Idiot-Proof Incubator?

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts. It does depend on what you can afford. I love my Sportsman cabinet incubator. I have had many hatches in my LG and I monitor it but really haven't had any problems with it. The only problem is keeping the humidity up when I set the eggs for hatching then I add a wet sponge to help bring up the humidity. Now I use the LG as a hatcher along with my sportsman. I bought my sportsman used and did change the wafer thermostat to a digital thermostat as the wafer fluctuated more. With the digital thermostat it stays pretty constant 99 degree to 100 but pretty consistently around 99.5.

 

[Rebecky54]

RCOM sounds perfect, but I can't justify the cost for $409 (on sale now) for 20 eggs. For under $200 you can get a Brinsea Eco or Hovabator Genesis 1588. For $600, you can get a Dickey.

Becky

 

[cmom]

Quote:
...or for around $600, you can get a new GQF Sportsman. Sometimes you can find a good deal on a used cabinet incubator. I bought my Sportsman for $300. I love it. Originally I used the paper trays but at a swap I found 6 Sportsman egg trays for $10. We did change the wafer thermostat to a digital thermostat. The incubator holds 270 chicken eggs. I found my Sportsman on Craigslist.

Here is a picture of some of the chicks from my last hatch.

 

[9gerianMile]

Quote:
I think this is what I'll be doing. I don't have a roo currently, so I'll be buying a dozen or two dozen eggs at a time to try it out. With my hens dropping like flies, I need to get on this soon. I think I'll try letting my broody Australorp hatch some, too... Just to see. I have a ton of chick starter, so we shall see! I will get the 1588 with turner, digital therm, hygrometer, etc. all under 200 shipped- not bad! I can always upgrade later when I need to- doubt I'll ever fill the thing up, as-is! But, then again, I've heard this is addicting?

Thank you everyone for your replies. I was looking at the Brinsea's and I think they are a down-the-road purchase for us. For now, I'll keep it simple and see if I can make it work semi-decent!

 

[Saltysteele]

you can find a redwood incubator for usually under 400 bucks, i've heard from people all over the country. we got ours for under that

we're idiots and have been getting great hatch rates!