Best broodies? (and incubator?)

[Chickensrock10110]

OK, I have read that cochins, silkies and BO are good setters.I have seramas that are laying crazy right now and I have a total of 9 hens that went broody somwhere withinthe last few days.I have all the breeds listed above but which would be best for seramas?I heard that BOs and standard cochins are to big--but I do have 2 standards and 1 bantam cochin that is broody.I heard silkies are OK but they can`t incubate as many eggs.Any ideas as to which I should use?

I also plan on gettin a `bator.Is there any specific incubator that is good for serama eggs?I have alot of hens and I plan to incubate every egg they lay this year!! Maybe a maxiumum of 200 eggs?I want an incubator thats easy to use.I`ve heard about the ones where you "just add eggs and water" but those are small incubatorsthat hold only a few dozen eggs.Maybe a dickey ,sportsman or a brinsea?But is there a specific model that is the best?

 

[Picco]

In my experience bantam cochins have been the ultimate incubators. Silkies work great too but the other hens tend to bully them and sometimes I've had them bullied off the nest, also they don't do the best at defending their chicks since they tend to have vision problems and are typically low ranking, if you have them separated they do wonderfully.

As far as incubators go, you get what you pay for. Since you are going big I would recommend a Sportsman or a Brinsea. The cheapy styrofoam ones tend to be unrliable and aren't really the best to reuse.

 

[stormylady]

I heard alot of good things about the Genesis 1588 so thats what I got, haven't used it yet though. And I sure know nothing about broodies yet so can't help there! Good luck with what ever you choose!

 

[austinhart123]

well, i would get a big incubator possibly a cabinet incubator from brinsea, they have great bators, and seramas are good broodies for their eggs, silkies and cochin bantams do good as well

 

[Ryu]

That's a bunch of eggs. I am making my first serious attempt at using a Brinsea Ova incubator right now (I am listening to it turn as I type). I used a Hovabator (no fan, no turner) previously with good results.

I am not a fan of standard Cochins. We had a trio of three hens we were going to use to hatch eggs. They stomped the heck out of the chicks when they were born. We had a terrible time with one hen keeping a very dirty nest.

My standard Cornish, make wonderful setting hens. My best girl, Fiona, hasn't lost a fertile egg yet.

 

[Chickensrock10110]

Quote:
Well let me know how the Brinsea Ova goes. I have seen it on the website before and it`s so professional looking.I was planning to get a few hovabators for now.If I dont use a turner, does the constant opening of the `bator hurt the eggs? Is it better to invest in a fan and a turner or does it make a difference?

 

[hatchcrazzzy]

i have 5 lgs and a 1292 and a 1266 sportsman cabinet bator i have 26 dozen eggs set

 

[Ryu]

Quote:
I will let you know how we are doing I set them on the 14th, so I will be candling on the 22nd to remove non fertiles.

The Brinsea's look great, but it's really just a metal frame with Styrofoam walls and floor. The door is junk, and it doesn't seal well. My unit has thermal layering even with the fan. There is a 1 degree drop from the top shelf to the bottom. I was expecting more considering the $$$$. Having seen the Brinsea now, I think I would have rather had a Hovabator with a fan and turner to incubate, and used my no frills Hovabator for hatching.

But I'm not going to be hatching 200 eggs.

I am enjoying the turner in the Brinsea unit, but I do not think that opening the Hovabator to turn eggs is a big deal--200 eggs would be a lot of turning however. I only ever put 3 dozen in my Hovabator at a time.

We bought the Brinsea because we were going to be setting a lot of small batches. So the plan is to keep the Brinsea for incubating, and the Hovabator for hatching.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.