Any tips on first Timer incubators?

[wlrabbitry]

We get our incubator in a few days. it has a fan and we got the egg turner. Still need to get thermometer but is there anything else I need to have on hand? We plan on setting eggs the next day.
Wendy

 

[FenDruadin]

It depends a lot on how much you want to spend and how many eggs you want to be able to hatch. A lot of folks swear by the Brinsea models, which are made of plastic (rather than styrofoam) and apparently are quite reliable, foolproof, and durable. I've never had one because, frankly, they're rather pricey and I'd rather have more capacity.

I love my forced-air Hovabator with egg turner. It's more expensive than the ubiquitous Little Giant that is available in feed stores, even though they look pretty much the same and have the same capacity (40 eggs), but it is well worth it. Mine is extremely reliable, very stable, and still at a great price point (with turner & fan, I believe mine was under $200).

If you think you'll never hatch more than ten or twelve eggs at a time, and you don't mind spending a little extra, a Brinsea might be a good choice.

If you are looking for the cheapest thing around, some folks are able to get the Little Giant to work for them. It needs some finagling--place it in a draft-free, temperature-stable area and use a towel over half of it to add some insulation, and it can be quite functional. I've hatched in one and it was... okay. And it's certainly affordable at $60 (without fan or turner) and the capacity to hatch up to 40 chicken eggs.

For the thermometer I LOVE my Hoegger's Supply milk thermometer. It measures air temp, liquid temp, or solid temp (i.e., meat temp) with guaranteed accuracy within .01 degree or something really intensely accurate like that. The probe sticks nicely through the vent hole in the top of the incubator and rests right at the level of the eggs, giving me a super-easy measurement and if you have more than one incubator, you still only need one thermometer (though of course you have to give it a minute to come to temp each time you change its location).

I don't bother with measuring humidity. I watch the size of the air cell as it develops and adjust humidity up and down accordingly. For me, that usually means NO water until lockdown. At which point I raise the humidity until moisture condenses inside the windows.

More important than anything else you do, the thing you'll be most glad to have done is this: Take notes. Write everything down. Because you are going to do some things right and some things wrong and the best way to keep getting better and better at it is to have a record of everything to refer back to.

Good luck and have fun!