Buying incubator v DIY incubator

bump --
Can't believe that you didn't get a ton of answers to this.



I have two friends each have built their own. One has been having very successful hatches for years and years...and one just got their first eggs. I have purchased -- don't know of anyone who has both -- but of the zillions of people on this forum -- somebody mush have used both!!

your question must have gotten buried in the spring flurry of questions. Hope that some one will weigh in for you.

 

There's plenty of people that have both, but it all comes down to what kind of purchased bator you're talking about and what kind of DIY you have made. If you buy a cheap unreliable bator, you're going to have a lot of headache and possibly heart ache. If you spend a little extra and go for a better manufactured bator you're looking at better hatches and less work. (Note that no matter what incubator you get, human error and habits play a big role in success. Someone can buy the best bator and have crappy hatches cause they have no clue and someone else can buy a cheap bator and make it work for them.) I myself have one of the lowest rated (Little Giant) bators and manage to get awesome hatches (knock on wood). Same goes for home made. If you know what you are doing and make a good bator, find what works with it, you can have awesome hatches. The less effort you put into it, the less chance of success. There are lots of examples of some great DIY bators in the threads here on BYC. (Just search DIY incubators or Homemade incubators and you should find plenty.) There's also many people who's knowledge on building them would be glad to help on here too.