"Best" Incubator?

[mdees88]

Cabinet incubators are nice but I don't think you're planning on hatching out that many birds at a time.

Table top size with egg turner and circulating fan is all you need. The Hovabator Genesis (1588) is very user friendly.

Incubator Warehouse has good prices. I assume they will ship to Canada. As for the turner just buy that at your local feed store. Both little giant or hovabator turner fit into this incubator so whatever is local will be your cheapest bet.

https://incubatorwarehouse.com/hova-bator-genesis-1588-egg-incubator.html

You don't have to hatch 300 eggs at a time in a cabinet.... but you can if you want, that's what's nice. I've hatched 30 at a time several times.

My pheasants hatched yesterday and I never touched the incubator once the last two weeks, didn't adjust temp or humidity, didn't add water, and didn't turn any eggs. Just set it and forget it.....

I bought mine for $250 and I could easily sell it for that, or for more if I wanted. Just hard to see spending $180 on a stryofoam one, that's all. You get a lot more bang for your buck.

It is big, heavy, and awkward to move around but if you have room to store it and don't mind paying a couple hundred dollars I see no down side to owning one......

Just a thought....

Facebook marketplace and Craigslist are good places to search OP.....

 

[Ted Brown]

@mdees88 I am with you, there is need then there is want. The Leahy Redwood cabinets make me drool and I am handy enough to fix most anything with the aid of the internet and the folks who pursue odd fancies (there are a couple of good threads on restoring Leahys on BYC!).

 

[Mosey2003]

I happen to have a Genesis 1588, but it was secondhand. I honestly prefer my 1602 HovaBator, and that one is only like $65 brand new if you get the bare bones option. The fan and turner are nice though. There are a LOT of those on Marketplace near me, because learning to use a wafer with no readout is hard if you don't know how to set it up and dial it in. I've seen them as low as $10, and never over $40, and that's usually with the fan and a turner.

Around here, cabinets don't go cheap really, the lowest I've seen is $300 and it wasn't very good.

 

[Doublete]

I happen to have a Genesis 1588, but it was secondhand. I honestly prefer my 1602 HovaBator, and that one is only like $65 brand new if you get the bare bones option. The fan and turner are nice though. There are a LOT of those on Marketplace near me, because learning to use a wafer with no readout is hard if you don't know how to set it up and dial it in. I've seen them as low as $10, and never over $40, and that's usually with the fan and a turner.

Around here, cabinets don't go cheap really, the lowest I've seen is $300 and it wasn't very good.

Same here. Can’t get a cabinet for less than $400.

But did get a still air hovabator for $10. Trying to see if I can get it adjusted and hatch in it... been running it for almost a week and finally at 103!

 

[Mosey2003]

Same here. Can’t get a cabinet for less than $400.

But did get a still air hovabator for $10. Trying to see if I can get it adjusted and hatch in it... been running it for almost a week and finally at 103!

Is it a 1602? Nice thing with those is you can get new wafers pretty cheap, too. Mine works beautifully in my very stable temperature basement. I use two calibrated dial meat thermometers stuck right through the side on the bottom to keep mine dialed in. Well, actually just one right now with a wick since I know it stays at 100F so well.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I personally own and am currently running 4 incubators side by side. I have 2 Nurture Right 360's, an IncuView, and a Little Giant. My vote with using these incubators is hands down the Nurture Right 360, it has proven very consistent and accurate, comes with an auto-turner, has great visibility, and it's very user-friendly and easy to use for newbies.

My friend has a Nurture Right 360, a Farm Innovators, Little Giant, a Chinese incubator, and a Hovabator 1602N and her favorite is also the Nurture Right 360.

Out of my experience with all of them via my own hatching and my friend's, I would warn you off of the Chinese yellow top plastic incubators and steer you away from the Little Giant even though I haven't had issues with my older hand dial model, it's still at the bottom of my list and I never hatch my chicks in it, it's just an overflow incubator for me, lol.

Be careful, hatching chicks is sooo addictive! Good luck!

 

[Doublete]

I’m running only hovabators and farm innovators
The hovabators hold their temp
And humidity much better than the farm innovators

 

[ColtHandorf]

Depending on how many eggs you're wanting to hatch, I recommend the Rcom series of incubators. I loved the big GQF Sportsman incubators I had years ago, but out of the smaller "table-top" incubators I've used the Rcom is by far the easiest. I've never even come close to 100% hatching rates with any styrofoam incubator and my first hatch resulted in five of six eggs hatching with all six developed. the second hatch all three eggs developed and hatched. It's easily programmable for different species of birds and automatically keeps the humidity constant, increases humidity for the last three days of incubation as well as automatically stopping the turner. It was so simple and I was so successful. They are a bit pricey, but the pay off with healthy chicks is amazing.