1502 sportsmen incubator vs. 1500 professional incubator and 1500 hatcher

[Lurkeygirl2011]

I was wondering if anyone has experience with either of these incubators, and could offer any recommendations or advice.

More specifically, I am wondering if the three racks in the sportsmen incubator can be leveled out to hatch a fully loaded incubator, or if the only way use it is to do staggered hatches.

Also, I am wondering what the actual capacity is for the 1500 hatcher because I have read it can hatch three 1500 incubators, and another place I read it can hold 1.

I am having a hard time finding reviews anywhere, especially for the 1500, so any insight would be appreciated.

 

[dbcooper02]

Certainly you can turn off the turner and hatch in the trays. Be prepared for most of the chicks to bail out and land on the floor of the incubator. It will also make a mess that will need to be cleaned up prior to the next setting.
I believe the idea of using one hatcher for three incubators is that you load one incubator each week and then transfer one incubator load to the hatcher at one week intervals for lockdown. That's how I run mine.
It is fairly unlikely that you would have 100% development of the 270 egg potential of each incubator, but you could squeeze them into the five hatcher trays if you did. Kind of crowded, but they will fit. I normally load about 42 eggs per hatching tray and there is room to spare.
As I stated above the chicks in the hatcher will also be able to bail out and land on the floor of the hatcher. If you are hatching a variety of breeds and desire to keep them separated you can make fences of hardware cloth to keep them in the trays or to separate or subdivide them. In my photos in my profile you can find pictures of the fences I use in my hatcher.
If you choose to just let them drop to the floor you need to think about putting some type of non skid surface down there like paper towels or that rubberized shelf liner stuff.
hth db

 

[Lurkeygirl2011]

Thank you so much for your response!

Do you have both the 1502 and the 1500? Are you pleased with them?

 

[dbcooper02]

Mine are actually the old 1202 incubator and 1250 hatcher which use dual wafer thermostats. Love them.