Little Giant Incubator?

[windwalkingwolf]

Anyone have experience with these? Friend of ours bought one cross-border at Tractor Supply last year, not sure of model but it has digital display, no turner no fan. He tried one hatch in it last June, got one chick which pipped, got glued in and had to be rescued, and later died. All remaining eggs full of chicks and goop, so obviously wet hatch, he kept channels full of water all the time and last year was a humid year. At any rate, we're trouble shooting the thing right now to see if it holds temp, what the readouts are compared to additional instruments etc...and the temperature readout it holding at 99.5 (37.5 C, which is a low for still air in any case), but my own two tried and true thermometers are saying 34 C. Really? Is the readout that off in a brand new machine? Did the high humidity wreck the electronics? I've moved the probe around and waited for temp to come back up again, but similar readouts. It DOES have warmer/cooler spots, obviously, being still air, but not that bad... but overall cold at factory temp settings. SO, I had to crank the temp to 103 before my own thermometers read 39.5 C and holding. Which is correct. So, the digital piece of SORT of works. Anything lower or higher though, and it gets skewed again. Humidity readout has stayed at a constant 50%, which is VERY incorrect. It's dry as a bone, as is the ambient humidity, and my own trusty weather station thingy is listing room humidity at 30, incubator humidity at 33. It's so dry in here I'm crawling out of my skin and in danger of a nosebleed (like, seriously, dude, put a kettle on the woodstove!) My skin is probably a better predictor of humidity than anything, so there's no way it's 50% in there, bone dry. Thoughts? Mine would be to just completely ignore the digital readout and count on extra thermometers/hygrometers instead...but could the heating element be as untrustworthy as the thermometer?

[windwalkingwolf]

Should note, we allowed 3 hours between temperature adjustments and verification if the lid stayed closed, and 6 hours if we opened the lid to move the probe. Should also note, one of the two red plugs in the top is missing, and I HAD to plug the hole to get temp over 97 on readout, 32 on other thermometers. So, likely it ran quite cold when he used it last year as well.

[Killerbunny]

I have 3 little giants although not the digital model. They work great (your babies were hatched in one). I suspect he may have a faulty one. I used them still air at first but now have fan kits in each. Melissa (Seayview bought my digital to use as a hatcher because I like to use all the same type. With a turner the probes may slip. She told me it works fine. You have to use a clothes pin to hold the probe in place. Suggest you bring it round with you and we'll check it out against one of mine. Oh that would mean getting an incy out wouldn't it!!!!!

[windwalkingwolf]

Well, it's definitely a wonky unit. Brad found the box, it's model number 9300. We've been farting around with it for a couple weeks now, and I think it's usable, but has to be watched like a hawk. It seems to read more accurately, and turn heater on/off in a reasonably appropriate fashion ONLY when the probe is on the bottom and slightly away from underneath the heater. The directions say to put the probe underneath the heater, on top of eggs, this definitely did NOT work to get it up in temperature, except for the occasional mild, unexplainable spike or drop. With channels full of water, humidity reads at a fairly constant 43%. The incubator is being tested in a large closet, very stable room temp., well away from possible heat sources, drafts, etc. but has a tendency to drop 2 degrees without reason or rhyme. As long as it can be checked every few hours and adjusted as necessary, temperature can be managed fairly well. No worse than my "open flame" incubation procedure, anyway LOL! At any rate, he's just put eggs in it today, and set up an incubator check schedule for his family! His son David gets night duties because, as Brad says, "they're his damn chickens" LOL!
I think it may need a whole new control unit/computer board, but at the cost of replacing it, I'm thinking he should just save his pennies and buy a better one, not just the cheapest!

[Killerbunny]

Yup, I agree. If in it for the long term and to encourage his son you need good results.

[Doug The Chickenman]

I just saw one at TSC in Kemptville tonight.

[windwalkingwolf]

Well, vigilance seems to have paid off somewhat, 4 chicks have hatched so far out of two dozen eggs, with a couple more pipped. Bit late, which makes me think it ran low more often than high. At least it's usable with careful watching, but with two working adults and two busy teenagers at his place, not ideal. So far in my own fire-heated cake pan, I've had two dud turkey eggs out of four, and one very early quitter, but the other one and the handful of chicken eggs are humming along nicely at last candling. Makes me which I'd set just turkey eggs lol. Next time. Maybe :D