Which incubator to use in the uk?

[als77]

Well, I think even us without OCD sort of get a bit of OCD when hatching. I think that's a good sign

Having conditions ideal and stable will probably increase your hatch-rate, I was just trying to point out that we don't need to freak out as much as we tend to lol. I have seen people argue that "mother hen does this" and "mother nature knows best" - which is a good starting point - but surely we can improve (or at least try lol). A hen might lay eggs in dirty conditions, but still most (all?) people strive for a clean incubator. Same with temperature and humidity - even though the hen might leave the nest from time to time, the closer to ideal temperature in the bator (and the more stable), the better. Being OCD will probably increase your hatch-rate.

I've heard people struggle with bantams though. I hatched quail - small eggs, but I don't know if they are more difficult to hatch that bantams (quails seemed rather easy)

 

[Mellowmalt]

little guy made it

 

[penkwolf]

Congratulations!

I am collecting my eggs today ready to put in the incubator and so i have put it on this morning to warm up and here come all the issues again!!

I have put 2 full bottles of water in but the humidity alarm keeps going off.

The temperature is also so uneven across the incubator. In the bottom right corner is the hottest at around 38.3 but then the bottom left corner is the coldest at 36.7.

Im currently trying to put towels/jumpers etc on using a trial and error method to even it out! Such a pain!! Im hoping I haven't wasted money on my 24 hatching eggs plus the incubator!

I have just seen someone selling the Brinea Octogan 40 automatic turner for £200 used and don't know whether I should just bite the bullet on that one.

 

[penkwolf]

I have just checked again and managed to get all areas covered between 37.1 and 38. which I am hoping should be ok.

Issue I have is all the thermometers in there are showing humidity at 59% yet the incubator says 41 and keeps bleeping!!!! Argh

 

[als77]

I have just checked again and managed to get all areas covered between 37.1 and 38. which I am hoping should be ok.

Issue I have is all the thermometers in there are showing humidity at 59% yet the incubator says 41 and keeps bleeping!!!! Argh

From what I've read the ideal temperature for chicken eggs is for the shell temperature to be between 37 and 38C, so you should be able to get away with that (be careful to not go higher though, I've also seen a study where 38.3C gave a 10% decrease in hatching rates, so better to go a bit low than a bit high).

I were able to have a 0.5C difference between top right and bottom left (measured on top of the turners - and not on top of the eggs like you're supposed to) when I covered the top of the lid (only the top, not the transparent sides) and without using the styrofoam box. Although yours might be behaving slightly different.

You should be able to set the humidity alarm lower to avoid the bleeping (not sure if there is a lower limit you can set it to).

 

[Mellowmalt]

Hey penk, I wish you the best of luck mate but I think like me you have come to a similar conclusion.
But then again I don't know how good the good ones are or how bad the bad ones are.
For example I discovered something that has confused me a lot.
I discovered that if I place the thermometer probe into the flow of air around the incubator I will get a different reading than in exactly the same spot but sheltered from the flow of air. So which reading do I trust and why is there a difference of up to a degree in such a case...
I don't have the answer.

I still would not recommend either incubator to anyone, I think on mine the high humidity ended up breaking the electronics. The display steamed up completely and the egg turner started malfunctioning. I'm hoping after drying off it might work again.
Then today on the incubator I am using for my next 6 eggs I discovered that that annoying egg turner cable I mentioned got tangled around an egg and if I hadn't noticed the egg turner would have ended up either crushing en egg or pulling out its own power cable.
So not great lol.


I

 

[penkwolf]

Mellow you dont seem to have had any luck which is a pity! Seems a nightmare with both. Least you got 1 chick i suppose.

An update on mine:

I put eggs in late friday night. This was my first problem, 2 of my eggs (orpingtons) were to big and when the turner rotated they pushed the plastic lid off and let the heat out so i have had to leave these out!

My temperature on the incubator is set at 38.6 and the humidity is saying 44. All 4 of my thermometers that are in the incubator are saying a range between 37.2 and 37.6 so im quite happy there.

Weird thing is since the eggs have been in my hot spots and cold spots have moved around so different areas are warmer or colder than when i tested. No idea!!

Lastly my humidity on the 4 thermometers is saying around 60ish%. I know its a bit high but im struggling to keep it in the 50s.

The incubator readings seem so off...unless its my 4 thermometers which are wrong but i hope not!

 

[als77]

Mellow you dont seem to have had any luck which is a pity! Seems a nightmare with both. Least you got 1 chick i suppose.

An update on mine:

I put eggs in late friday night. This was my first problem, 2 of my eggs (orpingtons) were to big and when the turner rotated they pushed the plastic lid off and let the heat out so i have had to leave these out!

My temperature on the incubator is set at 38.6 and the humidity is saying 44. All 4 of my thermometers that are in the incubator are saying a range between 37.2 and 37.6 so im quite happy there.

Weird thing is since the eggs have been in my hot spots and cold spots have moved around so different areas are warmer or colder than when i tested. No idea!!

Lastly my humidity on the 4 thermometers is saying around 60ish%. I know its a bit high but im struggling to keep it in the 50s.

The incubator readings seem so off...unless its my 4 thermometers which are wrong but i hope not!

Orpingtons to big? And they claim to fit duck eggs as well...

For humidity you can do a bit high and then later a bit low, it is the average that counts Not sure what's best for humidity though (i.e too low, or too high), but quite a few swear by "dry hatching" so maybe a bit low (on average) is better than a bit high (on average)?

There are articles on this site on how to calibrate both thermometers and hygrometers.

 

[penkwolf]

Orpingtons to big? And they claim to fit duck eggs as well...

For humidity you can do a bit high and then later a bit low, it is the average that counts Not sure what's best for humidity though (i.e too low, or too high), but quite a few swear by "dry hatching" so maybe a bit low (on average) is better than a bit high (on average)?

There are articles on this site on how to calibrate both thermometers and hygrometers.

Hi Als, what temperature did you have your incubator on can you remember? 38.6 is high but im trusting the 4 seperate thermostats ive got in there

 

[als77]

Hi Als, what temperature did you have your incubator on can you remember? 38.6 is high but im trusting the 4 seperate thermostats ive got in there

The temperature sensor in mine seemed to be somewhat accurate. I can't remember exactly what I had it at, but I think mainly 38.0C.

I had my (extra) top right thermometer (which was the hot spot in mine) reading 37.5C I believe (or did I go slightly higher? Somewhere between 37.5 and 38.0C on the extra thermometer), but the extra thermometers were resting on the turner (and not on the top of the eggs) so I might have been running it a bit high (they did hatch early - the first four hatched on day 16, which is two days early by quail standards...).

Are your thermometers resting on the turner as well, or are you reading from the top of the eggs? The temperature on top of the eggs is likely somewhat higher than the turner (0.5C for my quail??? I'm guessing here... Maybe higher if you have larger eggs)