Farm Master Incubator

Found someone semi-local with a 1950s Farm Master Incubator from sears in supposedly perfect working order. This one will hold up to 600 chicken eggs. They are asking $300 and it is about 1.5hrs away. Think it is worth it?

The old redwood Farm Master incubators are quite nice. They are a lot more hands on than say a Sportsman in that you will be manually turning the eggs at least 3X a day. The egg trays have a sliding bottom that turns the whole tray with one motion. The 600 egg rating is pretty optimistic. Standard chicken eggs will fit about 72 per tray. With its 6 trays it will actually hold more like 432 eggs. That's still a lot more than a Sportsman with optimal trays maxing out at about 270 eggs. Condition would affect the price I would pay. If it has been well cared for and looks like a piece of fine furniture $300 might not be too much, but if it is weathered and the finish is funky I'd offer a lot less. I have and use a 400 egg model myself. If you do go ahead and purchase this one, or even if you just want a copy of the instruction manual so you know and understand what you are looking at pm me with your email address and I'll get a copy on its way to you.
hth db

Well, the seller says that it is in really good condition and with a little pledge it will look like new. He was not sure if it was Redwood or some other wood. The only thing he knew is it was circa 1950. I have talked him down to $275, since I have to drive all the way out there. I understand that I will have to turn the eggs 3+x per day, that is not a problem right now.

I have 2 styrofoam incubators with the egg turners and that is fine, however, I am getting more eggs than I can incubate and eggs are going bad on the sidelines. I figure if I get a nice old wooden high capacity unit, then I would not have to worry about capacity for a while.

I am not actually incubating chicken eggs. Ducks and Guineas are my current layers. I only have 5 Duck layers and 6 or seven Guinea layers, but **** the egg count adds up when you are getting an egg a day from each. Right now a couple of the ducks have gone broody so I am only getting a couple eggs from them, but the guineas are still going strong. The Guineas are stupid and keep putting their nests in rediculous places. Luckily, they always show me where the nest is..

Sure, I can use a copy of the manual.

Thanks,

Mike-

Please Please Please, post some pictures of the incubator. LOTS OF PICTURES.

Let me clean it up a little and I will. I think one modification I might make is to add some small castors to be able to roll it around.

Darkjeweler said:

Let me clean it up a little and I will. I think one modification I might make is to add some small castors to be able to roll it around.

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Definitely!

Ok, well here are some pictures. It seems to be working great. Holds temp perfect. The only thing I am leary about is the slide turners. It seems like you need a full drawer of eggs to make it turn correctly. Right now I only have about 1/3 drawer full.

Thanks for the pictures, they look awesome.

Okay I need help in debating whether what I did was wrong or if the eggs could have been a little old. When I started my hatch I was so excited. I set 180 eggs. Sunday they stared hatching like crazy. So it seemed. I did have a problem getting humidity up above 59% but everyone seemed to be hatching great. Not one tray hatched fully. I got so far. 52 chicks and some were still hatching last night no one this morning. Please let me know whY have gone wrong. Txs Michele

mstricer said:

Okay I need help in debating whether what I did was wrong or if the eggs could have been a little old. When I started my hatch I was so excited. I set 180 eggs. Sunday they stared hatching like crazy. So it seemed. I did have a problem getting humidity up above 59% but everyone seemed to be hatching great. Not one tray hatched fully. I got so far. 52 chicks and some were still hatching last night no one this morning. Please let me know whY have gone wrong. Txs Michele

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If your humidity is a problem, you can use my little secret to getting the humidity higher.

You can buy these at Family Dollar for 12 dollars, and I felt it was so worth it! This will bring your humidity up before you know it. I do suggest that you watch your humidity, you don't want too much condensation on the walls.

I can place the whole fountain in my cabinet incubator, but if you don't have the room, you can place the metal 'cylinder like' water vaporizer in a smaller bowl.