The Incubator Thread

[Wavechickens]

I have a Hova Bator 1588 genesis digital LCD thermostat incubator available for sale.
$150 (in Vermont)
We bought it last year and have used it twice. No more roosters and we order day old chicks now so no more hatching eggs for us.
Complet set up with a extra motor still in box (purchased just in case), self turning, 120 quail egg rack, and 41 regular egg rack. Has attachable jumper cables that can attach to a car battery in case of power outage. Original box and manual as well.
If interested let me know. Thanks.

 

[Wavechickens]

Update. Sold

 

[brewer12345]

I am just starting to look at incubators for coturnix quail eggs and have a few questions:

- Brinsea appears to be the top shelf brand with the best reputation - and a price tag to match. I see basically 3 variants of their mini and maxi products: eco, advance and ex. I am not interested in the eco at all since they do not have an auto turner. The ex basically seems to have fancier automatic humidity control and a much higher price. Is the EX worth it? We live in a dry climate (saw a single digit % humidity reading for outside the house yesterday), so I know getting humidity right may be a challenge.

- Are hovabators a good alternative to brinsea? They appear to be much less expensive. Is quality a bigger step down too?

- Any other brands I should look at? Budget can be up to maybe $300 or so if it is worth it, but the less spent the better.

 

[dheltzel]

I am just starting to look at incubators for coturnix quail eggs and have a few questions:

- Brinsea appears to be the top shelf brand with the best reputation - and a price tag to match. I see basically 3 variants of their mini and maxi products: eco, advance and ex. I am not interested in the eco at all since they do not have an auto turner. The ex basically seems to have fancier automatic humidity control and a much higher price. Is the EX worth it? We live in a dry climate (saw a single digit % humidity reading for outside the house yesterday), so I know getting humidity right may be a challenge.

- Are hovabators a good alternative to brinsea? They appear to be much less expensive. Is quality a bigger step down too?

- Any other brands I should look at? Budget can be up to maybe $300 or so if it is worth it, but the less spent the better.

I own:

• Brinsea Eco 20 w turner
• GQF Genesis w turner
• 2 - Dickey cabinet incubators
• 2 - GQF 1202 cabinet incubators
• several cheap styrofoam incubators gathering dust on a shelf

Best incubator award clearly goes to the Dickeys, they win in every category except price.
Of the smaller, less expensive incubators, the cheap styros are junk, not worth having for incubation. They can be used as hatchers, but they are sub-optimal even for that.
The choice really comes down to Brinsea or Genesis. They are both capable and easy to use. The Brinsea is easier to clean. The Genesis is cheaper and hold twice as many eggs. Given the hatch rates are the same, the Genesis is the better buy and what I would get if I was not ready to spend for a cabinet incubator. For school use, or in any place where you need a more rugged machine, go with the Brinsea.

I am interested in the newer Brinsea models, but the price points quickly move into cabinet incubator range and then buying a Brinsea is kind of pointless, IMO.

 

[feedman77]

I am just starting to look at incubators for coturnix quail eggs and have a few questions:

- Brinsea appears to be the top shelf brand with the best reputation - and a price tag to match.  I see basically 3 variants of their mini and maxi products: eco, advance and ex.  I am not interested in the eco at all since they do not have an auto turner.  The ex basically seems to have fancier automatic humidity control and a much higher price.  Is the EX worth it?  We live in a dry climate (saw a single digit % humidity reading for outside the house yesterday), so I know getting humidity right may be a challenge.

- Are hovabators a good alternative to brinsea?  They appear to be much less expensive.  Is quality a bigger step down too?

- Any other brands I should look at?  Budget can be up to maybe $300 or so if it is worth it, but the less spent the better.

I have the brinsea 20 advance. I have excellent hatch rates out of it. It has all the bells a whistles you could want but I don't have the humidity pump as I dry incubate and found out I didn't need it. So all I use is the temp adjustability feature. But after its set I have not moved it.

So unless you really want to spend extra on the humidity pump I would wait on that.


The turner for the 20 series brinsea are the same can be used on the eco or adv.

I also have the 1588 genesis, reptipro 6000, 2 lgs and a 1502 sportsman cabinet.

For small hatches I would recommend the brinsea , 1588, reptipro. In that order.

The 1502 I've only used once but it did a great job.

Lgs I use now as emergency hatchers. My luck with those was horrible.

 

[brewer12345]

Sounds like the genesis will reliably do the job and hatches a lot more eggs at a fraction of the price. I'd welcome any and all other comments since my first batch of chicks is a whopping 9 days old and it will be several weeks before I see any eggs to hatch.

 

[emvickrey]

My daughter gave me a cabinet incubator last year. I didnt even look it over till yesterday because I plan to ues it for the Easter hatch a long. The sticker on it says it's a GQF model 1202. I printed off the manuel for it and tested everything and it all works great. It holds 216 chicken eggs and has a covered tray at the bottom for hatching chicks.
Has anybody ever used this model and how well does it work?

 

[PD-Riverman]

My daughter gave me a cabinet incubator last year. I didnt even look it over till yesterday because I plan to ues it for the Easter hatch a long. The sticker on it says it's a GQF model 1202. I printed off the manuel for it and tested everything and it all works great. It holds 216 chicken eggs and has a covered tray at the bottom for hatching chicks.
Has anybody ever used this model and how well does it work?

I have one but mine holds 288 eggs. I removed the wire bottom trays and bought 6 of the 48 count blue egg trays. I do not hatch in it---only incubate. Did you check the automatic turner to make sure it works. A lot will work on manual but I worked on some---one just yesterday that would not turn on automatic.

The best incubators will work only as good as the user---knows how to use them---so make sure you know what and how to use before you get started. I have real good hatches in all mine.

 

[emvickrey]

I have one but mine holds 288 eggs. I removed the wire bottom trays and bought 6 of the 48 count blue egg trays. I do not hatch in it---only incubate. Did you check the automatic turner to make sure it works. A lot will work on manual but I worked on some---one just yesterday that would not turn on automatic.

The best incubators will work only as good as the user---knows how to use them---so make sure you know what and how to use before you get started. I have real good hatches in all mine.

Yes Turner works. I read through the Manuel and checked everything. The Turner flips every 2 hours. I can turn it off and move the trays level. I plan to put the eggs in egg cartons. There is a covered tray that goes in the bottom. I suppose for staggered hatches. I'll move my silkies eggs to it on lock down so the bigger chicks don't trasmpel them. I plan to put screens over the top 3 trays at lock down so they don't fall out and get hurt

 

[PD-Riverman]

Yes Turner works. I read through the Manuel and checked everything. The Turner flips every 2 hours. I can turn it off and move the trays level. I plan to put the eggs in egg cartons. There is a covered tray that goes in the bottom. I suppose for staggered hatches. I'll move my silkies eggs to it on lock down so the bigger chicks don't trasmpel them. I plan to put screens over the top 3 trays at lock down so they don't fall out and get hurt

I use 1/2" hardware cloth lids over all the hatching trays. A lot of people use cartons, some tear holes in the bottom for better air circulation. I mentioned the blue trays---I love them.
http://incubatorwarehouse.com/chicken-cabinet-incubator-egg-tray.html