Welcome to my channel, Hobby Homesteading. I’m all about sharing my homesteading experiences. From coop tours, to raising backyard flocks, and informative content I have learned along the way. I want to share my journey with you, and I hope you follow along with me!
Your. Idea has been the best one I have watched, I am brand new to all of this and preparing to hatch some ducklings. I appreciate all the hints and advice you give - thank you,
Just found a piece of black plastic that fit but honestly if you call the company they may send you a replacement or a piece of electrical tape has worked for me too.
I'm a guy who would rather watch a "how to" on RU-vid instead of trying to figure out the instructions. I just got this incubator this Summer and had not planned to use it until next Spring but after one of my chickens got broody and hatched a duckling. Long story. I decided I would try to hatch a few ducklings since my ducks are still very very active even in the cold. I really enjoyed your video but there was only one thing that I wish you would have explained better. What and when is "lockdown". I was kind of under the impression that lockdown was just as soon as all the eggs were in, and everything was all set up and ready to go. So, it was my bad, but I ended up adding water to both sides from the start. It wasn't until I watched a couple other videos that I discovered my mistake and took everything off to start from scratch. It was my fault and I do like your video better than the other ones that I watched. I just wanted you to know in case you do another video to maybe explain that just a little more about "lockdown" and when to fill the covered port. Thank you very much and wish me luck on my first 3 ducklings.
@@williamcrutchfield7211 my first setting hatched 50% which I believed to be good for a newby. I may be wrong but anyway was proud of my biddies, who are now almost a year old. Old dogs can learn new tricks😉.
Try not to open incubator when you have pipping/zipping going on. Best to only start with the number of eggs you want and not add. Clean incubator between uses for best biosecurity.
Im new to doing this. I bought an incubator (unused) from someone. Chinese made, looked at website and its actually an arts and crafts store :(... nothing about eggs chickens or any bird.. set up the incubator and it seemed fine.... I added the eggs.. and then went out for a couple hours. Came home and it was beeping... the humidity and temp were going all out of wack.. it kept jumping all over the place... its one thing if its off by a couple degrees. But it was a full 20 or more jump back and forth... same with humidity. Then humidity just got stuck at 0.. even with water.. Found someone on fb and she said she would give me one of hers she used once. Its this one in the video... I found your video cause I originally was searching troubleshooting... this incubator keeps shutting off and coming back on and beeping and shutting off and coming back on beeping.. the cycles of each on/off is between 1-5 seconds... I noticed the part that plugs in getting warm... after only 10 min or less... the cord/plug does not look the same as yours at all. And other videos I see. Does not look the same.... :/
I have not hatched out Turkey eggs but assume you could. Set to 28 days and 99.5 temp. I would look at buying a 3D printed Turkey egg turner insert as the Turkey eggs are a bit bigger and would watch close to make sure they are turning.
My advice, purchase a hygrometer to verify. Also make sure to have incubator in a draft free room and away from windows and doors. Find the best temperature controlled room in your home.
Question. Temperature in the room dropped beyond what I knew and my wife turned the heater on the humidity also dropped in my incubator down to 37 for a couple of hours I just got it back up to 55. Do you think that's going to be a big issue
In my experience, too much humidity prevents normal evaporation and results in a decreased hatch and too little humidity results in excessive evaporation which can cause the chicks to adhere to the shell and/or hatch crippled. My advice (keep in mind I’m not claiming to be an expert) is to continue with your hatch and control/adjust temperature/humidity levels as best you can going forward. It’s best to set up the incubator in a room where the environment can be as controlled as possible. Hope that helps!
I have an older model and i like that idea about adding the "shelf liner" as I call it. But to do so you have to remove all the eggs, add the liner, then put them back in. I suppose that won't hurt anything as far as eggs go? I've removed the egg turner and that was that, never touched the eggs after day 18
@@hobbyhomesteading4378 I’ll try it this time with the shelf liner. Should be easier to clean afterwards too. I like that idea of doing everything at once and then lockdown until hatch.
Thank you for this video! I bought this incubator a few weeks ago and it had no instructions or paperwork with it so this video was very helpful! Unfortunately I didn’t figure out the date adjustment button and it’s set for chicks (21 days) instead of ducks (28days) if I adjust now will it mess up everything? How can I fix it at this point? We’re 9 days in.
I would just adjust the days you can do this by holding the plus and minus sign down together the display will blink and toggle through to the days you’ll have to adjust you days based on where you are in your hatch. If you don’t want to do that you can just put a notification in your calendar on lockdown day to remove the egg tray and unplug the egg turner cord. This will work the same. IMO the display just helps to remind you where you are in your hatch. Good luck with your hatch!
In my experience you usually don’t have 100% hatch rate. Also chicks hatch at different days so I remove ones that hatch within 24 hrs that are fully dried (just careful to remove when others are pipping and/or zipping).
Hello! Port a is for initial set up, I fill and check every few days to see if level is low. Port b is filled on lockdown and will need to fill more frequently to keep proper humidity levels.
You don’t have to have your base all the way full just the A port. It’s a fine balance between water levels and fresh air circulation. If you feel like you aren’t getting what you need in your environment you can purchase a hygrometer to make sure your incubator is giving you the correct readout. Good luck!
@@hobbyhomesteading4378 thank you I have the hydrometer in there now: I don’t think I had enough water in the A port. Seems to be steady at 51• and 49• on the hydrometer. I’m in Hawaii where it’s warm and humid. Might be a challenge? Thank you for your help. I know I really appreciate it .
Are you asking about lockdown? This is where you remove the white egg turner prior to hatching. This is because the embryos are moving to hatching position.and do not require turning. Hope that helps!
I personally have never dry hatched before. The only issue I have had is that sometimes the duck eggs are bigger than the egg turner itself. I have ordered a duck egg turner on Etsy that fits the nuture right 360 to assist in turning of the eggs.
Audio level on music too loud and on voice too low. Have to keep my thumb on the volume toggle and lower it during music, but then can't adequately hear the talking so have to quickly bump it back up. Then back down, then back up, etc... 😖 Otherwise great info and video...
We have this incubator and are 3 days from our first hatch. You explanations are thorough and very helpful. When the manual refers to doing a factory reset, is that what you were doing when you changed the days back to 21 and reset the temperature and humidity? We will be reloading our incubator as soon as we clean it and reset it. I want to be sure I will know what to do when the time comes. Thank you for such a helpful video!
Congrats on your first hatch! Lockdown time is so exciting! As far as a reset goes when you are setting it up for your next hatch you will need to reset the incubator by pressing and holding both “Menu” and “-” buttons for more than 5 seconds. The incubator will beep and the display will blink one time, indicating that the incubator has successfully been reset. The timer will then restart the countdown from 21 days. Hope that helps!