Who uses a hatcher?

[cackle]

I wondered why people would use 2 incubators one to start off with and one to hatch. But now that I am on day 20 of my first hatch I wish I had a second incubator that I could have either moved half the eggs into or just bigger so it was not so crowded.

Don't get me wrong I love the Brinsea but it is so crowded that I can't see how many have hatched or the eggs that have not hatched. I am thinking if I got a hovabator or made a styrofoam incubator I could use it for hatching.

Why do you use a second machine to hatch and what difference has it made in your hatches?

 

[jenjscott]

The main advantage for me is that I can have staggered hatches and still maintain proper humidity for each, incubating and hatching. I have eggs with three or four different hatch dates, and I just move them over to the hatcher on day 18. I usually set everything on a monday so I can keep track of it, That gives me time to get the hatch out even is its a little late, and get the hatcher cleaned up and ready to go for the next batch. It allows me to set the eggs when they are fresher because I don't have to wait to get a full bator before I start the incubation.

 

[cackle]

Jen,

I did not think about that advantage. That makes sense and would work well for me because then I would not have 24 eggs hatching in the Brinsea. I just had to do the ultimate non no and pull out the hatchedd chicks. It was so crowded that the 2 silkie eggs that had pipped and halfway trhrugh zipping were stuck into the larger empty shells. Hopefully I did not compromise the other 12 eggs.

I could do like you and stagger the hatch and not hatch bantam sized eggs with the lager eggs.

This is a first for me so I am still learning. I just hate for the eggs to pay for my mistakes.

Susan

 

[jenjscott]

Just don't get ahead of yourself and start incubating in the hatcher, then you have too many incubating to have a dedicated hatcher, and you know what that means.... it means I need another incubator!