Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Well we gave the Hovabator 4 full batches of eggs and have resulted with a less than desirable 10% hatch rate. I'm sure its not all the Hovabators fault but thats pretty low and I had a heck of a time keeping temperatures consistent never mind humidity. We tried different rooms in the house including a seperate room with its own heater and humidifier and the both of us tripping over each other to monitor those levels. Its been tough (okay it seems impossible) to find gold laced Wyandottes to back up our failing reproduction without hours of driving to get back to our original breeder and that is not cost effective. The Hovabator should be sold later today if my Kijiji buyer still wants it. The EX 56 got here yesterday and after a few hours studying, assembling and letting it adjust to the house its now full of our eggs from our chickens. I have to say its pretty impressive how it maintains heat and humidity and so far I haven't seen any of the issues I have read about online with this model ie poor fitting lids, bad customer service and flooding. As to flooding I can see how that may happen if a person didn't take the time to read up on how it should run but time will tell if I am correct there. I did have issues with the first EX 56 we received from Amazon last week and I had to return it immediately out of caution but that wasn't Brinsea's fault. To me it looked as if someone had returned our first EX 56 to Amazon as the box was resealed by someone else prior to us and the contents did not look like the package came from the manufacturer. I did email Brinsea with that situation and within hours they had responded and offered assistance in dealing with Amazon so that was reassuring to see. Amazon was fast in correcting that issue as well to their credit. I really hope this 56 EX improves our hatch rate and although it is an expensive investment, within a year it will start paying for itself I think if all goes well with it.

here is hoping....

Good luck on this hatch!

I hope it gives you great results!

Awesome!

To be on the safe side I found a few day old Gold Laced Wyandottes at Performance Poultry and placed a small order. I'd like to ensure diversity in the flock by including a couple of new roosters and hens. We are only running with one rooster at the moment which was a mistake on my part. I'd like to have 3 roosters on hand to ensure all the hens are getting attention and in the event we lose one.

OOh, lovely, shiny new toy! I know a couple of people that LOVE the Brinseas and wouldn't use anything else. Apparently, the high price tag is worth it and they earn their keep. Here's hoping for a GREAT hatch!

I think you made a good investment, enjoy all the chicks to come.

Reboot wrote: ↑

Wed May 08, 2019 11:53 am

To be on the safe side I found a few day old Gold Laced Wyandottes at Performance Poultry and placed a small order. I'd like to ensure diversity in the flock by including a couple of new roosters and hens. We are only running with one rooster at the moment which was a mistake on my part. I'd like to have 3 roosters on hand to ensure all the hens are getting attention and in the event we lose one.

Just a heads up, if you purchased your original breeding stock from a breeder, the Performance Poultry Wyandottes are going to be "production birds" so not necessarily the same quality.
Give them time to develop before you introduce them in to your breeding flock.
Breeding birds of the same breed & variety from different lines , is almost the same as crossbreeding, so results may vary

Yes OC is correct. I had some from PP via another person and I was happy with them. They laid well and laid well into the winter. Sometimes show lines don't lay as well depending on variety. I think OC saw BigBird??