I would appreciate your opinions on incubators

[John Sanders]

Another Brinsea user here. Really love their product so far. (But Im using a cabinet incubator) Not sure if their tabletops are any different..

As another user already said, most incubators do their job as long as you can trust any thermal/hydro sensors you have in place and know that the bator can hold said temp or humidity. I do recommend a separate thermo/hydrometer other than your bators to double check. My first incubator was a yellow top incubator, and was sorta cheap. It was able to hatch eggs, but the meters were off a tad and it had a hard time holding its temp. Thus, only ever had a 1/3 success rate with my hatches. Maybe 1/2 once... Wish i could offer more advice, but these are the only two i have had experience with. Only issue with brinsea, is they have a high dollar sign... But for me, it's been worth it. Depends on how much you want to incubate and hatch chicks?

I plan on doing it for a while. Weve got chickens, ducks, guineas and cows. Were raising for eggs and meat. And to sell.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

Starting with 50 but I plan on hatching a lot more in the future.

The Brinsea Ovation 56 EX is capable to hatch 110 quail eggs ... But it costs 430 Euro here in Germany

Edit: with an extra turner, also capable for 15 goose eggs ... But they really demand a lot of money for simpel plastic. Never the less totally comfortable.

 

[John Sanders]

If you're prepared to go analogue a small hen should work well. You wouldn't have to build it either.

Yeah, it would be great if quail still had that mother gene in them.

 

[Shadrach]

Yeah, it would be great if quail still had that mother gene in them.

That's why I suggested a small hen.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

P.S.: .... the advance and EX models are also capable of cooling phases especially for water birds.

 

[Claire A]

I'm looking into table top incubators with digital thermostat and fans. I would love to hear some opinions from you guys. I really dont want to build one.

I use the REAL 24 Automatic Incubator (Borotto). I have had excellent results with this. I brought because I found my cheap ones do not last and could not afford a brinsea.

 

[mdees88]

I'm no Rockefeller. Maybe 200$ usd. I'm flexible.

I plan on doing it for a while. Weve got chickens, ducks, guineas and cows. Were raising for eggs and meat. And to sell.

If that's the case I would recommend buying a used GQF cabinet incubator. You won't outgrow it like a tabletop model. Mine holds around 600 quail eggs if I remember correctly, 250 chicken eggs I think. The most I've ever set is 180 quail and 250 pheasant eggs at a time.

Also, they're always in very high demand so if you ever want to get rid of it, it won't take long to sell and you lose little if any money on the deal.

I bought mine for $250 and you usually see them listed for 250-300. Mines well over 20 years old and it works like a charm. I do not touch it even once during incubation, at lock down I add a couple humidity pads, adjust the vents, and wait till they hatch. I'm glad I bought it instead of cheaper tabletop first because I ended up saving money in the long run....

 

[Mother of Chicks]

Starting with 50 but I plan on hatching a lot more in the future.

No idea on that big a hatch - mine are much smaller but I have found the Brinsea brand reliable and it does what it says on the tin. Good luck with yours

 

[quailkid12345]

If that's the case I would recommend buying a used GQF cabinet incubator. You won't outgrow it like a tabletop model. Mine holds around 600 quail eggs if I remember correctly, 250 chicken eggs I think. The most I've ever set is 180 quail and 250 pheasant eggs at a time.

Also, they're always in very high demand so if you ever want to get rid of it, it won't take long to sell and you lose little if any money on the deal.

I bought mine for $250 and you usually see them listed for 250-300. Mines well over 20 years old and it works like a charm. I do not touch it even once during incubation, at lock down I add a couple humidity pads, adjust the vents, and wait till they hatch. I'm glad I bought it instead of cheaper tabletop first because I ended up saving money in the long run....

View attachment 2147373

At some point I would like to purchase one of these, and where could I find one used?

 

[mdees88]

At some point I would like to purchase one of these, and where could I find one used?

Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are good places to look. You have to be ready to buy though because they usually aren't listed long before they sell, if they are listed at reasonable prices....