Sam & Ella
Member
INCUBATORS I have an incubator problem: My pancake population is into its third generation of twin egg layers. Thirteen pancakes, nine females, with eleven eggs since last October. About a 65% hatch rate (despite my screw-ups). My incubators are a Styrofoam cooler with an old, domed “parrot egg incubator” heater over a hole in the lid. (Heat control no longer works, so I vary the depth of the vermiculate.) Clumsy! And I have a Zoo Med “floating” inside an aquarium. I have humidity challenges.
For more room, and better visibility, I almost bought a “mini-refrigerator looking” incubator. I like the see-through front door and the racks, and the backlit displays. I did not like the negative reviews about reliability and needless features.
Issues and questions:
1) All but one model of the mini-fridge style I liked had DC cigarette lighter port and cord for “car use.” I can see that function for use with a stationary portable car battery charger short term, but I don’t need DC because I have a whole-house gas generator. (My wife knew why I wanted the generator, and refused to pay for it as “a household expense.”)
QUESTION: Why would anyone spend the extra money on the “portable power” for an egg incubator? Sunday Drives?
2) Same “mini-fridge” styles –which I love capacity and ergonomics-wise—are available without the DC for a little less money, but all the mini fridges have “cooling” elements. Reading reviews, the heat and cooling act erratically.
QUESTIONS: What am I missing? Why need cooling for an indoor, ambient room temperature environment? (Give or take 5 degrees exterior max.) Fluctuations won’t affect the temperature inside the incubator anyway.
3) All I THINK I need is a container, with room for a water tray or “a moat,” with adjustable heat control, and preferably a fan, with easy internal view and access. (Racks appear useful. I can stagger the eggs higher or lower per age, but I have concerns about spending $200.00+ and have a fan burn out.) I have a pyrometer and thermometers and hygrometers.
QUESTIONS Am I stuck with my ugly and cumbersome-to-use DIY and the conventional Big Box types? (I can’t “fabricate' anything more than Styrofoam.)
Does anybody make a “decent-size” top quality one that simply has a fan, a legible temperature and humidity display, and adjustable heat for under $300?
For more room, and better visibility, I almost bought a “mini-refrigerator looking” incubator. I like the see-through front door and the racks, and the backlit displays. I did not like the negative reviews about reliability and needless features.
Issues and questions:
1) All but one model of the mini-fridge style I liked had DC cigarette lighter port and cord for “car use.” I can see that function for use with a stationary portable car battery charger short term, but I don’t need DC because I have a whole-house gas generator. (My wife knew why I wanted the generator, and refused to pay for it as “a household expense.”)
QUESTION: Why would anyone spend the extra money on the “portable power” for an egg incubator? Sunday Drives?
2) Same “mini-fridge” styles –which I love capacity and ergonomics-wise—are available without the DC for a little less money, but all the mini fridges have “cooling” elements. Reading reviews, the heat and cooling act erratically.
QUESTIONS: What am I missing? Why need cooling for an indoor, ambient room temperature environment? (Give or take 5 degrees exterior max.) Fluctuations won’t affect the temperature inside the incubator anyway.
3) All I THINK I need is a container, with room for a water tray or “a moat,” with adjustable heat control, and preferably a fan, with easy internal view and access. (Racks appear useful. I can stagger the eggs higher or lower per age, but I have concerns about spending $200.00+ and have a fan burn out.) I have a pyrometer and thermometers and hygrometers.
QUESTIONS Am I stuck with my ugly and cumbersome-to-use DIY and the conventional Big Box types? (I can’t “fabricate' anything more than Styrofoam.)
Does anybody make a “decent-size” top quality one that simply has a fan, a legible temperature and humidity display, and adjustable heat for under $300?
Last edited: