Backyard Poultry Forum

Hi all.. I have a basic 60 egg incubator and I manually turn the eggs 3 times a day. I have had 100% hatch rates and some heartbreaking hatch rates. Can anybody recommend an incubator that is automatic and can hold perfect temp and humidity?

_________________
Chicken fanatic


Light, coronation and buff sussex, plymoth rocks, silver laced wyandottes, campines, silkies and pekins.

Rcom 50 for my vote. Auto everything!

_________________

Erika

I have an IM - and cannot fault it.

What kind of a price range were you looking at ?

You may find the below links handy- they are for polls about what kind of incubators people prefer.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8025425

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8025424

_________________
Taylorducks
Breeder of Indian Runners

Thanks guys.. the rcom certainly has some good reviews.. everything automatic sounds great! Was hoping for something under $200 that holds at least 3 dz eggs. Is ebay the best option to buy an rcom?

_________________
Chicken fanatic


Light, coronation and buff sussex, plymoth rocks, silver laced wyandottes, campines, silkies and pekins.

Don't think you can get them on evil bay. They are well over $200 though. As is any other brand worth buying.
Bellsouth have them on their website.

_________________

Erika

Thanks for that! Their expensive but I guess they r worth it!

_________________
Chicken fanatic


Light, coronation and buff sussex, plymoth rocks, silver laced wyandottes, campines, silkies and pekins.

Does an rcom regulate properly in summer?

_________________
Chicken fanatic


Light, coronation and buff sussex, plymoth rocks, silver laced wyandottes, campines, silkies and pekins.

I've got an RCOM 20 and I incubated eggs last summer (hatched at New Year). The temp was quite stable throughout - maybe variation of 0.2 of a degree either side of 37.5. The temp in my house would have been up to 30 degrees C at times and down to 16 degrees C at night.

No incubator can cool to a temp less than the room it's in so it's imperative to keep the room temp below the incubation temp, with any type of incubator.

Humidity was also very consistent. The RCOMs are worth the money in my view.

_________________
Cheerio, Rach
Blue Swedish Ducks

A batch cooked over early summer here with the temperature outside reaching 45C and not much cooler inside the house.
As Rach says, they will not cool so its safer not to incubate in the heat of summer.

_________________

Erika

70%cocoa, hi
For some time now, we have fitted `cool misting' devices in my cabinet incubators
The device keeps the temp inside our machines within a safe margin while outside the temp is hotter
I have a PDF that explains how it works if any member is interested (I don't seem to be able to attach a PDF to this post)
Cheers

_________________
bobpeel@greatlander.com.au

Without having seen your pdf Bob, if cooling takes place through evaporation, then does this work better in dryer climates than in humid ones? If the temperature is both hotter than incubation temp and the humidity is also very high, how would this cooling take place?

_________________

Backyard Poultry Forum

I believe that bellsouth have some of the rcom models on special atm. They were a week or so ago when i was looking up something else.

Airflow

_________________
bobpeel@greatlander.com.au

Yes, I understand airflow is important. However, can't airflow only cool the temperature if the moisture content in the air is lower than saturation point at that temperature?

If there's any capacity for evaporation, some cooling could happen. If the humidity is such that the air can't carry any more moisture, then evaporation won't be possible and I don't understand where airflow is going to affect temperature at all. Perhaps in most cases there still is that capacity for evaporation.

_________________

Backyard Poultry Forum

It needs an extreme combination - (Ambient temp > Incubating temp and 100%R/H persisting inside the set)
Else, in practice, increase the humidifier setting (maximum is 99%R/H)
Greatlander sets, now in challenging areas with a Wet season, include NT, FNQ, PNG, Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Kiribati, ...

_________________
bobpeel@greatlander.com.au