water weasel or such

[Happyhenz]

hi all im thinking about attempting to build a homemade bator but i cant find anything here in Australia that you guys call a water weasel or such

What excatly is it or is it like so i can try to find something?

Or any ideas.

Cheers Happyhenz

 

[jimnjay]

A water weasel is simply a tube made out of plyable plastic and filled with a gel. It usually has glitter and a little to spider or such inside. They are fun to squish in the hand while bathing. You can accoplish the same thing for your incubator by placing the probe for your therm/hygrometer inside a plastic bag for protection and place that inside a baby food jar filled with some sort of gel or even water. It simply gives you a temp reading that is simulates the temp inside an egg.

In a still air incubator the temp can vary from place to place within the incubator. Unless you have a fan installed, I question the benefit of using such an aid. If you are hatching a few eggs and use the jar, it should do fine but if you have 30-40 eggs going some will naturally be hotter or cooler than others placed in a different location in the incubator. The main advantage as far as I can see is the fact that the temperature READINGS are not as likely to fluctuate as radically due to slight temp changes that are normal occurances Those are likely to make us want to adjust the thermostat. It allows you to see how well the actual egg is maintaining a steady temperature.

I tried the water weasel with my first incubator and had a terrible hatch and have not used it again. It was due to having a poor thermemeter, of course not the Water Weasel. Having an accurate thermomete and hygrometer is the most important thing to your hatch. With or without a water weasel you will still be able to achieve a good hatch rate using accurate instruments.

 

[Happyhenz]

Thankyou for your reply.
Its a little daunting i might say.

I had a foam type bator when i was a teenager but someone else made it for me and its long since gone, lost grom years of moving :|

Might have to save up and buy a bator i dont wnat to fry or freeze bubba chicks

Thanks Happyhenz

 

[speckledhen]

See the orange tube inside the bator? That is a Water Weasel, although mine was called a Water Weiner, LOL.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

"Having an accurate thermometer and hygrometer is the most important thing to your hatch. With or without a water weasel you will still be able to achieve a good hatch rate using accurate instruments."

I agree completely.
I've never tried reading temps in a weasel-thing in my incubators --- I just watch air temps at egg height (99.5 for the unit with a fan and 101.5 for the still air) and the humidity.
If the air temp at egg height is correct, the temp inside the egg / weasel-thing will be correct.

I gotta ask... What did the chicks that came out of the pretty pink / green / blue eggs look like?
I missed those

Lisa

 

[MandyH]

Lisa, I was wondering the same thing!!!


Mandy

Wal Mart still has the water weasals over in the .88 section of the toy department. I don't use them but saw a bunch the other day.

 

[speckledhen]

I gotta ask... What did the chicks that came out of the pretty pink / green / blue eggs look like?
I missed those

Why, polka-dotted ones, of course! I was trying to make sure the turner was operating properly, LOL.

I have always had a problem reading temps at the top of the eggs is why I use the weasel-how do you do that unless you have a regular one sitting on the eggs? I have a small one, but it kept falling between the eggs and I was afraid I'd break one. Also, newbies will be tempted to adjust the wafer at a temp swing while the weasel tells that the temp isn't fluctuating inside the egg that much.

Getting accurate instruments is difficult. I had one, but I think it got messed up and started reading incorrectly. They are so off sometimes. I may not use the weasel next time, now that I'm much more experienced at hatching, but it does keep me sane sometimes!​

 

[Poison Ivy]

I think you might be on to something. Has to be a market for those new polka dot chicks.

 

[speckledhen]

Iris is about as close as I can get to the polka-dotted ones, see? But, she came out of a plain brown egg.

 

[skeeter9]

I'm so excited!!! I just found some of those bright colored eggs and I put them in my bator!!! I can't wait to see what kind of speckled hens I get from them!!!!

Lori