Getting an Incubator for Christmas. Need direction.

[blessedchickenmama7]

I have the opportunity to get an incubator for Christmas. I have never had one and will be learning. Can anyone tell me what you like/don't like about yours? I can only spend about $100 give or take a bit. What's the best I can get for that?

 

[kathyinmo]

HovaBator with "turbo-fan," (I think that's what the box says), and an egg turner.
Alot of people complain about the Little Giant brand.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Quote:
Amen

 

[Jolynn191978]

I got a hovabator 1583 with egg turner. It has a big window so you can watch the hatch easily and circulating air. They are on sale at FlemingOutdoors.com

 

[walkswithdog]

Hovabator with fan, and a turner if you can save up for it.

LG costs less but you'll pay with time and money wasted on eggs that don't hatch while you learn how to use it.

Or build a nice one. Broken wine cooler fridge, or mini-fridge off freecycle or craigslist, lamp kit or recycled heating element, water-heater thermostat (8 $) or one of the reptile thermostats (about 25.00 and worth it), a turner - about 40, and voila, a better insulated, nicer bator than you can buy for 100 over the counter. If a fridge you have to make a window - but that's not hard with two pieces of glass from a goodwill store. If a wine cooler, the door is usually glass, very nice to work with.

I'm afraid in the world of incubators - 100 dollars isn't much. That's the low end. Middle is 300-400, and high end starts at around 400 and can rocket into the thousands, depending on the features you want.

I bought an LG and got good at using it, but what it taught me most was all the features I didn't like and that I hated top opening, foam bators with a passion. Not because they didn't work or I couldn't learn them - they're a pain to open, the element is close to the chicks, and I kept getting burned on it.

I hate that it has to be opened all the way, that the lid comes off and it's the only way to get to them is to let all the heat and humidity run up to God, that the only way to see the chicks is to stand and peer into it from above. I didn't like being limited to around 40 eggs and that was wayyyy crowded.

I was much happier with what I built in the long run, and I just saved my money toward a better bator. Even when I did manage to find and rehab an excellent antique redwood bator, I still use my little Darthbator to hatch the difficult/damaged eggs. I can see through the front opening door, can't get burned, can reach in quickly then close the door if needed.

Brinsea is as low end a model as I would get if I were buying an over the counter, incubator now. The automatic ones are totally reliable and require little hand holding, hatch reliably and are see through.

They have a tiny seven egg, desktop, that is fully automatic. Yeah, seven eggs sucks for me but would work for some people. It doesn't require anything for all 21 days except that you keep the water level in the reservoir filled.

Hovabators work, many work well - they do cost more than 100 with a turner and fan and the above features are why I wouldn't have one but many people do very very well with them.

 

[blessedchickenmama7]

Thanks, everyone for your replies. I am not very handy and my husband is working too many hours trying to make ends meet at the moment for me to load this up on it, so bought is the best I can do and $100 is the max I can spend give or take a bit, as I said. And the only reason is because it's a gift from my sons, who asked me what I would like to have. They are going in together.

I did look at the hovators and found, on ebay, a hovabator 2362N with turner for 109 plus delivery (15). I thought that sounded pretty good to me. But I will check Fleming Outdoors.

Again, appreciate all the help.

 

[magikchick]

Go for the hova-bator. I set mine one time and every time I plug it in the temps are still perfect. You want to get the one with the fan.

 

[blessedchickenmama7]

Thanks, Magickchik! That makes me feel better!