Incubator problems...

[jessmorris]

Good morning folks!
I have been running my R-com mini as a back-up for a not-very-well-sat broody and have tried it without water for the first time. (All other hatches have been disastrous). It had been running for about 20 hours, beeping every hour to let me know there was no water in it, which I ignored. Anyway, an hour ago it stopped, and the transformer (the sturdy box halfway along the flex) has partially melted. Are the two things connected? I can't see how as its not the incubator which has overheated, and it has a thermostat anyway, but wondered if anyone else has had this happen? If so, how can we run automatic incubators without water in the UK when we don't need to add any? Am I being dim??

Incidentally, I checked the humidity one ordinary overcast day in Kendal and it was 98%!! Is this differetn to 'relative humidity'? I think that the air can hold more water when its hotter?...

Anyway, techos, please put me out of my misery!

One incubator-less Jess.

[petal]

probably something wrong with it all along- I got a second hand 'ova' off someone from another forum once and it nearly burnt my house down- went into melt down. I run my incubators without warm water until day 18 with chicks. get nearly 100% hatch rate and never bother with humidity checks. Ducks are a different matter, I am going to have to experiment with that one...

[jessmorris]

Blimey! It is a bit worrying having something on all the time when the house is empty....Thanks Petal. Are your incubators automatic, and do they mind when you don't add water? Do you keep them in a cool room too?
Soz for all Qs.....

[petal]

i keep both in a cool room in the house, no heating. i now have a brinsea 40 with automatic cradle and a corti that holds about 50- got a handle to roll eggs. my incubators don't seem to need water until day 18- bear in mind this weather is spectacularly wet and damp.

[Scarlet]

and a corti that holds about 50- got a handle to roll eggs. my incubators don't seem to need water until day 18- bear in mind this weather is spectacularly wet and damp.

I also use the corti and get 95-100% success rate depending on the time of year, although I use water from day 1. When I first used it I had several test runs - dry, with water, cool room etc. Dry runs were very disappointing, humidity didn't get any higher than 35%. Hatch rate around 55-60%. I now leave it on my kitchen top, away from any window light. The kitchen is heated with an aga, no central heating - so no fluctuations in temperatue. On Day 18 I flood the bottom completely and with turkey eggs I add wet sponges.
I use a digital thermometer/hygrometer to keep an eye on the levels and add water/ or float lego bricks to increase/decrease the humidity.

[petal]

good advice- i will add water on day 18 for sure- in the brinsea I have turkey eggs- are the sponges for extra humidity?

[jessmorris]

Thanks both, though advice conflicting! I guess if you can measure the actual humidty and temp it helps...BTW I re-freegled my request for an incubator and a nice electronic engineer saw my post and offered to fix my old one - how nice is that!

[petal]

its SO much easier with a broody!!!!

[RichmondHens]

its SO much easier with a broody!!!!

Oh definitely. Until they abandon the nest! Best scenario - Broody outside with a few eggs, incy running inside but not full so if either fails eggs can be switched to one or t'other.

I didn't think the R Com Mini had an option to run dry? Mine doesn't and I wouldn't like to chance it. I just follow the manufacturer's instructions. Don't really understand why people like to run them dry anyway, it's not dry under a hen, they are surprisingly damp underneath really, and if you let them free range and choose their own brooding spot they always seem to choose a dampish place.

[Scarlet]

It is easier with a broody but it's nice to be 'Mum' sometimes too, I'm thrilled everytime I have a hatch!!
Petal- Yes, the sponges are to keep the humidity as high as possible, without them my turkeys looked as though they were struggling. Good luck with the ducks - I 've never hatched any!
Jess, It's worth investing in a digital thermometer/hygrometer (you can get them for around £10) I think the humidity levels are important factor in a good hatch rate - I don't think you will go far wrong if you use one.

[jessmorris]

Hello again- replies to each...
RH you are quite right - it doesn't have an option to run dry. I took it to an electrical engineer who said that running it dry hadn't broken it. He offered to fix it for me too!...
I only tried it dry because all my chicks were big and mushy with unhealed navels which I thought was because the humidty is too high. It may be v diffrent in North Norfolk compared to Lancashire!...
Scarlet, I'll invest in a digital thermometer/hygrometer, if you can recmmend a decent one, do PM me!

I'm happy to let the broody do the business, but sometimes they wander off and forget their duties, or lose interest. Its good to have the option to not lose the eggs!

[RichmondHens]

Hello again- replies to each...
It may be v diffrent in North Norfolk compared to Lancashire!...

!

At the moment I think we are getting as much rain as everyone else. I know something, I wouldn't want to live on the west side of the country, no matter how beautiful it is. Give me "Arizona" any time!!

BTW re dry running of incys, that wasn't a dig at you (re-reading my post I think it looked like it, so sorry), I was just wondering why it seems to be so popular.

[jessmorris]

Hi RH, I've had a think about the running of the incy dry poser and I think it originated in the States where they can have temperatures and humidity exceeding that of the incubator. Therefore those machines need to loose water, not mist it around the inside of the hatching space. My NEW incubator has temperature control, but no humidity control. I would have to measure the outside temp and humidity and then calculate the relative humidity inside the incubator using a chart to see if I needed to add any water. Our humidity here at say 21degrees C is often 98%, so I guess it could easily be 60% at 37.5 degrees C (though I haven't checked the chart so may be wrong....

I think if you have a more expensive incubator it may regulate the humidty too.

I much prefer using a broody myself.
JM

[its hilly]

I use a bog standard thermometer poked in for just one minute and a little stick on hygrometer which I bought off that popular online shop
I found that when i ran my inci with water, on some days I would come home from work and find the humidity had rocketed. And I kept getting drowned in shell chicks despite my carefull regulating so I started running it on lower humidity on advice from an old boy, not dry but only around 26%, until the last three days when it goes up, and got much better hatches.
However my inci is a 50 egg Maino and different sizes and makes of inci seem to run very differently so I think a lot of it is try a hatch and adjust, until you get several good hatches in a row.
Also Jess you are hatching pure breed banties. My large fowl hatches have always been better than my bants, even the pure breeds. Think a lot of the bants are bred more for showing, and loose fertility and vigour if they are too 'highly' bred.

[petal]

very true, our bantam wyandottes are usually fertile but chicks can often die mid development or are dis.- just this breed in particular.
The turkeys hatched with success 100% ! I just added warm water in the last week.