So that was important to me.

I have stc1000 version and if you get it make sure you get the one for 110 v and not the 220. I didn't buy from these guys I paid like $14 each.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Temperature...264?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ad1eef8a0

 

[Fred's Hens]

There are folks who follow this thread that might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by the "build it yourself" gang that hangs here, or perhaps intimidated by the large scale nature of some of these various units.

Let me take this moment to say something simple, perhaps. The reason most of us have an incubator AND a hatcher is to keep the "flow" going. Two incubators allow you to incubate in one and hatch in the other. Incubation requires turning, while hatchers are essentially incubators with no turning required.

The hatcher also is better if it is easily cleaned. Hatching can be messy. Keeping your incubator clean by moving out all eggs on the 18th day and placing them into our hatcher keeps the incubator clean and allows for staggering your hatches.

This can be as simple or as intricate as you desire. This doesn't have to cost and arm and a leg to accomplish.

 

[DMRippy]

There are folks who follow this thread that might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by the "build it yourself" gang that hangs here, or perhaps intimidated by the large scale nature of some of these various units.

Let me take this moment to say something simple, perhaps. The reason most of us have an incubator AND a hatcher is to keep the "flow" going. Two incubators allow you to incubate in one and hatch in the other. Incubation requires turning, while hatchers are essentially incubators with no turning required.

The hatcher also is better if it is easily cleaned. Hatching can be messy. Keeping your incubator clean by moving out all eggs on the 18th day and placing them into our hatcher keeps the incubator clean and allows for staggering your hatches.

This can be as simple or as intricate as you desire. This doesn't have to cost and arm and a leg to accomplish.

So true! My hatcher I am using now was FREE. They had it in a dumpster or barn i can't remember. I just had to add heat and thermostat easy peasy! My incubator didn't cost much either. We found a shipping create and used the wood from that to build the bator....... same basic construction on both but like Fred said one has a turner and one without. My incubator is in my siggy...I don't think I have any info on the hatcher anywhere.

Staggered hatches are great but can get over whelming if you let it. I have limited my self to 1 hatch a week even if I set 180 eggs

I will not set any more than 180..... in a week EVER AGAIN!

I am hoping to get my rock sorted and moved soon and can start hatching maybe mid to end of April. I hate that I am waiting so late to start hatching from these guys this first year. Just had to be though. Soon I will have 3 empty pens and can clean them out because they are in mixed pens and start hatching.... FINALLY!

Scott.... someone gave me a DOUBLE Wine cooler like that with digital temps... they said it didn't work.... my son didn't believe them and took it and I have not seen it since...... I would have been great for fall and winter hatches but was really too small.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I've looked at several of these (they are available under a variety of names).....this is a proportional thermostat only, it is not a heating unit or fan....if your heater is ok, then it might work ok

I was wanting this contraption for my incubator that I need to build over the summer.

For my hovabator I was wondering about the night lights because the heater only will heat to the mid 90s and as you know, we need at least 99.5

This is just a thermostat. Works great too! I have it in my hatcher, incubator and my NEW hatcher. The great thing about this is you can adjust the variance in temp. I have mine set to .3 C. I think that is the lowest you can on these. I love the fact that I can put a COOLING fan in and if the temps get too high. I had a hatcher get to 118 with a water heater thermostat and KILLED all my new chicks. So that was important to me.

I have stc1000 version and if you get it make sure you get the one for 110 v and not the 220. I didn't buy from these guys I paid like $14 each.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Temperature...264?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ad1eef8a0

I think I glanced at your megabator last night. I know I looked at your pallet coops and brooders. Excellent work, by the way! It was a pleasure to go through. I wouldn't need a megabator but something similar, only smaller, would work fine. I don't have a lot of people lining up to buy my birds. It's mostly for my own enjoyment. Selling some would be nice but I don't think the economy is going to get any better so I'm reducing my numbers but still seeking that elusive Andalusian. I had some several years ago but since I moved, my breeding plans have pretty much gone backwards. I have other birds lined up but I want to keep my very best ones and continue to work with them.

ETA: I do have a hatcher separate from my incubator (that is unreliable right now) and I have eggs in my hatcher, being incubated. I get to turn them by hand because my turner won't fit in there. The motor on that also went out this year. UGH!

 

[DMRippy]

I think I glanced at your megabator last night. I know I looked at your pallet coops and brooders. Excellent work, by the way! It was a pleasure to go through. I wouldn't need a megabator but something similar, only smaller, would work fine. I don't have a lot of people lining up to buy my birds. It's mostly for my own enjoyment. Selling some would be nice but I don't think the economy is going to get any better so I'm reducing my numbers but still seeking that elusive Andalusian. I had some several years ago but since I moved, my breeding plans have pretty much gone backwards. I have other birds lined up but I want to keep my very best ones and continue to work with them.

ETA: I do have a hatcher separate from my incubator (that is unreliable right now) and I have eggs in my hatcher, being incubated. I get to turn them by hand because my turner won't fit in there. The motor on that also went out this year. UGH!

Here is my hatcher. Very simple. Just a box.




One set of plugs is for the heat and one for cooling fan in the bottom of the hatcher.



Flexwatt and light for heat.





My fan died and I never replaced it. I just took out that wall with the fan.



The probe is mounted on the top in the middle and hangs down about 1/3 to read temp.

 

[beausonge]

Those are actually not lights, but ceramic heat bulbs.  Primarily used for reptiles.  These units give off heat, but no light.  As incandescent light bulbs are getting harder to find, I needed an alternative...plus, I'm hoping it will establish day/night with the chicks and make the transition to the outdoor grow up pens a little easier.  We'll see

I used a Brinsea Ecoglow with my last hatch in the fall. I really liked that I did not have the risk of that heat lamp over the wood chips. It seemed to me that they feathered out faster and grew faster than previous chicks I have raised. However that is not based on any recorded facts and I have only raised maybe 10 batches of chicks in the last three years. This year when I have non-broody hatches I will have to track age of feathering and growth. Over time the data may bear something of interest. The Brinsea Ecoglow only works for temperatures 50 F and above so it is necessary to use a heat lamp or heat source if the room temperatures are less than that.

An interesting thing happened to me this past winter. It was an unusually cold winter for our area (SW Washington state) - often in the single digits and teens. I ran out of red lights so I put a blue light in with my fall hatch youngsters. They immediately started chattering and just got kind of wound up. I went about my chores. Later on my husband was down doing chores by the youngsters. When he came back into the house he told me the youngsters were "freaking out" - he said they were chattering in a high pitch. By that time I had went to the store and gotten more red lights. I went and chnaged out the blue one and they immediately calmed down.

Light affects humans and it is interesting how it affects animals. I hope you keep track of your chicks and whether there is a difference. I will look forward to reading about them

 

[jerryse]

This is just a thermostat. Works great too! I have it in my hatcher, incubator and my NEW hatcher. The great thing about this is you can adjust the variance in temp. I have mine set to .3 C. I think that is the lowest you can on these. I love the fact that I can put a COOLING fan in and if the temps get too high. I had a hatcher get to 118 with a water heater thermostat and KILLED all my new chicks. So that was important to me.

I have stc1000 version and if you get it make sure you get the one for 110 v and not the 220. I didn't buy from these guys I paid like $14 each.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Temperature...264?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ad1eef8a0

Would this unit handle a sportsman incubator?

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: My incubator is bigger than a sportsman..... mine holds 540 eggs and is home made and the size is just bigger. too. Mine is like 3 ft by 5 ft and 4 ft tall. I feel sure someone rewired theirs with one of these.

 

[jerryse]

My incubator is bigger than a sportsman..... mine holds 540 eggs and is home made and the size is just bigger. too. Mine is like 3 ft by 5 ft and 4 ft tall. I feel sure someone rewired theirs with one of these.

Thanks for the info. I thought it should. I have one that has a bad snap switch.