Which incubator to use in the uk?

[penkwolf]

I have 2 on top of my eggs (across top 2 rows) then i have 2 in the turners on the bottom 2 rows. I cant fit these ones on top of the eggs cz these are the bigger eggs and it would push the plastic off when turning

 

[als77]

Sounds good then. If your extra thermometers are correct then you're as close to spot on as can be it seems.

I woud advice you to snatch one of them and test/calibrate it just to make sure, but I didn't bother so... So do as I say and not what I do

 

[Mellowmalt]

I think the problem with the cheap ones is they are so random in how they operate. Mine was definetely running hot, but as I know from my home made ones if you just move the sensor by 1 cm (which is possible in both of these incubators) then temps change and if you add obstructions (like eggs) temps change again, when you take out infertile eggs things might change again.
If room temps change then temps can change in the incubator too.

Once one has completed one hatch one will know if the incubator even works, whether they hatch a bit early or late and whether there are any problems hatching.

To me it sounds like yours is running quite well penk, just a shame about the 2 big eggs.

 

[penkwolf]

Fingers crossed. Its good to all share experiences with what works and not works.

I have currently got the polystyrene casing on it along with 2 towels over the areas which seem to be colder in there.

My biggest worry is that im running it too hot as its on 38.8 on the incubator settings! All 4 of my thermometers in there though are saying somewhere within the 37s which is what I am going off.

Im not sure ive got a way to take one of them out and test its accuracy so just going to go with it this time and see what happens. I have 12 silkie eggs and 10 oprington eggs in there.

I am still worried about the Orpington eggs as not sure they are turning properly as they keep catching the lid. We will see!

 

[als77]

People do say to never trust the readings from any incubator, so hopefully the 38.8C is way off. I did see a post on this forum stating that 97-102F (36.1-38.9C) was the normal temperature range (although that seems to be pushing the limits rather far).

Are they barely touching the lid? I would be more concerned whether the egg shells can take the beating and not whether they are turned properly, but I don't know how strong Orpington eggs are (or how much pressure they have to deal with when pushing against the lid).

My quail eggs fell on their side in the turners (too big holes). They did move with the turner, but always laying on the same side. Didn't seem to do them too much harm (or at least not many of the eggs where harmed by it - 9 out of 16 fertilized ones hatched with no problems whatsoever)

 

[penkwolf]

So i was naughty yesterday and candled my eggs (only day 4). I had 10 opringtons, and 12 silkie eggs in there.

After candelling all the eggs there was only 1 oprington and 2 silkie eggs that I was certain were not developing. This has meant I can now move some of the Orpington ones around so they don't all catch the lid every time the turner moves them.

My temperature seems to be steady with a range of 37.2 to 37.7 across the bator. My humidity is my issue. It stays around 60ish% most of the time, sometimes a bit more or sometimes a bit lower. It can never seem to keep it in the 50% area, it either goes to low and bleeps or to high!! Ill keep playing around with this.

At the end of the day the summary will be on how many hatch

 

[als77]

So i was naughty yesterday and candled my eggs (only day 4). I had 10 opringtons, and 12 silkie eggs in there.

After candelling all the eggs there was only 1 oprington and 2 silkie eggs that I was certain were not developing. This has meant I can now move some of the Orpington ones around so they don't all catch the lid every time the turner moves them.

My temperature seems to be steady with a range of 37.2 to 37.7 across the bator. My humidity is my issue. It stays around 60ish% most of the time, sometimes a bit more or sometimes a bit lower. It can never seem to keep it in the 50% area, it either goes to low and bleeps or to high!! Ill keep playing around with this.

At the end of the day the summary will be on how many hatch

How low does it go without water? (some people swear by "dry" incubation)

PS. You can adjust the alarm for the humidity to avoid the bleeping

 

[Mellowmalt]

I'm using your incubator penk to house my sick chick but I can't get temps to stabilize on mine. I get over 1 degree difference between top and bottom of incubator. It's good enough to use as a brooder...

This might be an incubator that can be run dry! I have struggled with the humidity a lot and the humidity indicator is way off, I have set it to 30% because when it routinetly shows 20% too low in the bator and the alarm would constantly go off when I knew it was 46% in the incubator but it would show something like 38% (always too low) - at 60% on the incubators display I get condensation on the cover so 60% is more like 75% in reality.

Filling both trays (out of the 4) actually broke my egg turner but letting it dry out fixed it again like I suspected.

PS: I have 6 eggs on day 5 today in the other bator, also moment of truth for me. I have used a bigger poystyrene box to house it in and I have turned off the internal heater and am heating the whole incubator from the outside with a wine heating cable.

I have a difference of 0.1-0.2 degrees like this compared to 0.5 degree difference before. Not turning eggs has been a great help this time. It used to take up too much time so a needed investment.

 

[penkwolf]

I can imagine that using it as a brooder would be a nightmare.

Im currently on day 12 and out of 24 eggs ive got 14 left. 8 were infertile and 2 quit.

My temp tends to stay all over the bator between 37.1 and 37.8 which i am happy with. I have the polystyrene casing on along with a towel and a jumper. The humidity is tough though, having these layers on keeps more temp in but also more humidity. Ive gone through all ranges!

The incubators readings are so far out on both temp and humidity im glad i listened to Als and put some small thermometers in.

The big test will be how many healthy chicks hatch!

 

[Mellowmalt]

hey penk, my eggs with a detached air cell didn't make it. So I'm down to 3 out of 6 eggs on day 14 now. The incubator is possibly running a bit hot - hard to say. They were doing well last I checked 5 days ago. Might be time to check again.
Ps: it is very easy to take the egg turner out of the yellow one and is okish as a temporary brooder.
I am wondering about trying the same as I did with my other incubator - ie put it into a bigger polystyrene box so the air can circulate more. I know it is easily powerful enough to heat a slightly bigger polystyrene box. I dunno, just feels like a waste to have an incubator taking up space which I'ma hardly using atm. I think letting the air circulate more would disperse the heat from building up in places but it's just a theory I will try one day when I need to get the yellow one to work as I want. There is always the option of turning the heating element off and using it with a heat lamp with the lid off. Also an option I have considered. It would still be providing the ventilation and egg turning - it's just the heating element I feel is not good enough on mine or it has too many heat pockets, either one.