I have had it with styro incubators

[dustponds10]

Well I am sick of the barrometer changing and changing the temprature of my incubators. I am looking to buy one with an electronic thermostat. Which would yo uall reccomend? I am starting to develope a few breeds of chickens right now adn I am sick of loosing expensive eggs and not getting the chicks that I need to keep my program going. AAny help of advice would be soooooo apericated.

 

[Mahonri]

I love both of my incubators.

I got a Genesis 1588 first... only problem there is keeping the humidity constant.

Then I got a Brinsea Octogon 20 Advance Ex. expensive, but best purchase I've ever made. Keeps both temp and humidity right where you set it. If you wait till January they go on sale.

 

[dustponds10]

Cool Ill take a look at both of those, I just need more consistency. It just really is frustrating to get a less then 5 percent hatch rate because the incubator is fluctuating when the weather changes. Any other preferances would be awesome as well, I appericate it.

 

[Denninmi]

I just posted about this on the quail forum. I used to have a foam Hovabator and it was a piece of junk IMO -- radical temperature and humidity shifts at the slightest change in ambient atmospheric conditions. I know a lot of people have good results with them, and I actually did too but only through constant supervision and adjustment. I think the psychological torment alone that this unit inflicted upon me was the best reason for ditching it.

I bought a Brinsea Octagon 20 Advanced with the humidity pump unit this spring and it's a night and day difference. The unit has an onboard microchip I believe and is all digital. It truly is a "set it and forget it" unit other than candling and checking for bad eggs. The only complaint I have about it is the Brinsea engingeers should redesign the tubing system that the pump uses to send water into the unit's evaporator because it tends to get caught up and tangled in the autoturner base. But that is a minor complaint, and the silicon tubing has enough elasticity that it doesn't cut off the water supply to the evaporator even when this does happen. Mine has consistently held temperature and desired humidity level despite wide variations in ambient room conditions, which is the 180 degree opposite of the old Hovabator. Finally, the Brinsea is made of rigid plastic and, while I'm sure it too could be broken, it's a lot less fragile feeling than the foam of the Hovabator, which I always feared I was going to break while accessing, moving, or cleaning the unit.

At $450 with shipping, it wasn't exactly cheap but it sure is nice.

 

[dustponds10]

Ok sounds awesome any one else have a different incubator that they are using? I might also be interested in a cabinet incubator as well because when I get more chickens I am going to have to try to seperate larger amounts of eggs. If some one could touch on a cabinet incubator that would be awesome as well. Thanks for all the great advice so far.

 

[Redcatcher]

If you want a super sensitive fool proof digital thermostat without having to go out and buy a new incubator, I recommend this. It works with most any incubator and no rewiring is needed. You just plug the incubator right into the power cord on the thermostat and set the probe in the incubator. It controls the heating elements directly. Not cheap but it can pay for itself in one hatch of valuable eggs.

http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/herpstat.html