Do Incubators Need To Be Full? Incubation Questions...

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I am thinking about getting a Hova-Bator that has an automatic egg turner that would hold 42 eggs. However, that is more eggs than I would ever want to hatch at this point. I would like to incubate more like 20 eggs at the most. Would this be okay? Or, does the incubator need to be full? Also...I would be hatching bantam eggs. Would the automatic egg turner work for the bantam eggs? Or am I going to have to just hand turn them (I have no idea how to hand turn eggs

)? Are there different size egg turners? What incubator would ya'll recommend me to use to hatch 10-20 bantam eggs? I've had chickens for years but I'm new to hatching eggs out.

 

[AlpineSpringsRanch]

I know for sure there are different size egg turners i.e. quail / chicken / etc but I have no idea how big (or small) a bantam egg is so I can't comment on that As far as the incubator being full or not I can't imagine that is a problem but others with more experience may answer that better. I have a big wine cooler I turned into an incubator. It can probably hold over 100 eggs if I filled it up but my first hatch I started with 6 and then added 28 a week later. It is by no means full and 4 of the 6 are starting to hatch now. I was just sure to make sure my temps and humidity stayed stable and had a couple of large heat sinks in my incubator on account of I had the space anyway.

I can't recommend an incubator because I bought and built my own incubator and (out of necessity) cooler-hatcher. Spent less than $20 each all together and both hold temperature VERY well.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

Thanks for the info! Your home-ade incubator is amazing!

I wish I new how to make my own, but...I should probably not even attempt that.

I'm glad to know that incubators do not have to be kept full.

 

[Roosters Crow Farm]

I am thinking about getting a Hova-Bator that has an automatic egg turner that would hold 42 eggs. However, that is more eggs than I would ever want to hatch at this point. I would like to incubate more like 20 eggs at the most. Would this be okay? Or, does the incubator need to be full? Also...I would be hatching bantam eggs. Would the automatic egg turner work for the bantam eggs? Or am I going to have to just hand turn them (I have no idea how to hand turn eggs

)? Are there different size egg turners? What incubator would ya'll recommend me to use to hatch 10-20 bantam eggs? I've had chickens for years but I'm new to hatching eggs out.

Bantam egg size depends on the breed. My bantam Cochins lay the same size egg as my very small Silkie (the Silkie was an orphan who needed a home). My seramas lay eggs a little bigger than my quail. I bought an incubator that can hold 24 regular sized chicken eggs. Because bantam eggs are so much smaller, I can fit about 30 bantam Cochin or extra small Silkie eggs inside (I have been told that Silkie eggs are usually bigger than bantam Cochin); I can fit even more Serama eggs. That's plenty for my backyard. I just need enough to maintain my own flock and few to sell to help cover the financial needs of the flock.