Owners Manual
Avey Incubator, LLC
8200 Crowfoot Lane
Evergreen CO 80439
Customer Support 1-877-283-9462 (AVEYINC)
Email: service@aveyincubator.com
Avey Incubator Owners Manual
Throughout the design process the goals have been:
1. Keep it simple.
2. Limit operator errors.
3. Provide the best for the egg/baby.
We share a common goal. Happy healthy baby birds to raise.
Why did we build the Avey Incubator?
The Avey Incubator a confidence builder. A trust builder.
I have some problem birds. Do you? I have a pair macaws that lay eggs with very
porous shells that dry out twice as fast as they should. And another pair of
African Greys that bite off toes and wing tips on hatching.
Before the Avey Incubator was hatched I used to weigh my options. With my
problem Greys I could leave the eggs in the nest and pull them just before they
hatched.
With the macaws that wasn't an option. Their eggs never hatched. In either case
the humidity is so low here in Denver that leaving the eggs in the nest just
guaranteed a poor hatch rate.
With my old hobby incubator, something would go wrong. I'd bump the temperature
control, not get the top back on tight and allow air to leak or I'd have
problems getting the humidity right. Sometimes I'd not even know what I did
wrong except the eggs just didn't hatch. Only later I learned that because of
the way the incubator was designed, bacteria could grow unchecked through the
incubation period. It turned out it was a race - does the egg hatch before
bacteria gets it?
When eggs don't hatch the problems usually falls into three broad categories.
Incubator error, something basically wrong with the egg, and operator
error. The Avey Incubator is a solution to these problems. If we limit the
operator errors through incubator design, for example, equipping the incubator
with hi and low temperature alarms, (the most common cause of low temp alarms
is leaving the door open), and solving some basic incubator problems such as
ease of cleaning, proper humidity, and the right amount of egg turning then we
have dealt with two of the three categories of egg failure. The third
category, which is a bad egg, can be addressed through better flock management,
-- healthy breeders lay healthy eggs. These are my ideas on keeping healthy
birds and getting healthy eggs.
Using the Avey incubator is more than just putting eggs in an incubator. It’s a
system for hatching eggs. Our design philosophy deals with why we made the incubator
the way we did, and a little about what we saw in other incubators that we both
liked and didn't like. Ultimately the Avey Incubator was created in response to
not finding all the features we
Thank you for
choosing the Avey Incubator. We have
designed this unit to be trouble free and easy to use. We want to hear you
comments and concerns. You may always call 1-877-283-9462 (AVEYINC) for
customer support or email at service@aveyinc.com.
Unpacking:
Inventory:
Make sure your
order is complete. Be sure to find the following:
1. The main cabinet
2. The control box
3. Power cord
4. Egg trolley
5. Humidifier
6. Divider Rods (10)
7. Keys to cabinet
8. Owners manual (you are reading it)
Options: (Only present if you purchased them)
1. Uninterruptible power supply
2. Remote notification dialer
Setup:
The Avey Incubator is designed to run in very dry climates
to very humid ones. And the humidity needs vary greatly. When you first set up
your incubator, if the humidity level wants to stay above your setpoint then
there are some additional steps to take. But first, set up the incubator and
let it stabilize by running for at least 12 hours.
If you feel the
humidity system is working too hard, running more than every 4 or 5 minutes,
then the passive side of the humidity control isn’t helping enough. The
incubator is allowing too much outside air to mix. The solution is to “tighten
up” the incubator. Cover the vent at the back of the incubator with a piece of
tape. Check your weatherstripping around the door and control panel. If you can
slide a piece of paper between the weatherstrip and the cabinet then it is too
loose. Be sure the screw that holds the control box in place is tightened
enough (but not too tight).
If you wish to not use the automatic humidity feature then humidity may be regulated by placing a pan of water in the incubator. The amount of surface area of the water exposed to air (so the water can evaporate) will determine the humidity level. The display will still read out the actual humidity level. You should set the humidity setpoint to a point well below the actual humidity so the humidity motor won’t run.
Egg Trolley
The egg trolley is easier to install if the
humidifier is removed. The egg trolley is designed to be removable without any
tools. It simply lifts in and out with a carefully adjusted “press” fit. Clean
the egg trolley before the first use, and upon each new cycle of use, by
soaking in a 10 to 1 solution of water to Clorox Bleach for a period of ten
minutes or use the cleaner/disinfectant you prefer. This will disinfect all the
surfaces that come in contact with the eggs. After soaking, thoroughly rinse
with water and air-dry the egg trolley.
The big gear touches the drive
motor inside the control box. The hooks on the right side of the egg trolley
slip into slots on the control cabinet. The installation procedure is as
follows: set the egg trolley in the incubator, the fit is relaxed and
engineered so nothing will bind. The Egg trolley should be resting on the
bottom of the incubator. Line up the hooks with the slots. When you do the big
gear wheel will also fit into the slot on the control box. Lift the right rear
side of the egg trolley about a quarter of an inch and slip the hooks into the
slots. You’ll feel some resistance at this point. Then slip the hooks on the right front into their slots. When the
hooks drop into the slots and bottom out the egg trolley is installed.
The snap in egg
dividers are adjustable by gently bending and fitting the ends into the
appropriate holes on the egg trolley sides. You’ll notice the egg trolley bed
has a gentle tilt to the left. The incubator is engineered this way to cause
the eggs to rest against the divider on the left side of the egg.
Adding Water
Use only distilled water otherwise the minerals in the
water will clog up the humidifier. The water in the bottles should be close to
the operating temperature of the incubator. If you put a bottle of cool water
in a hot incubator the temperature of the incubator will drop until the bottles
of water warm up. (Just like dropping an ice cube in a drink). In factory tests, when filling with 70°f
water the drop in temperature isn’t very much, two or three tenths of a
degree.
Locking Door
The key lock on the
cabinet door also functions as a latch to hold the door seal tight. This seal causes the lock to be more difficult to operate
when new. Pushing in on the door when turning the key will make turning the
lock easier. The seal and the key lock get easier to use with use. Keep you
door locked and remove the key if you have any employees, customers or kids
around. You’d be surprised (and then
again maybe not) at how easily an egg can disappear, or even the door opened
and the eggs “played” with!
Power Up
The power on/off
switch is located at the back of the cabinet. When power is on the VFD (Vacuum
Fluorescent Display) will come on and the front panel power on light will be
green. The unit will start to run using
the settings that were last used.
Optional:
UPS Power supply
The
Uninterruptible Power Supply will run an Incubator that is warmed up and
stabilized for about 2 hours. The incubator uses much less power after it has
completely warmed up and stabilized the internal temperature. At that point it
just has to maintain the temperature and can “coast” along. The incubator plugs
into an outlet on the back of the UPS and the UPS plugs into the wall outlet.
The UPS also filters the power line and adjusts for low voltage and voltage
spikes and of course supplies power to the incubator when the power fails. The UPS has internal batteries that need to
achieve a full charge before they are asked to supply power to the incubator.
So let the UPS run for 24 hours before “testing” the UPS by pulling the plug
from the wall. If extended power failures beyond 2 hours are possible then call
and ask about additional ways to protect your eggs.
Remote Notification
Remote
notification is a means to notify you if the Incubator has an alarm go off,
either hi temperature or low temperature or power failure. A telephone line
needs to be available for the device to use. The device dials the number you
specify, and then plays a recorded message to whoever answers. You can program
it to call your cell phone, neighbor, or your pager.
Front Panel
VII.
High Temperature Alarm
B. The high temperature alarm is
pre-programmed for about 2 degrees higher than the setpoint temperature.
C. The over high temperature scenario
includes:
1. Sun shining
through a window onto the Incubator
2. At lower operating temperatures i.e. 80°f the birds
themselves may be big enough and old enough to generate their own heat to the
point where they over-temp the Chick Chalet.
a) If the high temp Alarm sounds - push in the selection knob
to silence it and open the Chick Chalet to vent some heat.
Display
On power up the
display will first test egg turning, moving the belt the distance last entered
in the setup menu. The display will
then show the current temperature in Celsius and Fahrenheit and the percentage
of relative humidity. The approximate
time remaining until egg turn is also displayed.
Selection Knob
The selection knob has 2 functions. Push it in to select and turn left and right to adjust, then push in the selection knob. The display changes to the first set up menu.
Adjusting the Avey Incubator
1. The selection
knob has 2 operations. Push in (momentarily then let go) to start and push in
to finish a selection and turn left or right to change the selection. (Push in
and then release - some people try to hold the knob in and then turn the knob
while it is held in - this won't work! Push in means push and release)
2.
Passcode
a)
Your passcode
is 5 (default)
b)
Push in the selection knob.
c)
When prompted dial in your passcode.
d)
Push in selection knob (and then let it out)
(i) If you wait too long the operation times out and the
Incubator resumes normal operation.
(ii) If you dial in the wrong passcode the Incubator resumes
normal operation
(iii) If you dial in the correct password the Incubator
moves to the temperature selection screen .
3. Temperature Selection
a. Dial in the desired temperature.
b. Push in the selection knob to set.
V. Alpha Numeric Display
A. Displays the temperature in both
Celsius and Fahrenheit.
B. Automatically uses the last settings
even if the power has been off.
Turn the selection
knob left or right to set the temperature you want. Then push in the selection
knob to move on to the next menu, which is the humidity menu.
In the same manner turn the knob to the
desired humidity, push in the knob to move to the next menu,
which the time
between egg turns menu. In the same manner turn to adjust and push to select.
The next menu is
the turn distance menu. This tells the Incubator how far to move the belt the
eggs rest on. The Avey Incubator can adapt to a large range of egg sizes
because of this feature. A typical African Grey or Macaw egg is a setting of
about 7 on the scale.
(Note: This scale may not reproduce accurately in the online web format but does print accurately in the print version of the manual)
To set up your egg turning value take an egg the size you
want to turn. Place a line on the top side of the egg. Place the egg on the
scale with the line you drew touching the start line. Rotate the egg across the
scale until the line is back on top. Read the scale. This is close to the
setting for turn distance. On power up the egg turn belt moves the distance it
was set at last. So by powering off, waiting about 5 seconds, and then powering
on, you can see how far your egg will turn.
Managing eggs of different sizes.
If you wish to place eggs of differing sizes in the same incubator some additional planning is involved. If the eggs are nearly the same size you may choose a setting for the turn distance that is a little more than 1/2 a turn for the smaller egg and a little less than 1/2 a turn for the larger egg. For bigger egg size differences, the best approach is to take your normal turn interval (For example 4 hours between turns) and instead turn 1/4 the distance per turn and turn every hour. That way at the end of 4 hours you'll have a complete turn on one size egg and perhaps 1.25 turns on the smaller eggs.
Manual Turning of Eggs.
The next menu is
labeled “calibration.” Here you can turn to choose additional menus, you can
reset to the factory defaults. When
ready to run the incubator select “Use Settings” and push selection knob to
start Incubator..
Power On light
Will glow green
when power is on.
Turning Eggs Light
Will flash when egg
turner is moving.
Adding Humidity Light
Will glow red when
adding humidity
Hi/Lo alarm Light
Will light when alarm condition is present. To silence
alarm push in selection knob. That will silence the alarm. Alarm condition will
also put about 10-12VDC on the terminals on the back panel. This will drive the
remote notification dialer or a buzzer or sounder of your choice - output
limited to 200ma. Eggs will not turn
and humidity controls disabled when in alarm condition.
Changing the default settings
Default Settings
The factory
default settings are 99.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 42% humidity, 5 hours between
turns, and 7 on the egg turn distance, Hi alarm limit is preset at the factory
to 2 degrees Fahrenheit above the setpoint and the low alarm limit is preset at
the factory to 5 degrees Fahrenheit below the setpoint. The Incubator remembers
the last settings even if the power has been off.
Restoring Factory Defaults
You may restore the factory defaults at any time.
Make sure the panel lockout is on, push the selection knob and step through the
menus till you see “Calibration”. Turn the knob until “Reset to Factory” is
displayed and push selection knob to set.
Cleaning your Incubator
Cleaning the
incubator consists of removing the egg trolley from the incubator and soaking
in a 10 to 1 solution of water to chlorine bleach. (Ten parts (actually nine
parts water to be precise)) water to one part chlorine bleach. Soak for at
least 10 minutes then rinse with clean water and allow to air dry. Lightly
spray the interior surfaces of the incubator cabinet with Nolvosan solution and
let sit for 10 minutes before wiping down with clean paper towels. (Do not use bleach
as bleach vapors can affect the humidity sensor).
The incubator
window can be lightly wiped with a cotton cloth with Windex on it. The outer
cabinet surfaces can also be wiped with a Windex wetted cloth.
DO NOT IMMERSE OR
SUBMERGE THE CONTROL BOX. There are
delicate electronic parts that will be damaged. Lightly wipe the outer surfaces
with Nolvosan to disinfect the control box.
Candling Eggs With the
Built In Candler
The high intensity
interior light of the incubator also function as an egg candler. The “cool to the touch” nature of these
special lamps insures that your eggs may be safely held up to them without
removing them from the incubator. These lights are on at all times the power is
on.
Warranty & Guarantee
2-year parts and
labor
For 2 years after you receive your incubator, Avey
Incubator, LLC will repair the incubator including parts and labor. Buyer pays
for shipping the incubator to and from our facility. Most repairs will
necessitate only the component involved to be returned, i.e.; the control box,
the egg trolley or the humidity tray. In order to process a repair, please call
(303) 934-0735 for a return authorization number.
Return Policy.
Returns will be
accepted for 30 days after shipping date on unused equipment returned in the
original packaging. You must call for return authorization or shipment will be
refused. Shipping charges and arrangements are your responsibility. A
restocking charge of 20% will be assessed. Packages must be insured. You need
to call and notify us on the day you ship your return, be prepared to supply
your tracking number.
When the incubator is turned on, the egg turner belt will move the distance you last set it at. The display will light up and the power on light will come on. If all of these things fail to happen then check the power to the incubator. If any one of these things fail to happen then it is possible that the microprocessor didn’t initialize properly. So turn of the incubator, wait 5 seconds and turn back on. If the problem persists call factory service.
Egg Turner
1. Check to be sure egg trolley is hooked into control box. Make sure hooks are seated. (All the way in and down)
2. Gently turn the drive gear. You should feel some resistance. That means the wheel is in contact with the egg turner motor. If no resistance is felt then the motor isn’t touching the drive wheel. The adjustment is simple – call factory support for details.
3. Look to see that the egg turn drive roller turns when the egg turn drive wheel turns. If the roller doesn’t turn then the gear is not engaged and has come loose. Call factory support.
4. Is the belt slipping? If the drive gear and roller turn and the belt doesn’t move then the belt is slipping. Call factory support.
5. Is the mechanism too tight? If the gear seems to jump, but not move, or moves some of the time but then jumps or slips the connection between the motor and the drive gear is too tight. Too tight a press fit will cause the motor to stall. The adjustment is easy - call factory support for details.
8. Cabinet lock
a. The cabinet lock serves also as a latch. When
the weather-stripping is new sometime the lock can be difficult to close.
Gently pressing in on the door while turning the lock will usually allow the
lock to turn.
Fumigating
Instructions on
fumigating your incubator (which I don’t believe is necessary anymore) may be
found at www.aveyinc.com. The fumigating
process involves mixing two chemicals together in a crock placed inside the
incubator cabinet. The resulting fumes penetrate every nook and cranny killing
everything. The danger is in not
following the instructions to the letter.
If you suspect you have a bacteria problem in your incubator then this
is the way to resolve it but I wouldn’t recommend it for a routine procedure.
The aveyinc website has further information, instructions and warnings.
Why Incubate?
A few thoughts about incubators and how the Avey Incubator
evolved.
1. First the Cabinet Box. The box must be big and heavy. In the debate over wood vs. plastic for the Avey Incubators' case I chose ... both. Wood for bulk, plastic laminate for cleaning.
An incubator is more than just a box. But the box is very important.
Size and mass affect how the box performs. Heat travels towards cold. In fact, by definition, cold is the absence of heat. How a box insulates is important also. But insulation does not absorb heat. Do the "hands on test". Place your hands on the top of the incubator. The Avey incubator is cool to the touch. Our plastic competitors are warm, so where's the heat going? On theirs ... right through the walls. You're heating the room as well as your eggs. On our incubator less heat radiates into the room, more heat is absorbed in the walls of the unit, ready to radiate back into the egg chamber when needed.
The box serves to hold heat and retain heat. Think of it as a memory. This helps the unit regain its operating temperature after the door is opened. A box with little bulk or heat absorbing qualities, such as one with plastic walls, (even if it is insulated) doesn't have this heat "memory" to nearly the same extent. Therefore temperature dips and spikes are more pronounced.
That's why the incubator should be run for 24 hours to stabilize it. During this time the cabinet is absorbing heat. This is also when the humidity levels are stabilized. Once stabilized, when the door is opened and you let heat out, the mass of the box radiates its residual heat back into the egg chamber. In effect, every wall, the top and the floor of the box act as gentle heat radiators, bringing the eggs back up to perfect temperature. This is also why the water reservoir for the incubator is positioned inside the box. The water reservoir absorbs heat and radiates it back into the box after the cabinet door has been opened and some heat let out.
An old bird breeder once told me "nothing beats oak for hatching eggs". Well, he didn’t know it, but it’s not the oak, it's the bulk or mass of the oak.
The eggs must be easily accessible. So obvious yet other incubators don't make it easy. My first incubator had a top you had to lift to get to the eggs. It was awkward. I seemed to bump into the water bottle that supplied water to the bottom tray of the incubator, which then dumped more water than I wanted. The temperature control knob was on the top and I'd invariably spin that knob out of adjustment lifting the top. Other incubators have little trays - lifting out 1 egg at a time is not so easy. They say "the whole tray of eggs is easily removed". But who takes all the eggs out at once? Mine come out 1 at a time, to be weighed, hatched. Or if it turns out to not be fertile - then discarded. And when you lift off the top all the hot air goes straight up! What's the common sense in that? The Avey Incubator's door is on the side, easy access to your eggs, and a minimum off heat is lost when the door is opened. Common sense says, "That makes sense!"
I like a window in the door. Yes, it's plastic. Yes it passes heat. But I like to look at the eggs. I want to verify they are turning. I can do all this by looking through the window. Don't laugh. I like to pull up a chair and just sit and watch the eggs. I know what joys they will be in just a few short days.
The door needs a lock on it. This incubator will be growing thousands of dollars in eggs. If your incubator is in any sort of public area an egg can be easily slipped into a pocket. And if you're around kids, watch out! The lights and controls fascinate kids. All it takes is one event like that and you've lost an egg, or all of them. I have a cat that is fascinated by the birds. I wouldn't want to leave him unsupervised with a baby bird sitting in a tub or aquarium - that cat would be into mischief in no time at all
2. Must be easy to clean.
Any incubator is a perfect environment for growing bacteria. So the goal is to grow eggs and limit the growth of bacteria. The best way is to start with a completely clean incubator. - That way the eggs have a head start on the bacteria.
Plastics are less porous than woods. But plastics also vary in their porosity. Just because the incubator is plastic does not mean it is bacteria free. Plastic is just easier to clean.
The Avey incubator is very easy to clean. Yes it's wood, and it's plastic on the inside in the egg chamber. The egg trolley assembly is easily removed for a good dunking in disinfectant. The walls, a smooth melamine, are easily sprayed and wiped down with your favorite cleaner. Many use Nolvosan. I asked the nurse next door, who works in the hospital delivery room... "How do you clean the baby incubators?" She said "with vinegar and water". So whatever you choose ---use!
The control unit The Avey incubator's control unit simply slides out the front of the Avey Incubator. A box within the incubator. Completely self-contained. Constructed of ABS plastic, it contains the working parts of the incubator. The heating element, the thermostat, the digital monitoring units, the egg turning drive assembly, humidity controls, and the fan. Plus outputs for high and low temperature alarm notification (optional - Your Avey Incubator can be programmed to call you, page you or even call your cell phone, warning you of too high or too low temperatures or a power failure. It's great to go out to dinner and know that if something does go wrong you'll know soon enough to deal with it.
Another must
option is a power inverter. Simply put, this unit runs off a battery, like a
car battery. And it changes 12 volts DC into 120 volts AC. So you can run your
incubator even if the power goes out. In my mind it's really not an option. I
wouldn't have peace of mind unless my incubators were hooked up to a power
inverter. It's an additional cost (from about $249) but what's an incubator
full of eggs worth?
Weigh Your Eggs
A normal egg is expected to lose about 20% (plus or minus say about 2%) of its weight over the course of incubation. A macaw egg weighing 20 grams will weigh about16 grams at hatching.
The key here is the word normal. In humid environments there might not be enough weight loss, then the air sac isn't big enough and the chick "drown" in its own fluids on pipping. Here in Colorado we have very dry air. The problem here is the eggs dry out too fast. In my aviary, some of the birds catch on and get their feathers wet in the water bowl and then sit on the eggs to increase the humidity in the nestbox. But most of the time successful hatches are adversely affected by eggs that have lost too much weight. By incubating as soon as possible - the day the egg is laid if not sooner- :-) , the weight loss can be monitored and controlled.
Assuming that the weight loss should be in equal amounts every day a chart that projects what the egg should weigh can be made. I weigh once a week. So when the egg is 7 days old it should have lost 5% of its weight. Why 5%? Figure 28 days to hatch and assume a linear weight loss. Divide 28 days by 4 gives you 1/4 of total weight loss every 7 days. Projected total weight loss is 20%. 1/4 of 20 is 5, hence 5%. So at 7 days multiply original weight X .95 = projected weight loss at 14 days multiply original weight X .90 = projected weight loss at 21 days multiply original weight X .85 = projected weight loss
If the egg has lost too much weight, then increase the humidity in the incubator. If the egg has lost too little, then reduce the humidity. About 84 to 85 degrees on the wet bulb or 50% humidity is about right when an egg is on target. The eggs will tell you how much humidity you need to have.
You'll need a scale to weigh these eggs. A triple beam balance scale weighs down to 1/10 of a gram and that is close enough. I have a 4 beam scale that weighs to 1/100 of a gram.
So what happens when an egg has been in the nest for a week before you discover it? How do you know how much it weighed when laid? Well you make your best guess based on past performance. Good records - a daily diary of life in the aviary - will give you a hint. If your tendency is to have eggs that dry out too fast, then make a guess. I know in my aviary that eggs in the nest dry out almost exactly twice as fast as they should. In other words, after a week, the egg in the nest has lost 8% of its weight when it should have lost only 4%.
A less precise but effective way to manage an egg that has lost too much weight is to place the egg in a zip lock sandwich back alongside – but not touching – a warm wet tissue. The plastic bag will hold in the increased humidity. Place the egg back in the incubator. The other eggs in your incubator will continue to be humidified to your incubator’s humidity setting while the one in the bag will be at 80% or so. You will need to manually turn this egg. Weigh it every couple of days until it’s weight loss is back on schedule.
Now if you had more than one incubator you could really manage your eggs well. Set one incubator up at 42% relative humidity and 99.3 degrees.
Set up another incubator at 30% humidity at 99.3 degrees. Place your eggs that are too dry in this incubator until weight loss is close to target weight. When target weight is reached, move the egg to the "ideal" incubator. The third incubator could be used just for hatching babies, or for a backup, or just cleaned and ready for the next clutch to be laid.
Cleanliness is crucial -- no.... cleanliness is the key to successful hatches. I don't run an incubator for more than 35 days or so before a complete breakdown and cleaning of all parts. So where do you put your eggs when you're cleaning the incubator? I put mine in another clean incubator. Having an incubator just for hatching is a pretty good idea. Having a separate place for cracking open eggs just might keep a bad egg from contaminating the others. And the common thinking is babies that have pipped (broken through the air sac in the egg and made the first hole in the shell) should be held at a slightly lower temperature - about 98 degrees and at a elevated humidity - about 70-80%.