Consolidated Kansas

[ppimf]

so what would u get lol ?

 

[maidenwolfx80]

so what would u get lol ?

Dont worry I also am needing to get my first incubator this spring. I have always bought from friends and town people but darn it, I want to hatch my own.
I want to buy one at orschlens or the family center because these are closest to me and they have one incubator with 2 different styles and I dont know which is best. I wont have more than $200 to spend either and these are $60 for the machine and $50 for the turner, so it is a resonable price for me but ,,,is it worth the price???????

 

[ppimf]

i think i might be going with the FARM INNOVATORS PRO SERIES incubator. it is about 125 with everything. i havve only heard one bad thing about it, that the temp gages don't work. so i'll buy a couple extra's to add to it unless someone thinks i shouldn't open for help lol

 

[HEChicken]

I enjoyed the discussion on Marek's. I started to multi but that was several hours and several pages ago and I had to go make dinner in the meantime. By the time I got done reading, I guess the system forgot my multi's.

Dont worry I also am needing to get my first incubator this spring. I have always bought from friends and town people but darn it, I want to hatch my own.
I want to buy one at orschlens or the family center because these are closest to me and they have one incubator with 2 different styles and I dont know which is best. I wont have more than $200 to spend either and these are $60 for the machine and $50 for the turner, so it is a resonable price for me but ,,,is it worth the price???????

If you are interested I can tell you how to make one that will work far better than those from the feed store, for under $100.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I enjoyed the discussion on Marek's. I started to multi but that was several hours and several pages ago and I had to go make dinner in the meantime. By the time I got done reading, I guess the system forgot my multi's.

If you are interested I can tell you how to make one that will work far better than those from the feed store, for under $100.

PLEASE DO!!!!!!!!!

 

[HEChicken]

I started with an Omaha Steaks cooler. This is important because there are grades of styrofoam and the Omaha Steaks coolers are much thicker than your standard styrofoam. I've never ordered from there but I put a post on Freecycle looking for one and had two people contact me, so I ended up with two for....free.

For the heating element, I use the ZooMed heat mats that are available at the big box pet stores like PetsMart and Petco. I already had them because I also keep herps but....to buy they range in price from about $10-35 depending on size. I use one that takes up as much "real estate" in the bottom of the incubator as possible. The nice thing is that these come equipped with their own power cord so there is no wiring to do. All you need to do is make a hole in the side of cooler big enough to slip the cord through. While you are at it, make more holes in the opposite side to allow for good ventilation.



The thermostat I also had already. I believe they are around $28 at the big box pet stores also. This thermostat is completely awesome - far superior to the hot water heater thermostats that cause huge fluctuations in temperature. The herp themostat is designed to keep a herp habitat at a precise temperature and it does it very well.


For the fan, I did buy the fan made by Little Giant. I think it was around $30 at Atwoods or TSC. It is really easy to wire with a couple of wire nuts.

I went to the dollar store and bought a set of two wire baskets (2/$1). I also bought a couple of cat food bowls ($1/each). The wire baskets fit perfectly over the cat food bowls. So I placed the cat food bowls directly on the heat mat, and inverted the wire baskets over them. This prevents chicks from drowning in the water.

Next I cut a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth the exact dimensions of cooler and placed it over the inverted wire baskets. Last I cut a piece of the rubberized shelf liner to the same size. The shelf liner is soft underfoot for the chicks and helps them get traction when they are flopping around learning to walk.

All you need now is a thermometer and hygrometer. I've spent a small fortune on these over the years. What I can tell you from my experience is FORGET DIGITAL. They are notoriously inaccurate. What you want is a plain old analog readout. My thermometer cost $1 at Walmart and is far more accurate than the much pricier alternatives. (Hint: Analog does not require batteries and the oyster shell packaging allows you to view the readout prior to purchase. The day I shopped for mine there were about 20 on the rack and 15 of them had the same reading. I surmised those 15 were accurate while the other 5 were not, and bought one of the accurate ones). My hygrometer was $6 at Petco. Calibrate it using the salt test and you know what you are getting.

I was fortunate that I already had some of the more expensive items but....add it all up and you are still talking less than a commercial styro 'bator and it will work extremely well. My 3 hatches this fall were 90%, 100%, 100%.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I started with an Omaha Steaks cooler. This is important because there are grades of styrofoam and the Omaha Steaks coolers are much thicker than your standard styrofoam. I've never ordered from there but I put a post on Freecycle looking for one and had two people contact me, so I ended up with two for....free.

For the heating element, I use the ZooMed heat mats that are available at the big box pet stores like PetsMart and Petco. I already had them because I also keep herps but....to buy they range in price from about $10-35 depending on size. I use one that takes up as much "real estate" in the bottom of the incubator as possible. The nice thing is that these come equipped with their own power cord so there is no wiring to do. All you need to do is make a hole in the side of cooler big enough to slip the cord through. While you are at it, make more holes in the opposite side to allow for good ventilation.



The thermostat I also had already. I believe they are around $28 at the big box pet stores also. This thermostat is completely awesome - far superior to the hot water heater thermostats that cause huge fluctuations in temperature. The herp themostat is designed to keep a herp habitat at a precise temperature and it does it very well.


For the fan, I did buy the fan made by Little Giant. I think it was around $30 at Atwoods or TSC. It is really easy to wire with a couple of wire nuts.

I went to the dollar store and bought a set of two wire baskets (2/$1). I also bought a couple of cat food bowls ($1/each). The wire baskets fit perfectly over the cat food bowls. So I placed the cat food bowls directly on the heat mat, and inverted the wire baskets over them. This prevents chicks from drowning in the water.

Next I cut a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth the exact dimensions of cooler and placed it over the inverted wire baskets. Last I cut a piece of the rubberized shelf liner to the same size. The shelf liner is soft underfoot for the chicks and helps them get traction when they are flopping around learning to walk.

All you need now is a thermometer and hygrometer. I've spent a small fortune on these over the years. What I can tell you from my experience is FORGET DIGITAL. They are notoriously inaccurate. What you want is a plain old analog readout. My thermometer cost $1 at Walmart and is far more accurate than the much pricier alternatives. (Hint: Analog does not require batteries and the oyster shell packaging allows you to view the readout prior to purchase. The day I shopped for mine there were about 20 on the rack and 15 of them had the same reading. I surmised those 15 were accurate while the other 5 were not, and bought one of the accurate ones). My hygrometer was $6 at Petco. Calibrate it using the salt test and you know what you are getting.

I was fortunate that I already had some of the more expensive items but....add it all up and you are still talking less than a commercial styro 'bator and it will work extremely well. My 3 hatches this fall were 90%, 100%, 100%.

The wire baskets how big and did you place them at opposite ends of the cooler? How did you put the hardware cloth in?

 

[PrairieChickens]

It's RAINING!

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

i think i might be going with the FARM INNOVATORS PRO SERIES incubator. it is about 125 with everything. i havve only heard one bad thing about it, that the temp gages don't work. so i'll buy a couple extra's to add to it unless someone thinks i shouldn't open for help lol

Danz says the company is reputable. It LOOKS like a Little Giant with a plastic outer shell. IF it is a L G upgraded, and the temp*control* is the same, then that would be the one possible problem area ( and some reviews Trish found goes along with that); I have some hints on how to deal with that and I am sure Danz does also. If you have the time to monitor it, it could be a nice cheap incubator to use.

My first incubator was a LG still air from an auction I paid $15 for (complete with egg shell remains from hatched chicks). It hatched a LOT of ducks and geese (I didn't know they "wouldn't hatch waterfowl") like people say, so I just put the eggs in, watched the temps, and the eggs hatched, close to 100%.

I used the cheap "baby" thermometors from Dollar General and have NEVER owned or used a hygrometor. I know nothing about humidity percentages. At hatch, I added moisture in various ways until there was condensation on the view windows. Seemed to work well considering the good hatches I have had.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

whats the difference in the max and the king suro . i need to buy my first incubator for this spring

I am not sure the difference - but I did a LOT of research last night and read a LOT of reviews. Those who owned the KingSuro were not happy and wish they had paid extra to get a better product.

I ended up buying the R-Com 20 Max last night - the reviews were fabulous, the features are more than I ever was looking for in an incubator and the price was doable for what I was getting - can't wait for it to get here!