Best quail incubators?

[Kaybear1950]

So I have been looking for quail incubators with a 500-1000+ capacity. I have a 56 that works nice but right now I will have a lot more eggs to incubate eventually so I wanted to kind of see options. I saw there are different types of incubators and some have fans for better temperature accuracy. Where have you been purchasing and what has been the cost range?

 

[JaeG]

Quail tend to be easy to hatch. My incubator is a simple, cheap forced air one and I have great hatch rates with my eggs.

 

[blackoaktammy]

Any cabinet incubator from GQF. I know a lot people who have used GQF, and I've never heard a bad word about them.

 

[mdees88]

So I used to think the $700 price tag on the new GQF cabinets was not worth the money. I hace since changed my mind. I've been using a 20 year old GQF cabinet for several years now and I've been extremely pleased with it. I've incubated over a thousand quail and pheasant in it so far. I have over a hundred quail eggs in it right now. I haven't adjusted the temp, turned the eggs (automatic), added water, or adjusted the humidity once since I started it up 2 weeks ago. It has definitely changed my opinion on the new ones. If you want to spend about 1/3 to half the money of a new one, buy a used cabinet incubator. They're a great budget option. I bought 4 model 1266's for $1000 and sold two of them. You can find them on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for $250-350. You'll want to add the GQF water reserve system ($60). Also if you look around you'll find some with acrylic doors. If not that will cost you $100. Having the clear door is very nice. I can monitor my temp and humidity easier and watch hundreds of chick's hatch go through the entire hatching process without opening the incubator. Here's mine...

 

[Kaybear1950]

So I used to think the $700 price tag on the new GQF cabinets was not worth the money. I hace since changed my mind. I've been using a 20 year old GQF cabinet for several years now and I've been extremely pleased with it. I've incubated over a thousand quail and pheasant in it so far. I have over a hundred quail eggs in it right now. I haven't adjusted the temp, turned the eggs (automatic), added water, or adjusted the humidity once since I started it up 2 weeks ago. It has definitely changed my opinion on the new ones. If you want to spend about 1/3 to half the money of a new one, buy a used cabinet incubator. They're a great budget option. I bought 4 model 1266's for $1000 and sold two of them. You can find them on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for $250-350. You'll want to add the GQF water reserve system ($60). Also if you look around you'll find some with acrylic doors. If not that will cost you $100. Having the clear door is very nice. I can monitor my temp and humidity easier and watch hundreds of chick's hatch go through the entire hatching process without opening the incubator. Here's mine...

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The ones I have been looking at are about 600_700 easily. There is one I am very interested in by It is not a rack or rollers but looks like drawers and i cant figure out if it auto rotates.

 

[Kaybear1950]

The ones I have been looking at are about 600_700 easily. There is one I am very interested in by It is not a rack or rollers but looks like drawers and i cant figure out if it auto rotates.

I feel dumb, it was a hatcher. I'm looking at the one attached.

 

[mdees88]

That would be a great one and if you can get over the sticker shock I can pretty much guarantee you won't regret purchasing it. The only negative i see to buying one brand new is if for whatever reason you need to sell it in a few years you'll probably only get 70% of your purchase price back.

I think you'll need the auto humidity kit for that one too so add another $60 to it...

If the sticker shock is too much I still recommend buying used.....

 

[Phunktacular]

If you can get your hands on a broken fridge, I prefer building my own, now. No better option for low cost.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/home-built-incubator.1337443/