Best Incubators for Buttons

[PoultryQueen29]

As many of you may know, due to my many threads about it, I am hatching button quail. I have a Little Giant Still-Air Incubator that I used to hatch bobwhites February, 2010. Is there a better incubator I should get? I got good results before. 5/6 of my bobwhites hatched but I see bad reviews about the temperature not being stable. It seems all incubators have some reviews like that.

 

[jbobs]

I am not familiar with little giant but I have heard people say that they're pains in the butt. There's lots of neat little mini bators on the market now - the R-COM mini holds 3 chicken eggs but I'm not sure about the turning mechanism and if it will fit button eggs. Brinsea also put out a little dome incubator that looks cool. Basically what you want in a good incubator is forced air, easy turning that doesn't involve putting your hand in to loose heat, and an easy to control temperature. If you are only setting a few eggs at a time, you don't need a big hovabator or anything. I would look at the Brinsea website and see what they have. I have friends who have Brinseas and love them. I used to hatch by quail in a home-made unit. You can make one if you're handy or have a handy hubby/dad LOL. I buy a thermostat switch and wafer for 25 bucks from a guy on eBay called growerssolution, wire it up to a lightbulb, wire up a computer fan to an ac/dc adaptor, stick the whole unit into a beer cooler and presto. I usually cut a fist-sized hole in the side that i can plug up and stick my hands in to turn the eggs that way instead of opening the lid, because i let too much humidity out that way. I hatched hundreds of quail in units like these. it IS nice to have the fully automated system though.

 

[jbobs]

Link to the Brinsea Mini:
http://www.brinsea.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=1_19&product_id=552

and r-com minis:
http://www.rcomincubators.com/index.php/fuseaction/shop.category/categoryid/122

 

[PoultryQueen29]

Ok I think i'll get the Brinsea mini

Quick decision. It's really crazy though. With the Little Giant, automatic egg turners cost about $100 for the chicken egg turner and the quail rails. That's about the cost of an actually good incubator.

 

[PoultryQueen29]

Wait...that's still manual turning...will that hurt them? I did it with the bobwhites and it's no diffferent from taking them out to candle them is it?

 

[PoultryQueen29]

Nevermind i'll get the advanced mini. That one's like set it and forget it.