Using Little Giant for a hatcher...anyone ever done this?

KaneMoa

In the Brooder
8 Years
May 9, 2011
44
1
22
I had an epiphany the other day and bought a 2nd Little Giant incubator to use as a hatcher only. I never liked holding eggs until I had enough to fill the incubator to start a hatch. Sometimes the 12 day old eggs don't make it all the way or get stuck, so I began putting all eggs I have after a week in, and starting them as a group.

My dilemma was, I have eggs that will be 18 days old Monday and younger eggs still in the eggs turner. I couldn't very well remove turner just to allow older eggs to hatch so I figured a incubator set aside solely for hatching would be the solution. Since normally I would pull the turner out on day 18, the new "hatcher" is exactly the same thing.

Now I'm considering getting another incubator, so I can keep a constant program going and using the hatcher to keep up with both incubator's. I think using this method will speed things up and allow me to work with more, smaller, groups that I can give more individual attention. I have more than enough space for equipment, and I have tons of extra brooders, cages, open coops, etc. So I figured why not.

Has or does anyone do something similar? I would love some info. I've seen people have very successful hatching programs but they usually put a lot more money, than I got, into it. This seems plausible and economic. Any suggestions?
 
Don't forget to give yourself about 3 wks to get the new LG's bugs worked out before ruining your hatching egg's but then again you already knew that seeing as you already have anothe LG
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I have eggs piping today in a LG that I use for hatching, I transfer at day 18 and keep a hygrometer and sponge in it so that I can monitor the humidity and keep it up for the hatch. First chick just zipped out, didn't even take him an hour from start to finish! It must have been getting crowded for the little thing to work so fast.
 
I just did this, had 2 eggs due to hatch 2 weeks before a bunch of others. I was not sure those 2 would make it to lock down after the adventure they had getting to that point. I had decided to get more eggs, figuring those 2 might not make it... So I got a LG to hatch those 2 in. Took me 3 days to get the temp and humidity right, both hatched perfectly.
 
i do staggered hatches too i normally try to do every7-10 days so my eggs arent too old. i have hatched quite a bit in my lgs. button quail, chickens, call ducks , runner ducks , and geese in my lgs. both shipped and from my own eggs. i have been hatching 5 months straight now. my incubator have paid for themselves at least 5 times. i think i am in love with my lgs.
 
I have 2 Hovabators that I use for incubating and I use the LG for hatching.
Works great. I set my hatches every week and use colored pencils to mark the eggs by batches.
Just put the "orange" batch in the LG hatcher today.
My LG keeps perfect temp, but it is still air and last year my hatches were not good. We tried adding a fan but it didn't work so this year, DH got me a Hovabator for Christmas and then when I had it full I bought a second one. LOL.
I've had them running non-stop since Feb. Hatches aren't perfect but right now I have more little ones than I know what to do with.
 
ok around here the only bators are the lg ones unless you order one online so this week im picking one up along with a turner and the fan kit then the week after im going to be picking up a still air one to use for hatching was just wondering if i should put 40 eggs in the turner when i am ready to try out my first hatch or maybe only half a load of eggs the first batch getting the eggs for it wont be very much because my cousen said she has plenty of eggs and is going to only charge me 2 bucks a dozen for them her chicken are only a year old and the rooster is a year and a half old now sence its a first time try im not expecting to get many to hatch so is more eggs to start better or worse
 
Awesome! Sounds like I'm on the right track. Thanks.

Hopefully this will increase the hatch rate. What about misting the eggs once a day in the hatcher? Is that necessary or should I just let them do their thing? I've heard it helps.

What should humidity be in hatcher?
 
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Just hatched 14 of 18 EE mutt eggs in an LG forced air incubator with turner and an LG still incubator used as a hatcher. I did only get 3 of 9 turkey eggs to hatch, but I'm not done with this hatch quite yet. Still have some eggs moving and I'm just a couple hours into day 22 for the chicken eggs and day 29 for the turkey eggs this evening. So far my experience with them is not too bad. They are a little tweeky, but if they are in a room with pretty stable temps they work well. With the turkey eggs I may have a nutrition problem and not an incubator issue. They all showed movement when I went into lockdown in the hatcher, so they did just fine in the incubator. I will admit that these are not plug in a walk away incubator, but if I check them daily I have good hatches.
 

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