Question Question for Wyandotte or Heritage Chicken Breeders

[Killerbunny]

http://millpondhatchery.ca/
I still run a Little Giant for emergencies but I have a room with very stable temps which is great until June. Way less hassle to use these guys!

[Reboot]

I do run a remote transmitter in the incubator and I did cross reference it with a couple of thermometers at the beginning to see which was accurate and left the best one in the incubator. This hova does have a fan. Our house humidity is usually around 30% at best but it will likely come up now that its spring. We don't have air conditioning or a humidifier on our propane furnace plenum so its stupid humid during the summer in here and I regularly get shocks when I turn switches on in the house in winters. Humidity control is on my 'to do' list (I have a substantial one!) eventually but higher priority house hold fixes are necessary at the moment. I think the room the incubator is in does vary too much in temp and humidity so I may move the unit to the basement as suggested and thank you for the suggestion to run it dry I will try that. Our hens are definitely more active and laying more eggs this week so hopefully if this batch fails the next one may be more viable. I am trying to identify a brooder in the coop to help me out. The hens know exactly what they are doing and I certainly do not!

[kenya]

Well I think the styrofoam incubators are junk, I know its not a popular view but I've used other incubators with great sucess when under the same conditions and the styrofoam incubator hatched 0 -3 out of 60 eggs. Get a brinsea or R-com although more pricey worth it in the end. Although my best incubator is the one my husband made for me . I've hatched everything in it from turkey to ducks to quail and of course lots of chickens.
I think under perfect conditions the styrofoam incubators work but never for me.

[Reboot]

Well I think the styrofoam incubators are junk

I originally opted for Brinsea but double the price of a hova made that decision rather easy. I assumed the added expense was the electronics that self monitor the incubator. I am a believer in you get what you pay for. I was hoping that given I am at home all the time then I could just check incubator conditions several times through the day to make up for the missing electronics. You may very well be right Kenya and if I had a more prolific breed of bird I'd agree with you 100%. I am hoping now that I see more activity in the coop my fertilization rate will come up. I toss a ton of eggs at candling as I see nothing going on in there so it may not just be all on the hova. A big part of the incubator decision was that we are adding more livestock here. I am expanding our homestead with Dwarf Nigerian dairy goats to the tune of $7000 to $10,000 so money is tight this year. I have to build a shed and raise 900 feet of goat fence and with goats there is no scrimping on fence which is almost half of the total cost. I figured my chicken eggs are free and I'll just keep incubating until I get the number I want. I will keep an eye out for a Brinsea on Kijiji though and see if I can get a reasonable deal. I don't think 2 incubators is a bad idea here.

[baronrenfrew]

good luck Badstart on your plans. So many people have “romantic notions” of life on the farm and then get overwhelmed with the work or get a “badstart”.

If you call your place a “business” vs a “hobby” it might be worth the trouble for the tax benefits. country life is expensive so might as well use every angle you can.

[Killerbunny]

Just make sure that the incys run somewhere with a stable temp. Mine are in a room that gets no sun and is steady about 19C. I got good results but I AM a touch OCD (DH has another word for it). Remember that when the hatch starts the chicks generate lots of moisture from the eggs and drying off. Reason I used Millpond was I was spending Days 18-21 on the sofa by the hatcher "in case". Fiddling with the incy is a generally bad idea but the temp will increase slightly as the embryos grow from their own metabolism. I have several sensors in different parts of the machine. I also only half fill and spread the eggs out to allow circulation. Might want to check whether there are hot spots in the machine. Personally I don't like the digital Little Giant (similar to the Hova) and all mine are manual.

[Kbr42]

Well I think the styrofoam incubators are junk, I know its not a popular view but I've used other incubators with great sucess when under the same conditions and the styrofoam incubator hatched 0 -3 out of 60 eggs. Get a brinsea or R-com although more pricey worth it in the end. Although my best incubator is the one my husband made for me . I've hatched everything in it from turkey to ducks to quail and of course lots of chickens.
I think under perfect conditions the styrofoam incubators work but never for me.

Ok,...my 2 cents on this. I have 2 incubators. On very pricey, incuview incubator from incubator warehouse and an G.Q.F Styrofoam forced air one. I've run 2 back-to-back incubations (I know, I know, don't say anything).
In the same room etc, etc, I hatched my own eggs, not shipped. I couldn't for love nor money consistently get the humidity stable on the first hatch. I got 100% rate, but with 3 of my chicks with splay legs. One died. I feel bad enough about that. I just hatched with the Q.G.F incubator. I did shipped eggs and my own. I got a crappy results with the shipped eggs, but I hatched 100% again from my eggs. No splay legs. I was able to constantly keep the humidity throughout the entire hatch. Maybe I need to go with a brinsea or R-com. I'm going to sell my incuview.
Anyway...those are my results.

[Ontario Chick]

Thanks for keeping us posted @Kbr42 just like @Badstart mentioned, very often the final decision is financial.
About 10 years ago (it might be more I have stopped counting) I did the mathematics and figured hatching under broodies, was going to give me the number of pullets I wanted in about 5 years at which point some of them are going to be senior citizens, did my research and Hovabator was the answer to what I needed at the time.
I will admit I assumed that the incubator was going to be doing the thing by itself, just like the hen did accept in larger batches.
Since I suffer from the same "perfectionist" gene like @Killerbunny , after a bit of tweaking I had consistent 90% hatches, using one incubator to incubate and a second one as a hatcher, which allowed me to get the hatcher to the desired temperature and humidity before I transferred the eggs in there for the lock down, thus avoiding the trauma of changing the temperature and humidity and removing the turner from the incubator.
Couple of years ago @JimW brilliantly test drove the Milpond hatchery, was happy with the results, we tried it and were trilled with the results and it seems that at this point in my "chicken career" it suits me to a T..
BTW, when I recover from the jet lag , I will gather all my Hova's and turners and thermometers and all the other goodies and will be selling the whole shebang, because for everything there is a season...

[Killerbunny]

Keep the turners for egg collection!

[Ontario Chick]

You hard thinker you :)
I use egg cartons for egg collection and write on them the dates collected, that way I know what's what and I actually enjoy tipping the cartons, makes me feel like I am involved in the process :) I know there is no accounting for people.....