TIP for adding water without openin yer 'bator.

[SusanJoM]

I don't think there's any reason to do that (use distilled water, that is).
If it's more convenient for some reason, there's no reason why not, but I don't think there is any advantage.....unless, of course, there is something seriously wrong with your tap water. If you drink it or even bathe in it, it should be fine.

Susan

 

[MoonbeamQueen]

Ok, thanks! Never incubated before...what's the best way to clean the bottom? It's styrofoam so I can't scrub too much. I figured just a soak in bleach water and then air dry thoroughly?

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

That's all I did! Sprayed some Clorox Clean-Up, swished it around, wiped a little where I had to with a paper towel and hosed it off. Sure hope that was ok...

 

[Davaroo]

SO aren't you supposed to cull the infertile 'clears'? Again I say, "no reason."

Unless they are diseased, culling them serves little purpose other than make you feel like you're doing something.
Since you are going to run the bator anyway, let the infertile eggs remain and add their thermal buffering effect to the chamber.
Trying to maintain the conditions in a small airspace is pretty tough. There is little inertia in such a system and the eggs will help to buffer temp swings by holding heat.

When the hatch is over, just remove the clears, and use them in your favorite cake, pudding or bread recipes calling for eggs. You can also cook them and feed them back to the other animals.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Um... I don't think I'd want to eat an egg that had been sitting at 100°F for the better part of a month... ew.

I have several incubators, and the easiest thing for me is to drill a hole in the cap of a plastic soda bottle just big enough to cram a piece of tubing into it. Screw it back onto the bottle after filling with warm water. For the LG, I have a folded papertowel lying in the middle of the turner, just under the vent, so that I can just wet the towel to quickly raise the humidity. But even with the turner, I can still squeeze water from the bottle into the trough pretty easily. On the other homemade incubators I just pull the corks out of the vent holes and just make sure that my water containers are strategically placed below those holes so I can squeeze the water into it without opening the 'bator.

I've read that it's GOOD to open the incubator for 10-20 minutes a day, simulating the time off the nest when the hen goes foraging. Let's fresh air in, etc... so I don't mind taking the time to open it, add water, candle if needed, and I don't rush through it anymore. Especially after I accidentally dropped an egg while candling in my haste. Anyone that has had an egg explode in their incubator knows the advantages of candling at least at 10 - 14 days to remove bad eggs.

 

[Davaroo]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Um... I don't think I'd want to eat an egg that had been sitting at 100°F for the better part of a month... ew.

I expected someone to say that. Not only is it feasible, but it was once recommended, back when people couldn't afford to be so wasteful of their resources.

Honestly, any egg that is going to be cooked into other foods isnt going to add any sort of deleterious effect of its own accord. Meanwhile all the goodness that was in the egg remains. Remember were talking about undiseased eggs.

Now you know why great-grandmas pound cake was so luscious, and is soooooo hard to duplicate today.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I figured you were expecting it, so why spoil your fun?

Those were the clears you're talking about, right? Some of these I have cracked open had bloodrings and tiny embryos... sorry, nuh uh, can't do it. Maybe it's best I don't know what was in grandma's poundcake!

No disrespect, but I personally couldn't eat it. If it was a clear, yeah, I could feed it back to the dogs, pigs, chickens... but if it was "bad"... feed it to the worms.

 

[Davaroo]

Well, those were different times, to be sure.
I would imagine some selecting went on with the eggs in question, regardless.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Boy, I sure HOPE so!!!

*shudders*