Review on 🐣 Automatic Digital Chicken Incubator by Anthony Shields

I decided to try raising chickens from my backyard flock since I only have one of six roosters from a breeder who never sends to our state again (thanks to the Washington State Bureaucrats ) Ministry of Agriculture! American Buckeye breeders in the east blacklisted the entire state after state regulations changed while my chicks were out. They fined the breeder $150. I even offered to equalize the penalty, but that was the last straw. Nobody ships to Washington I have one rooster left and this is a really desperate last ditch effort to get the genes from the parent stocks I have from the last batch I believe made it to my condition) so I received this incubator to look forward to starting hatching 9-12 chicks. Well, things didn't quite go to plan. When I want to use an automatic egg turner, it only fits 6 eggs from my American horse chestnut. They don't fit and don't turn very well so I had to reduce my ambition from a full dozen to 9 and in the end I had to pick my favorite 6 eggs and put them in. I think if I used some wire and some manual dexterity I could modify the egg turner so that I didn't have to turn them by hand, but in the long run this incubator just isn't big enough for me. I did as the instructions said and let the incubator idle for over 2 hours to make sure I had it running. I used two thermometers to ensure the internal temperature of the incubator was correct. The temperature gauge in the incubator went off and I could have boiled the eggs if I hadn't chosen the temperature first. My device runs almost 2 degrees Celsius hotter than the thermostat indicates. The next day I put foil on the bottom for easier cleaning later, put 1dl (just under 1/2 cup water) on the bottom and added the eggs. The incubator doesn't have a humidity monitor, so you'll either have to trust the manufacturer's instructions or buy a separate small device for it. Don't expect a good look inside the incubator. With sufficient humidity, the walls will fog up. For blocking before hatching, since you need to increase humidity and lower temperature when you move to the setter tray and remove the egg turner, I suggest adding some chopped kitchen sponge. halfway into the incubator to retain more moisture so you don't have to open it until you have chicks and this helps reduce moisture loss when opening. Because of the design, I can't open the lid without letting out a lot of moisture, so I was concerned about the humidity level for the hatched chicks when I took out the first chicks. My first eggs started hatching the night before expected hatch. Date. After 2 days I had 3 naturally hatched chicks and one "chum" (head stuck under a wing), an overall hatch rate of 66%. Not bad for a first time. I give the last two eggs a 24 hour grace period before throwing them away. This is a decent little hatchery for a little hatchery hobbyist or just learning the basics like me, but will be reviewing next year as I look to grow my flock to 50+.