AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

A few more days if I worked it out correctly



Raf

Thankyou everyone for your feedback.

I have just taken delivery of a Hova-Bator Genesis with quail racks. Several incubators where in the running for choosing but this one had a couple of features that appealed to me - I was keen to get a modern electronic temp control, and this model will also allow me to hatch reptiles (herpetology is another passion of mine having several python species already) in the future. It was competitively priced with an auto turner etc....

So now the fun begins to test run and get a bit of a feel for it before setting a batch of eggs. I have a couple of queries already but will save them for a new post.

Cheers,
Bart

Did they charge xtra for the quail egg racks?

Hi Quails,

No, the quail racks came with it for the price. I believe they are an extra that you pay for but they are throwing them in as part of the deal at the moment. I bought it from Brookfields. When I was researching incubators a few weeks ago they advised me that they would be stocking the Genesis in a few weeks and that it would be priced within my budget.

I have had it running for just over a week - I like it. Temps hold constant, and after a little bit of familiarisation I am comfortable that I can get the humidity levels where I want them for the setting and hatching phases. My first batch of eggs went in today. They are posted eggs that were transported in the hotter time of year so might not fare well - I did manage to get them in the incubator 4 days after collecting so I have that in my favour.

The Genesis has an adjustable electronic temp control with humidity readout and is a fan model - Unlike other Hova-bator models that are still air and have 'wafer' thermostats that some say can be susceptible to 'drift'. I have read many positive reports from Genesis users using settings 'out of the box' with minimum messing around to set them up. I also like that I can use it to hatch reptiles as well (reptiles are my primary animal interest).

Hope that helps....

Cheers,
Bart

Very surprised Brookfields are not on the forum that I know of I sure would be if I was them or any poultry business or breeder




Raf

Thats a good deal I like that. I have not heard of them either I did find WA Poultry Traders but not sure what they are like?

Raf, I think like you and wonder why as people would then know who they are and buy from them

Thanks bart and raf

The biggest market missed by them

Looking at the Incubator poll thread they seem to be doing alright without promotion - The Hova-bators are up there with the popular brands.

Don't have a clue why Brookfields don''t have a presence here. From my experience they appear to be a small family run business - Like many small family businesses they may not have the time to follow forums?

....I also know businesses from other special interest forums that I am involved with where business owners tend to stay away from forums due to the hassles they can create when a person with a commercial interest becomes involved (not saying it happens here....but does elsewhere and ends up in lots of rules about commercial interests and posting which becomes a PITB for everyone).

All I know is I was happy with the price and their service was excellent - Both qualities that I look for when buying

Eggs are in and 'cooking' away..........Just got to wait and see now......

Ok,

After just hatching a batch of Jap Quail in my new Hova-bator Genesis I thought I would update my post on how it all went.

Firstly, the Jap Quail eggs were posted from interstate from a large commercial supplier of fertile quail eggs. They were sent the week before Xmas during the start of the hot summer weather and I was quite concerned as it was the first week of really hot weather, and given they were being posted from Queensland I was automatically expecting a reduced hatch.

The eggs arrived and after unpacking and left to settle for 24hrs they were put in the pre-set up Hova-bator. Of the 96 eggs I purchased, one was broken, and another 4 had minor cracking without breakage. I set all but the actual broken egg. These 'cracked' eggs later proved to be damaged beyond use but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I took the advice provided with the Genesis and left it on the factory temp setting of 37.7c, and after a week of prior playing, managed to work out how to keep the humidity around 40-45% for setting, and 70% for hatching.

A couple of eggs showed very slight 'pipping' at Day 17 but nothing actually progressed to hatching until Day 18 - with most of the hatch emerging from mid Day 18 through middle of Day 19. Stragglers continued to hatch into Day 20, with a couple I helped out at the end of Day 20 ( I was almost ready to move the unhatched eggs out and shut down the bator when we noticed 2 small 'pips' on 3 eggs).

My hatch % has equated to around 73% which I am very happy with given the transported eggs, the heat they were transported in, and this being a 'first run' with this incubator (and my first attempt at hatching). The quail chicks had an average hatched weight of 8g and after 24 hours have an average weight of 10g (Does not surprise me!....The little buggers were pecking at anything and everything as soon as they could stand....and eat like pigs!)

In terms of the timing of the hatch.....My instinct is telling me that my bator is running a little 'cooler' and could do with a bump up in temp by 0.1 of a degree next time around - Hopefully to bring he hatch duration back closer to 16-17-18 days rather than 18-19-20 days. Happy to take on board feedback from others in this regard.

In terms of the Hova-bator Genesis - It worked as expected with good results (IMHO) out of the box. It was easy to set up, the auto-turner worked well, it maintained consistent temps (by the inbuilt thermometer anyway...) and the humidity was relatively easy to set up. I did not use the water channels as described in the instructions - I worked out what I needed to do and which channels to fill to get my desired humidity the week prior and was not hard with a little bit of trial and error. From my limited experience, this would be the case with any incubator as our climate here would affect humidity levels.

I can strongly recommend the Hova-bator Genesis, particularly if you are interested in quail as the 120 egg trays are thrown in at present with the auto-turn model. The new electronic thermostatically controlled unit (appears to be a digital 'pulse' thermostat) worked very well and ran very consistently throughout the incubating period.

I am hoping to put a 'full' load of quail in it once the hot January weather has passed and give it another crack. Happy to listen to advice on my temp settings as per the hatch times above.

Cheers,
Bart