Hatcher

[Anne W]

I have hatched many chickens in my incubator over the last 4 years but last year I had a disastrous year for hatching. I did wonder if, despite disinfecting the incubator afterwards if perhaps bacteria had a hand in it. It's so difficult to get the disinfectant into every nook and cranny in the lid which contains all the motor etc.

I thought about buying a separate hatcher as I have read that most bacteria is a result of the hatched chicks/eggs. Could anyone recommend a good one? I have been looking at the Banbury Cross 18 hatcher. I am reluctant to spend huge amounts of money on one for the few eggs I hatch but I don't want to take any chances whatsoever on the chicks lives.

I have even wondered if it may be best to start again and buy a new incubator. I have a brinsea octagon 20 ex - the one with auto turn and humidity. The auto humidity didn't seen to be so effective last year despite changing all tubes and ended up putting water in the resevoirs to compensate. Again I am loathe to throw this one away and buy another but last year was heartbreaking .

Any advice would be really appreciated.

 

[dinosaw]

I have the octagon 20 like you but without the auto humidity function and find that you can control the humidity quite well without the humidity pump, just takes a little bit more effort with adding sponges soaked in incubator disinfectant. I'm very happy with it but currently that is still 50 pound dearer than the banbury cross which I haven't used. Are you absolutely sure it was bacteria that gave you a poor hatch? just asking as there are so many things that can cause it beyond infection and it would be a shame for you to spend the money if you didn't need to.

 

[Anne W]

No I'm not at all sure - I really don't know what happened. I did exactly as I had done the previous years when I got a really good hatch rate. It is just a theory really. A lot had died mid-way which made me wonder if it may have been bacteria.

 

[chrismahon]

Sounds like bacteria to me Anne W. When I clean our incubator it is washed with the sanitant and then run for 24 hours. It is not dried first, just drained. This gets the solution into the 'works' of the machine -well that was the theory anyway. We have never had a problem until we tried to run hatches back to back without cleaning the incubator in-between. The bacteria built up at the 4th batch and we started losing chicks mid-term. By the 6th batch we lost 50%. So I delayed the 7th batch and cleaned the machine as described. We got 100% of the fertile eggs hatched (unfortunately half were infertile) so I must have been correct.

Our Suro20 autoturning motor burned out so we now use Semi-Auto 24's for the incubation and the Suro as a hatcher (new motor was £50). The humidity pump works but I find disinfected wet sponges better. Remember the water must be boiled and cooled and added at 37 degrees. We are happiest with the semi-autos because they have far more insulation. Power cuts are an issue and we have a mains failure alarm. But the Suro was so sensitive to ambient temperature and couldn't cope with anything less than 20 degrees. Now it sits in a foam lined box to keep it warm.

 

[Anne W]

Thankyou that makes sense. I'm afraid to get water in the motor etc in the lid but perhaps it's the only way to clean it properly. I use the proper disinfectant they suggest but I will run it for 24 hours to dry it properly - being left damp could have also been detrimental. I will also take the advice from both of you and use sponges soaked in the solution instead of relying on the auto humidifier. The instructions said paper towel but sponges make better sense.