Backyard Poultry Forum

Do you have a small funnel?

J

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Some mornings I wake up grumpy but most mornings I let her sleep in.
Just Marans

The Hovabator has a red plug in the top. We remove this plug and insert a clear plastic tube and manipulate it to where the water is supposed to go. We have a very small plastic funnel attached to the other end, and we pour some lukewarm coloured water into the funnel. The water goes directly into the tray. No mess!! Oh, and the heat from the incubator will make it easier to manouevre the tube.

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Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Thanks heaps, i'll have to find a funnel and tubing. I've got really small tubing at the moment, and have been waiting for the other half to bring me home a big syringe. But the funnel sounds good.

I was thinking about adding food colours but didn't know if that was ok or not?

I added some rose pink food colouring to the water (thought it might encourage the hatching of hens!!) but I have found that the colouring stains the tray and you can't really tell if the level has altered because the colour stays at the original level. At least you can tell where the water should go, though!! I filled up all the water areas from day one, and have only on a couple of occasions had a hygrometer reading of over 50%.

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Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I got myself a still air hovabator and i've noticed that everytime i open it to top it up with warm water, it takes a very long time to climb up to the original average temperature compared to my old ovolux or my mate's bellsouth. Has anyone experienced this? I don't think it is right that i should have to adjust the thermostat everytime I open the incubator because the other incubators that I have just take a very little while to return to the orignal temperature (without any adjustments to the thermostat). Can anyone advise me on this. Thanks.

Hi
No dont fiddle with the thermostat - if its holding the correct temperature when closed then dont fiddle.

Eggs are a very good thermal mass - they take a while to get to the correct temperature but hold that temperature and it takes equally as long for them to lose temperature. Broody hens get up and leave eggs all the time to eat drink and defecate. They can be gone for an hour and it makes no difference tot he hatch.

Dont fiddle as long as the temperature is correct over a 24 hour period.

Mike

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Retired Now. Have moved and now officially a Tuross Head resident.

I found this just now, and am wondering if this is contributing to my lower hatch rate. We have done 3 hatches in the hovabator now, and of 42-55 eggs set, we have had 15 hatch each time. We have bought a thermometer with a probe like Mike uses, which we sit on top of the eggs, and have been setting the bator to run at 99.7f but sounds like we should have set it at 101.4f (38.5c)

Any help would be appreciated. I really am disappointed in our hatch rate, we have been very diligent with the humidity- 40% most of the time, we dont open the bator, but still cant figure what is going wrong?

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2 dogs, 2 mature cats & 2 immature silly kittens, fish, 2 cockatiels, lots of chooks, 10 ducks, 3 turkeys, teenagers who tolerate my poultry fetish and a wonderful understanding husband! How lucky am I!!!

Where you measure the temperature, and what temperature it should read are given in the instructions for each particular incubator you buy.

If your Hovabator has a fan it should be 100 degs F.
Either way, 100 degs F measured level with the middle of the eggs should be OK.

15 each time could be a fertility problem. Did you crack open the ones that didn't make it for clues on why?

A few (eeeew!) some were infertile, some had a small embryo and a blood ring and some made it to full term but didnt make it out of the egg. 2 pipped but didnt go any further. These were predominantly bought eggs. We have been told that if the mother hen was low on vitamins due to feed type, that the chicks may not have enough nutrition in the shell to make it to hatching. Is this true?

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2 dogs, 2 mature cats & 2 immature silly kittens, fish, 2 cockatiels, lots of chooks, 10 ducks, 3 turkeys, teenagers who tolerate my poultry fetish and a wonderful understanding husband! How lucky am I!!!

New-chook,

Yes it is true, the development of the embryo can also be affected by the diet of the parents.

There are so many factors to take into consideration for breeding the best you can and it really starts months prior to actually laying and hatching eggs.

J

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Some mornings I wake up grumpy but most mornings I let her sleep in.
Just Marans

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rhode island reds and whites, buff sussex and speckled

Hi
Can you start a new thread in this incubation section rahter than tag it on the botom of a sticky. It will be read by more people and you will get more resposes. Its a good question and one asked by many.

Its just simply better as a new thread.

Cheers
Mike (moderator)

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Retired Now. Have moved and now officially a Tuross Head resident.