The incubator on the left is like mine. They are maid by Lehy about 35 years ago. They eat electicity because of the thremostate and heating system. I have a water fowl friend who gutted his out and put some kind of water bed threostate in it and he says it is much better in the swing of temps. I got mine four years ago and will be selling it. It will cost about $150 to ship it by truck to some one. I have built some home made hatchers out of Red Wood and put the guts of the cheap syarfoam incubator in them. They only have something like 25 watt heating coils with the fan and I just leave the eggs in there till they hatch. I put them in three days befor they hatch and I have three boxes for three breeding pens. This way my little ducks or chicks are pedegreed for me and I dont have to worry about screwing up my toe punching.
I like the Geneis Styafoam incubators where the contol is set at the factor. If you are a beginner and want a fool proof incubator this is the best one for a small hobby farm user.
They reason the Red Wood incubators work so well is the give and take of the humidty with the Red Wood. There is no wood that I know of that gives and takes for egg hatching like Red Wood. In cigar humidors there is a wood called Spanish Cedar which come out or places like Hondurs ect. This wood is the best wood to cure cigars that I know of. I one time had a 48 qt ingloo ice chest lined with spanish cedar from old cigar boxes and would cure up to 400 cigars that I would buy on the internet that where rejects.
This is how I got into the Red Wood box incubators because they work so much better with call duck eggs.
I learned from one water fowl breeder that the day befor his call ducks hatch he has the humidity so high in the incubator that water is running down the windows inside the incubator. This he says improves the call ducks to hatch. So I did it this year with my box hatchers and it worked great. I also dry hatch my chicken eggs which means I do not have water in my incubator. Many of us have gone this way and we end up with better hatches. Most of us drown our chicks and baby ducks because we use to much humidty. We need to watch our air cells more on the final days and you will learn that you are over doing it in the humidity department. Of course it depends on your climate but that has helped me out alot in the past few years.
I will post a picture of the wooden hathchers her if I can find the picture on my web site.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=205619&p=2
great thread on the old Lehy Incubators for you to read on this site last year.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=205619&p=2
Got a email today from a great chicken friend who told me he is bringing a couple of New Hampshire pullets to another friend so she can cross them onto a barred rock large fowl male. This will begin the new Delaware line. Success has been made.
If you have faith of a mustard seed you can tell mountains to move and they will move. If you look hard enough for something you will find it.
bob
