Artificial Incubation setups?

[PeregrinesUK]

With the breeding season just around the corner for most I was interested in what peoples views were on different incubators and other equipment you may use. What do you use and why? Mike

[Jeremiah Johnson]

last year i used octgon 20. seemed to work ok but the theromstat was as usefull as a chocolate fire guard This year I have bought an AB newlife mk 6 dunno how it will all work out

[Terry Hanson]

With the breeding season just around the corner for most I was interested in what peoples views were on different incubators and other equipment you may use. What do you use and why? Mike

Hi Mike, I bought the R.com 20 pro. One the face of it its run bang on for over a month, big test will be eggs.:lol: Terry

[PeregrinesUK]

Hi Mike, I bought the R.com 20 pro. One the face of it its run bang on for over a month, big test will be eggs.:lol: Terry

I have an RCOM 20 Pro as well as Oct 20 like you same the RCOM seems to be spot on I have placed mine next to the radiator in the living room to see how it copes and its been bang on even in the middle of the night when I checked it, never varies more than .1 .....Mike

[SnapeDek]

I used octogen 20 s for a long time and last year replaced them with 2 grumbachs i was more than pleased with them especially for hatching cheers Rich.

[PeregrinesUK]

What does everyone else use for hatching? `i have a Polyhatch

[Jastreb]

I heard that grumbach are great and expensive.

What is your opinion about them Rich?

Cheers Viktor

[SnapeDek]

I heard that grumbach are great and expensive.

What is your opinion about them Rich?

Cheers Viktor

Certainly have no complaints and if you hatch a couple extra chicks there paid for cost 1100 english pounds Viktor thats each the price of a Gos i suppose cheers Rich

[Falcons7]

Contax8 and then into a Grumbach
jeff




CWith the breeding season just around the corner for most I was interested in what peoples views were on different incubators and other equipment you may use. What do you use and why? Mike

[Misty]

does anyone else use a 'Buddy' for testing fertility?

[Alf]

Interesting you are switching from the Contact to the Grumbach through incubation any reasons why? Alf.


Contax8 and then into a Grumbach
jeff




C

[Jastreb]

Certainly have no complaints and if you hatch a couple extra chicks there paid for cost 1100 english pounds Viktor thats each the price of a Gos i suppose cheers Rich

Thanks a lot!

Cheers Viktor

[Falcons7]

For some reason ,some eggs suffer mal postioning of the chicks so the recomended thing is 14 days or so in the contax and then finished off in the grumie .The problem I had last season was early hatching ,one at 28 days and with this came 2 unretracted yoke sacks,one was really bad but both survived and I came up with a meathod of my own to get them back inside ,it takes seconds and am on a 100% success ,only 2 though haha ,hope it stays at that .
jeff



Interesting you are switching from the Contact to the Grumbach through incubation any reasons why? Alf.

[Talon]

i use lyons turnx there great little incubaters
just a little bit noisey though.

[Paco]

Falcons7 i don,t understand why to change to a grumbach at 14 days from a contact , because is the same horizontal system of movement. I think can be better to avoid malposition to put in a vertical incubator ( i learn it from Kentish Falconry)
I think your problem of sacs out can be because a high temperature. I had this problem last year because some bad calibrated termometer.
And how is your method to put sacs in ??

[Kentish Falconry]

This is a reply I made to a similar post last year.
Alpha Genesis (China Prairie) have now ceased to make Incubators but spares and service are still available.

I am currently testing an RCom 20 Pro USB and so far have found it to be an excellent Incubator and at a reasonable price as well Contact Hatchit Incubators and speak to lewis, www.hatchitincubators.com, for the best deal available. I will give a full write up on these machines as soon as I have finished testing but at this time all I can say is they are too cheap for what they do and I am very impressed so far by it's operation and functions.
Terry


I have been meaning to get involved in this thread but time is short now with the breeding kicking in.
I have used Brinsea Octagon Incubators in the past and unlike Colin I did not like them may be something to do with where I live. I was offered an X8 to test but declined the offer as I do not trust them after some of the reports I have seen.
I have been using AB Newlife incubators now for 5 years and find them to be just about the best UK Incubator available you can find a link to them in the links page on my website. I have 2 of these now and had one converted by the factory to run just rollers for starting the eggs off. Good value for the money. http://www.abincubators.co.uk/ I have just ordered another AB Newlife hatcher as the results are so good with them £400
Grumbach well what can I say? if ever there was a disaster waiting to happen this is the machine to prove it in the first year just about everything that could go wrong did and ended up cooking 48 fertile eggs, i still have the machine and use it for quail and chicken eggs and worry about them too
I also have 3 Alpha Genisis Machines from China Prairie in the USA these are without doubt the best Incubator on the market www.chinaprairie.com.
I do find that I get a better result from them if I start the eggs off on rollers first but for accuracy and smoothness they can't be beaten. They come complete with battery back up. Not a cheap machine but you get what you pay for.
I have a couple of Certified Thermometers that I use in each incubator each year to test the set up but have not had to adjust anything for the last 2 years as all my Incubators are computer based. I also check that Humidity is set correctly as well both in the Incubator room and the Incubators themselves.
As for what humidity do I use I set all my Incubators at different Humidity levels so I can swap eggs around as needed. I used to use Graphs for my eggs 10 years ago but I discovered the AIMS program (Avian Incubation Management System) not only does it control and manage all my breeding stock and chicks it also fills out all the paperwork I need for DEFRA. The most important feature in the program is the egg control system you just weigh the egg measure it put the ID number on it and no mistake can be made it works out KW value and weight loss/gain in a split second and tells you which of your incubators will run the egg to the set weight loss each time you weigh the egg, I can deal with 60 eggs in 45 mins and this number of eggs would take ages if I had to do it by hand with a calculator at £250 for the program if you save one chick or egg then it has paid for itself all future updates are free of charge as well. I have seen this system grow over the years and it is now used by most Zoos and bird Gardens in the World http://www.avianmanagement.com/
Hope this helps and if you have any further questions please contact me or come on the Incubation Course April 22nd. I promise it will be the best £50 you will ever spend having over 30 years experience of Incubation condensed into 1 day.
Terry

[Peregrine1]

[QUOTE=Kentish Falconry;484331]This is a reply I made to a similar post last year.
Alpha Genesis (China Prairie) have now ceased to make Incubators but spares and service are still available.

I am currently testing an RCom 20 Pro USB and so far have found it to be an excellent Incubator and at a reasonable price as well Contact Hatchit Incubators and speak to lewis, www.hatchitincubators.com, for the best deal available. I will give a full write up on these machines as soon as I have finished testing but at this time all I can say is they are too cheap for what they do and I am very impressed so far by it's operation and functions.
Terry


I had a RCom 20 Pro USB for several weeks on test before general release.
I have found them to disperse the heat equally and very acurately throughout the incubator and the egg turning is the best I have come across can be set anywhere from 10 mins upwards plus can turn a egg anywhere up to a 180 degrees. To use in PC mode it deals on a average weight loss which is designed on the setting of a clutch of eggs at once. So this may be limited if you are constantley adding eggs over a period of time. Also it is programed to incubate several species of eggs on a fully automatic mode, which works well, but not something I am real interested in. It will be a manual setup with my preferences punched in for falcons and hawks. On the down side the temp alarm is set at 2 degrees over the ideal which is not really good enough and it could do with a secondry thermostat if the first one fails. But its the best I have come across if it proves to be reliable, time will tell? I do like the Octogen 20's but always felt uneasy in the way they turned. Anyway took the test RCom 20 Pro USB back. And picked up 3 new machines 2 with the USB port and one with out, plus sold a fair few to other breeders. So its fingers crossed.
Regards
Colin

[Falcons7]

Im fully aware of the yoke sack problem ,I set the contax to the recommended temp that several people supplied and again ,the change over if because of several breeders observations ,I dont really want to find out for myself so I just go with the flow ,the reason is ,because I can!
cheers mate


IFalcons7 i don,t understand why to change to a grumbach at 14 days from a contact , because is the same horizontal system of movement. I think can be better to avoid malposition to put in a vertical incubator ( i learn it from Kentish Falconry)
I think your problem of sacs out can be because a high temperature. I had this problem last year because some bad calibrated termometer.
And how is your method to put sacs in ??

[Alf]

Terry looks a great program can I download it please? :yawinkle: :D

[Kentish Falconry]

Yes M8 you can download it or they will send you a CD the choice is yours.
Just send an e-mail to david@avianmanagement.com and he will sort things out for you. There will be a new version out soon called Visual AIMS but as an owner you will get a free upgrade
Terry