Bator Upgrade... From Hovabator to?

[sanchoman]

I would like to upgrade from my hovabator to the next step up...

What would you recommend?

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
a lot depends upon how many eggs you want to hatch at a time..

180 ? Dickey or GQF sportsman

A lot of people like Brinsea,, I have never even seen one of those so I can't say.. I guess they come as low as 20 egg size..

edit to say: I have 3 GQF sportsmans.. They are very nice, but not the ultimate..

 

[RioLindoAz]

Unless you need more room for eggs or your hova no longer works, there's not really a need to upgrade.
If you need more space, I've heard sufficient babbling about dickeys and sportsmans to know that they're the route to go.

 

[adrian]

Depends on how you want to upgrade. Do you want more space? In which case, going to a dickey or sportsman is probably your best bet. Do you want a more automatic incubator? If so, Brinseas or the less common R-com are your best bet, with humidity and temperature control that is generally quite accurate, but more money for less space. If you have a low-end Hovabator and want to upgrade to a forced air model, or a better thermostat, the Genesis 1588 is a good model.

 

[Colonel77]

I just upgraded from a hovabator to a Sportsman. Instead of setting 60 eggs last go round I set 20dz... I love my sportsman!

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
then you will love this.. I have one sportsman with the hatching trayn the botom, and two that do not.. the turners are farther apart in the latter two..

I ordered 2 dozen rigid plastic egg holders from www.CutlerSupply.com $4.30/each.. they handle up to
large suze chicken eggs, but not jumbo size..

these holders are stackable.. I can easily stack the bottom two turning shelves and it gives me an additional 16 dozen eggs .

for a total of 480 eggs.. I am still trying to figure a way to stack the top turner also..

for me the extra cost was worth it because I have tons of eggs to do in the spring with my guineas , chickens. ducks , turkeys and geese all laying at once.. and then I also do some custom hatching for a few other people ..

I do not use the metal trays at all..

I set about 500 gunea eggs each spring.. to give you some idea of my volume.. and my customers bring me aboout 400 eggs at a clip..