What incubator is best?

[~cochinlover~]

Thank you! I will ask her! Do you have a preference on a incubator?

 

[~cochinlover~]

Oh, okay thank you very much!! How do you use the incubator best?

 

[Rose Quartz]

Thank you! I will ask her! Do you have a preference on a incubator?

uuuuhhhh, I tried the $25 dollar 7 egg dome incubator, It cooked my eggs.

I tried making a cooler-bator a couple of times, I only got it to work temporarily in a smaller one.

I made a larger 22"x20"x10" home made incu with plywood that works really well, but my turner doesn't fit.

and I've tried the hovabator, with the turner. It seems to need more air flow, and I plan to open up the ventilation holes in the bottom a bit more before next hatching season.

 

[~cochinlover~]

Oh okay, I have the styrofoam one with a turner and all that. So, can you give me instruction on how to use it? Im so sorry i have had 3 failed hatches...

 

[HuffleClaw]

@~cochinlover~ please don’t think this is your fault, it isn’t.

 

[~cochinlover~]

Thank you. You guys are so nice!

 

[Rose Quartz]

Oh okay, I have the styrofoam one with a turner and all that. So, can you give me instruction on how to use it? Im so sorry i have had 3 failed hatches...

you'll need a calibrated thermometer/hygrometer you can get them in one or seperately.

first thing I'd do is get it running with no eggs and get some thermometers that you can put inside. I have some I ordered off of ebay. if you have one with a temperature probe, you can use that to calibrate to a medical thermometer, that's what I do anyway.

then you'll be able to tell if the internal temperature is accurate to what the read out on the incubator is giving you.

once the internal temperature is good it would be time to test humidity levels, those really depend on your local humidity and how the eggs are responding air cell wise. but what you want to test is how much water you need in there to get up to hatching humidity levels between 60% - 70% and you'll want to know how many days it stays that high before it needs more water.

also when the water is added watch your temperature it should change, but after 3 hours it should be back at normal running temperatures.


I'm sure there's more, but for now, that's probably a lot of info to take in.

 

[~cochinlover~]

Thank You!!!!!

 

[~cochinlover~]

This is so helpful! any tips for a better hatch?

 

[Rose Quartz]

This is so helpful! any tips for a better hatch?

try to keep the humidity at or below 75% so they don't get glued inside their shells, but above 60% so they don't get dried out.

turning through the first 18 days as many times as possible so there are less malpositions, if you have a turner it's not going to be a big deal, but I at one point had 36 eggs I was turning by hand 3x a day wasn't enough for me, others have no problem though.

they need fresh air. I opened bigger holes in my home made, I thought it wouldn't work at all, I ended up with better hatch rates, if you make any adjustments to try to up the airflow into your incu, make small changes and make sure it still gets the correct temperature before setting eggs.

wash your hands before you handle your eggs, every time. wash your incubator down after every hatch, and if it's been in storage, before setting. Same with your turner.

avoid staggered hatches, it is possible to do, but it does put the younger eggs at risk, if you don't have a second incubator for hatching in.