Looking for a incubator.

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fishmanwill

fishmanwill

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jan 16, 2014
48
2
36
Good evening, my wife, daughter, and I are looking for a new incubator. We have used an old styrofoam incubator with a turner the last few years, but this last year we had a few problems with it with temperature and humidity. We would like to replace it and get a new one. We would like to get one that we don't have to worry about the temperature and humidity as much as the styrofoam one and probably a digital one with alarms to let us know. We would like one with 40-60 egg capacity and probably more and a hatching tray. We have a few different breeds we would like to start breeding and selling locally, we have had a lot of interest in the marans, olive Eggers, welsummer, and other we have. So we are starting to breed more then before and with chicken math, we will probably need a larger capacity in the future.

What incubator do you guys recommend? I have been looking at a sportsman cabinet incubator, but wanted your guys advice and experience before we buy one. Please let me know what incubators we should look into and which ones you guys recommend. Thank you very much.

Will
 
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Not based on personal experience but many members seem to feel that brinsea make pretty foolproof incubators.

Try searching best incubators- there was one around last week I think.

All the best

Ct
 
For the money, you can't beat a cabinet incubator by GQF or Dickeys (cheaper version made by a former GQF employee - building these is not rocket science). Unless you build your own cabinet, of course.

Brinseas are nice (I have an Eco 20 with turning cradle), but they are way more expensive "per egg" than a cabinet incubator and give no better results.

If you have a good setup to produce and sell chicks, you will pay for the cabinet incubator in a few months at most. Probably several times over in the first year.

If the cost is too high for an initial investment, get a GQF Genesis. You can probably use the turner from your old styrobator. The difference in quality and ease of use between the Genesis and all the other styrobators is night and day. You will probably want it as a hatcher anyway, when you eventually purchase the Sportsman or Dickey. And keep your old incubator as a hatcher also. They are fine for that purpose, much better than hatching in the cabinet, in fact, if you buy new, get the professional version that does not have a hatching tray in the bottom. Those are not to be used, ever, IMO.
 
dheltzel said:
For the money, you can't beat a cabinet incubator by GQF or Dickeys (cheaper version made by a former GQF employee - building these is not rocket science). Unless you build your own cabinet, of course.

Brinseas are nice (I have an Eco 20 with turning cradle), but they are way more expensive "per egg" than a cabinet incubator and give no better results.

If you have a good setup to produce and sell chicks, you will pay for the cabinet incubator in a few months at most. Probably several times over in the first year.

If the cost is too high for an initial investment, get a GQF Genesis. You can probably use the turner from your old styrobator. The difference in quality and ease of use between the Genesis and all the other styrobators is night and day. You will probably want it as a hatcher anyway, when you eventually purchase the Sportsman or Dickey. And keep your old incubator as a hatcher also. They are fine for that purpose, much better than hatching in the cabinet, in fact, if you buy new, get the professional version that does not have a hatching tray in the bottom. Those are not to be used, ever, IMO.
Click to expand...

I have a Brinsea 20 as well, and will be ordering another this year. I agree, the price per egg is tough up front, but I needed an incubator that ran on autopilot. With my sales growing, I will probably need a cabinet in the future, and from all I have read, I would be looking at a Sportsman as well. Although, that new OvaEasy 100 looks
droolin.gif

I've read reviews that people don't like the Octo 40 as much as the 20, but if the OvaEasy is as reliable as my Octagon, I think it would be worth the initial investment. Hatching chicks has gone from a hobby to almost breaking even with the cost of keeping chickens. Having an incubator that runs itself is very nice if you have a full time job
 
scflock said:
I have a Brinsea 20 as well, and will be ordering another this year. I agree, the price per egg is tough up front, but I needed an incubator that ran on autopilot. With my sales growing, I will probably need a cabinet in the future, and from all I have read, I would be looking at a Sportsman as well. Although, that new OvaEasy 100 looks
droolin.gif

I've read reviews that people don't like the Octo 40 as much as the 20, but if the OvaEasy is as reliable as my Octagon, I think it would be worth the initial investment. Hatching chicks has gone from a hobby to almost breaking even with the cost of keeping chickens. Having an incubator that runs itself is very nice if you have a full time job
Click to expand...
Having used both a Brinsea 20 and a Sportsman, I can tell you they are both set and forget if you dry incubate as I do. The house is a bit dry in the winter, but from about March on, no water goes into the incubators, just the hatchers. If you must add water, then the Sportsman wins "hands down" for ease of adding water. It's also far cheaper to automate the water add if you need to, in fact for the price of a fully tricked out Advance 20 with humidity pump you could probably get a new Sportsman with the 5 gallon bucket option. I'm sure you could get a Dickey for that price and either cabinet model will be the last one you need for a while (at least that is what you should tell your SO and other relatives, LOL).
 
dheltzel said:
Having used both a Brinsea 20 and a Sportsman, I can tell you they are both set and forget if you dry incubate as I do. The house is a bit dry in the winter, but from about March on, no water goes into the incubators, just the hatchers. If you must add water, then the Sportsman wins "hands down" for ease of adding water. It's also far cheaper to automate the water add if you need to, in fact for the price of a fully tricked out Advance 20 with humidity pump you could probably get a new Sportsman with the 5 gallon bucket option. I'm sure you could get a Dickey for that price and either cabinet model will be the last one you need for a while (at least that is what you should tell your SO and other relatives, LOL).
Click to expand...
I appreciate that review. That's definitely on my short list if I go that big
 
What was the model styro incubator your have now? There are many types and not all created equal for reliability. I'm a sucker for the gas fill metal wafer thermostat. It's incredibly reliable, not electronic gizmos just simple physics and mechanical design. Inexpensive Hovabator goes a long way. One could have continuous incubating in Hovabator and use other incubator as a hatcher, Constant hatching of chicks instead of 40-60 hatching at one time. You've already a auto turner so forced air with wafer thermostat is only $75 plus shipping.

http://incubatorwarehouse.com/hova-bator-incubator-circulated-air.html

I've hatched 100% my own eggs in one and even gotten 70% hatch of shipped eggs. I'm all about functional and not too pricey.
 

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