App-Controlled Egg Incubator Recommendations? Is it Necessary?

[Ricky Jehen]

Frankly, if an incubator needs high/low temperature alerts, then the incubator doesn't have good consistent temperature.

Reasonable!

 

[PoppasGrill]

Frankly, if an incubator needs high/low temperature alerts, then the incubator doesn't have good consistent temperature.

We just recently tried using in incubator. It has been a chore to keep humidity level from bouncing between 30 and 60. If we use the water bottle that came with it humidity spikes up over 60 , remove water bottle and have to add water every hour to keep it above 30.
In the house temp stayed constant, moved it to garage, due to in house humidity was too high, and temp dropped until we had to wrap a towel around the incubator to get temp to climb.
A lot more work than just feeding the broody hen.

 

[Debbie292d]

We just recently tried using in incubator. It has been a chore to keep humidity level from bouncing between 30 and 60. If we use the water bottle that came with it humidity spikes up over 60 , remove water bottle and have to add water every hour to keep it above 30.
In the house temp stayed constant, moved it to garage, due to in house humidity was too high, and temp dropped until we had to wrap a towel around the incubator to get temp to climb.
A lot more work than just feeding the broody hen.

The one the OP mentioned doesn't come with a water bottle, it keeps the humidity steady on its own by hooking it up to a gallon of distilled water. +/- 2%.

For yours, remember humidity is an average, so if it's bouncing between 30 and 60 every day, you're averaging 45%, so that's great! The problem might be when you try to do lockdown and have to keep it at around 70%.

A lot of folks put quilts around their incubators even in the house to help stabilize temperatures. I've not, but it makes a lot of sense.

If there's a way to slow down the water coming from the bottle, like perhaps a little sponge or something, that might help. Have you tried looking up your incubator to see if they may have some suggestions?

Another good thing about this particular Brinsea the OP mentioned is there's not only a BYC group, FB group, and website for help, but I've emailed and got two phone calls back when I had an issue with raising humidity faster for lockdown. I'm not sure how much help you can get online for yours, but I'd try see if there's not something out there. You shouldn't have to mess around with it so much. I hope you figure something out!

 

[2ndTink]

I really like the Brinsea Ovation EX (I have the 56's) model incubator, I've been getting good hatches with them. As for getting the Connect model from Brinsea it has some easy to use features that do come in handy. I had also put a Govee in the Connect and I found I opened up the Govee app for trending the humidity and temperature a lot. It was my go to for tracking. The Conenct app came in handy for initial set up, and on the rare occasion I wanted to make a change, I didn't have to physically be at the incubator.

To get all the initial settings where you want them, the Connect is great. It was handy for doing some pre-incubation checks too, verifying the humidity pump was working correctly, the turners, testing the alarms, super easy.

I don't think the app would dumb things down too far to where yous miss things, unless you just decide to never go walk past the incubator and look at it since you can see what you need in the app.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do any of you have experience with app-controlled incubators? Do you find the app features actually useful, or are they more of a gimmick? Do they really make things easier, or do they just add another layer of complication?

To start so you know where I am coming from, I'm an old fogey. I'm so old that I used a slide rule in college, though I got a calculator when the price came down to about half what my meal ticket at the school cafeteria costs. Yeah, really old with a different set of values.

My incubator is an old model, none of the newer app stuff. The controls are less user friendly also. Yep, really old.

I think that thread about the testing is great. Many of the people on that are solid people with common sense.

When I got my incubator it took a few times through trial and error to get it set up right. Due to different environmental conditions the specific settings need to vary from location to location. For example, you may need a different humidity setting if you are in a very dry room than if you were in a very humid room. That has nothing to do with Apps.

All instruments do not read correctly, whether they come with a very expensive incubator or just something you picked up at the hardware store. Thermometers and hygrometers often need to be calibrated to assure they are reading correctly. Again, nothing to do with Apps.

Maybe a good old-fashioned incubator is all I need

Need? Yes, that is all you need. Some people might be surprised at how many chicks have been hatched in those old-fashioned incubators. I did not need that calculator to graduate college but it made my senior year a lot easier to not depend on a slide rule.

I think your decision depends a lot on your personality. Are you a hands-on micromanager that will really enjoy fiddling with things? My wife falls into that category and would have to have the latest technology. She'd worry herself sick if she didn't have it. Personally I'm more laid back and drive her crazy.

It took me a few hatches to get my incubator adjusted. Once I got it set the way I wanted I left it alone. I had no need to change anything. The biggest thing was checking it regularly so when the water ran out in the reservoir I could refill it. I'd probably be aggravated if my phone woke me up in the middle of the night to add water to the incubator. It can wait until morning. I mark start day, lockdown day, and hatch day on a calendar hanging on the wall. I can keep track of it that way. Some people would have trouble keeping track of it that way.

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this. It's whichever way you want to go. If you can afford it, get it. You don't have to use it if you don't like it. I think the biggest risk is that since it is so easy to change things that people will change things when they really shouldn't.

Good luck!