How to raise Backyard Chickens: Re: [CHICKENS-101] Incubator questions...please share your experience or thoughts

Monday, February 25, 2013

Re: [CHICKENS-101] Incubator questions...please share your experience or thoughts

I recently bought one and it has the plastic liner. There are about six "teats" that you have to snip the top off of for air circulation. It has concentric grooves in it for water for humidity. It has the built in thermometer and hygrometer in it. But the thermometer reads about 5 degrees low. I checked it with my instant read thermometer. It came with a small bulb type thermometer which seems to be dead accurate and an egg candler and egg turner.

I just put eggs in it on Friday, so can't speak to hatching rate. But the turner is working very nicely and the temperature is holding dead on at 99.5°F. Once I got the thermostat set, I made a mark on the foam where the point was setting to get me real close the next time.

Bob

From: Straight <straight6@earthlink.net>
To: CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2013 10:21 PM
Subject: Re: [CHICKENS-101] Incubator questions...please share your experience or thoughts

The small styrofoam box incubators work well. Get a good one with plastic windows in the top, a thermometer and hygrometer, and it should have a wire mesh floor. The best ones have a thermostat that sticks up on top. However, the ones with an interior thermostat can be stacked, both for hatching and storage. Save the cardboard box, you can put it back in to protect it until next year. Those things are rather fragile.

I have had problems at times with them holding temperature if the house gets cold. A blanket over the top fixes that problem. Or a nice thick towel.

You can get turners. I never used one, I just remember to roll them over 3 times a day if I can. Be cautious putting water in to regulate the moisture level. If you put it in a container you can take it back out if necessary, a saucer or jar lid or something flat. And lukewarm water.

The fun comes when they hatch. They flop around, trying to stand up, all wet, and they knock the other eggs all around. Somebody trying to peck that last half inch out of the shell winds up standing on his head. It really is best if you have an empty warm incubator to put them in to get stabilized, dried off, fluffed up and ready for the world.

I believe those foam jobs may pick up some kind of bug after awhile. That foam is quite porous. Even if you clean them, by about year 3 or so there seem to be a lot of eggs that don't hatch. So I used Clorox on that one and set it out in the hot sun for a couple of weeks. Seemed to help. I'm in NYS so my version of hot sun may be different from yours.

Once the babies are dry and peeping, you might be able to turn them over to a willing mother hen, just like the ones you buy.

Oh, I guess they'll hold about 25 eggs or so. If you want to hatch 200, you probably want something different. Read the catalogs, they'd love to sell you a big one.

Diane S.--sw NYS

----- Original Message -----

From: Debbie Ryan

To: CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2013 4:02 PM

Subject: [CHICKENS-101] Incubator questions...please share your experience or thoughts

Hello Fellow Flock Keepers,

I am interested in hearing the pros and cons of hatching eggs in an incubator.

I would love to hear of recommendations on Brand, type, air or still air, hygrometer or not, etc. for which our members have had experience.

I have always used Mother Nature with a broody Momma Hen to hatch out any chicks. I run a mixed flock (mostly rocks, cochins, naked necks, araconas, brahmas, black stars) with 4 roosters and 45-50 hens, at any given time. Generally, I will have a broody hen, but am not always able to separate her to ensure that her eggs remain safe, unbroken and the age of the eggs are stable. They are free range, but do lay and roost in an enclosed barn for protection.

Thanks in advance for sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience.

Debbie and all of the "kids" in AZ