To add incubators and hatchers to AIMS we use the Add batch incubator form.
This will be opened for you by the startup wizard or you can always open it later from the
menu.
This will bring up the Add Batch of Incubators form
Enter the number of incubator / hatchers you want to add and click on the Add Incubators to Page 2 button.
In this example we are going to add three incubators and one hatcher.
After clicking the button you are taken to page two to enter the details for each.
The temperature and humidity setting will have been pre-filled for you from the settings in the preferences form, alter these to suit each machine you are adding
Enter an ID for the incubator. Be sure to use short simple IDs as you will need to enter these in the egg form when moving eggs.
I use a single letters and then sequential number:
For example:
AB Incubators – A1, A2, A3
Grumbach incubators – G1, G2, G3
All hatchers – H1, H2, H3
This makes for very fast data entry
If you used Grumbach 1, Grumbach 2, Grumbach 3 you would have to type the whole of the name and number or just G and the list of Grumbach would come up for you to select from.
This slows your data entry down If you used G3 then you just type that and move on.
Enter a short description such as:
AB Incubator MK7 with rollers
Make sure the correct type of incubator is ticked, default is forced air.
If it’s a contact incubator be sure to tick the contact incubator box.
When you are weighing and candling eggs AIMS will notify of eggs that have reached the % incubation you have set in the preferences for contact incubation so that you can move them to a non contact incubator if you wish.
The entries with the red stars you have to fill other entries are optional.
For the “Date Readings Were Taken” entry please be sure that the date is before any eggs you want to put into AIMS. You can add more entries for the date, time, temperature and humidity in the incubator for itself over time. This allows you to record changes in these reading over time.
When calculating the humidity needed for an egg AIMS takes the reading for the incubator at the time of the weighing, so if you set the date here to today and then want to enter eggs you already have that we laid say a week ago it would show that there was no environment for the incubator at that time. The default date is 1st January of the year you add the incubator
Once you have completed the information for each incubator or hatcher click on the Add Incubators to System Button. AIMS will validate the data and if it passes validation they will be added to the system. If any fail validation you will be shown the reason why, for example:
Correct any entries then try again.
You now have the incubators and hatchers in AIMS
