Tweaking the styrofoam incubator

2012-02-11 @ admin

"Tweaking" is the art of creatively messing with equipment to enhance its performance; squeezing just a little more juice out of a generator, extra speed from a stock engine, better output from a computer. . . or incubator.

Behold the lowly Styrofoam incubator. Even progressive poultry enthusiasts with more sophisticated equipment keep one around for the "short" loads. Can we tweak the foam box for better hatches? We sure can.

If you are happy with the current performance of your incubator, by all means keep up the good work. Personally, I was not happy with the percentages my family was getting hatching bantam chickens, so I did some research and applied what I read. Our hatches went from 25% to 80% (after candling out infertile eggs at one week). Here are a few changes I made to our still air basic foam incubator (with automatic egg turner) that seemed to help:

1. Test the thermostat: I discovered that the thermometer I received with my unit reads almost five degrees too hot. An inexpensive oral thermometer from the drug store is quite accurate and easy to read. Left in the unit, it will tell you the highest temperature achieved; it must be shaken down for subsequent tests. Once you've adjusted the unit to the desired temperature (exactly 101 degrees F. at center of egg height for "still air" incubator, 99.5 degrees F. for unit with fan), note the reading on your old thermometer and write it down. I pin this information to the foam lid with a thumb tack for quick reference (along with the start date of the current batch, which I often forget).
2. Ventilation: Eggs are alive and require a steady flow of oxygenated air. While the instructions for my unitrequired that the vent hole in the lid be plugged until hatching, I chose to ignore this. I tested the unit to insure that it would hold temperature with the plug out, and then ran a batch with no plug. I even toyed with the ides of a "chimney" stack above the vent to improve the natural heat escape. I believe the extra oxygen helped, though this is well short of scientific.

3. Automatic rocker: I'm sold on this "convenience." I've tried hand turning and make a poor substitute for a devoted hen. If you will be turning eggs by hand, use a pencil to put a small "X" on one side of egg, and an "0" on the other so you can tell at a glance if it has been turned. The eggs must be turned at least three times per day at regular intervals.

4. Humidity: The little water trough in the bottom of my unit is hard to see, hard to fill and tough to adjust as needed. I've read that consistency in humidity is as important as having the right humidity. This fostered another experiment (of course).

I rolled several paper towels into a flat roll (about 6 by 2 inches) and wet it down with warm water. It fits nicely between the center egg frames of my rocker without touching eggs. Twice a day I rewet it as needed; twice a week I replaced it with new paper towels to reduce germs (hospitals grow germs in incubators, too). Because the humidity should be fairly high during the hatch, at the first sign of hatching, I tossed in a second roll. Easy!

5. Daily cooling period: Periodically, the hen gets off to eat, drink and be merry. During this brief respite, the eggs get a chance to cool off. I read somewhere that this cooling period is critical to the development of the chick,

so each evening I pop the lid off for 10-15 minutes. This is a good time to rewet the paper towels and turn or candle eggs.

6. Sterilization: The directions that came with my unit call for cleaning with a bleach or other germ killing product. I've taken it a step farther. Sterilization is achieved by alternating heat and cold. So my new cleaning regimen for eggs incubator, rocker and thermometer includes the following:

a) Wash thoroughly with warm soapy water; shake off excess.

b) While yet damp with soapy water, mist with diluted chlorine bleach.

c) Let stand five minutes and rinse thoroughly with cold water.

d) Rinse again with very hot tap water; then cold, and hot again.

e) Shake off excess and air dry overnight in a clean place.

This may sound laborious, but I have a deep sink with kitchen type faucet and retractable spray hose. The whole thing takes 10 minutes or so. Time well spent.

• 7. "Short Loads": In the event of incubating less than 20 eggs (bantam), I would suggest removing two unused rocker frames and placing several pint jars of water in the unit. The effect is a reservoir for heat that helps moderate the air temperature. Naturally, you will want to run the jars and lids through the dishwasher before use or sterilize with the other equipment.
• 8. "Garbage In, Garbage Dept.": Bad eggs are bad eggs, and no amount of tweaking will change their fate. However, literature is rich with proper procedures for handling and storing the eggs before incubation.

I mark all of my eggs with pencil, on the big end for visibility (always store eggs point down in a cardboard egg carton). The date the egg is laid (and promptly collected), and the breed are noted. A few observations:

• Let eggs cool down at least half a day before incubating. (I've never hatched an egg that went into the incubator still warm from its mother.)
• If rotated twice a day during storage, eggs stored up to 14 days can hatch.
• Use only clean eggs; never washed eggs, never dirty or badly stained eggs.
• Give the hens a good blend of feed high in minerals and proteins, starting well before you draw eggs to hatch. (Layer pullets make eggs, not necessarily chicks.)
• Some breeds prove more fertile if allowed some free range; know your breed.
• 9. "At the batch": Chicken eggs hatch in 21 days. On the 18th day stop turning the eggs. While you can set the eggs on the wire floor of the unit, I dislike the way they roll around loose. The chicks in the eggs need to orient themselves before pipping and hatching; the first chick out runs around disorienting the rest. I've read that the chick in shell will then try to reorient before pipping; roll him 2 or 3 times and he is exhausted. Further, lowering the eggs from rocker to floor drops their temperature by as much as two degrees. Not good.

I've hatched birds just fine with the eggs still sitting upright in the rocker, but then they get all tangled in the frames. Another experiment (of course). I took a fiber egg flat from a case of eggs and cut all the "points" off each egg cup, top and bottom. The end result was a flat egg tray that resembles a waffle with big holes in it (good ventilation). Stand the eggs up, big end up, in this tray on the 18th day and do not disturb. The eggs, while touching the wire floor, are still close to rocker height, and will not be disturbed by the early bird. After one use, through the tray away.

As I noted before if your current system ain't broke, don't change it. On the other hand, a wise man once told me, "Don't be the first, or the last, to try a new idea." I've always thought that was very wise advice. . . but I just love to experiment.

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