What is the difference between an incubator and a hatcher?

[johnmayersquare]

I know the humidity needs to go up the last three days, but I hear people say they are putting them in the hatcher????

 

[willowcol]

Some people use 2 incubators, 1 for incubating, 1 for hatching. Its not needed, but if you have eggs hatching on different days it helps.

 

[dbcooper02]

The second incubator as a hatcher is the way to go for staggered hatches. This way the remaining eggs with later hatch dates aren't subjected to the higher humidity, jostling, and mess that hatching involve.

If you are using a turner with staggered hatches then you have to turn it off or remove it during the hatch and thus the later eggs don't get turned for a couple of days. Its just way easier to move the eggs on day 18 into a hatcher unit.

I think the mess might be the main thing. If you never allow eggs to hatch in the first incubator it will stay clean virtually forever. All the cleanup work will be confined to the "hatcher" while it awaits its next batch of eggs.
db

 

[johnmayersquare]

Ok......makes sense! I just didn't know if there was a DIFFERENT type of hatcher other than just another incubator, kwim??? Thanks for the info!

 

[dbcooper02]

When you get into the bigger incubators such as the GQF Sportsman there is an actual "Hatcher" model. It doesn't have the automatic turning mechanism. It has drawer-like trays to hold the hatching eggs. This is what I use. I have 3 Sportsman 1202 incubators and a Sportsman 1250 hatcher.
db

 

[johnmayersquare]

I have two LG's and how can I keep them from hitting into the heating element??? I can't imagine I'm the first person to have ever noticed this????